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Quick links to Walks & Donations

This October, please  complete the Walking Roster   and join the  daily walk  from Vredehoek  to  the Blockhouse. And please donate to help ...

Have you been active this October? (25 Oct)

Not just steps: 12 000 kms of walks, runs, rides and swims, taking 1 600 hours

From dawn Blockhouse walks to after‑work runs, rides and swims — in Cape Town and wherever supporters joined — October has been one shared rhythm: moving in slow-burn solidarity with survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), logging it, and making connections as we go. Here we give a snapshot of these activities: steps, kilometres, hours, and the conversations that stitched it together.

By Dawie Bosch, Blocktober walker and rider

 A cyclist arrives at sunrise just below the Blockhouse on Devil's Peak. 

Daily Steps-for-Saartjie walks

Since 1 October there have been 356 walking ascents of the King’s Blockhouse. This was been mostly from Vredehoek, with some from Tafelberg Road and Rhodes Memorial. That’s a combined ±2 563 km on foot and around 900 hours on the mountain (at ~2.5 h per ascent). Walkers keep saying the long, steady climb is perfect for real connection and conversation.

Beyond Cape Town: Supporters have also logged activities in Kenya and further afield (including Sweden, the UK, Switzerland, New Zealand, Italy, Mexico, USA and China). Blocktober is wherever you move—together for this purpose—even if not on the same trail.

What our Strava community is doing

To build the broader Blocktober community and to make their effort visible, some supporters have joined the three Blocktober Strava sister clubs (Run/Walk/Hike, Cycling, Swimming). 

Estimated collective effort (1–25 Oct): Using a sample from the Strava records, we estimate an additional ±9 541 km and 782 hours involving activities such as walking / running / riding / swimming.

Help us to count your activities in future: join the sister clubs and set Activities = Everyone in Strava Privacy controls so your distance and time appear on the weekly boards. New to Strava? See our two‑minute guide.

Time‑Trial Tuesdays (the “Blockheads”)

Each Tuesday in October, the Blockhouse Time‑trial group of runners and mountain bikers dedicated their weekly dash to Blocktober. The final October ascent is Tue 28 October, leaving ~17:40 from Pin Oak × Chelmsford, Vredehoek. (For details or to join next time, contact Paul Jacobs on 0837083678 or Paul72jacobs@gmail.com.)

Jean du Plessis & Ruben Coetzee: work-around.
Personal challenges that inspire

Not everyone can walk or do mountain biking. Jean du Plessis, Blocktober co‑founder, suffered a serious accident in February 2025 when a car hit him from behind. For Blocktober 2025 he committed to daily pool swims and stationary rides instead: to date he has done ~300 km on a stationary bike (mostly with Ruben Coetzee) and 19 375 m of swimming so far this month. Same spirit, different path.

Walk with us this week (or join where you are)

  • Daily Blockhouse schedule & safety: Read here for meeting times, route pins and notes.

  • Or move wherever you are: run, walk, ride or swim where you are—then log it on Strava so we can include your effort in October’s totals.


Thank you for showing up—with your time, kilometres and conversations.

Quick links

Next walk in Cape Town 

  • Date: 26 October 8am
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Duration: 3hrs, 7.5km
  • Free Pizzas / Pasta afterwards at Bella Italia! 
  • Time: 7.55 for 8am 🕟
  • Route: From the mountain end of Chelmsford Rd, Vredehoek, to the Kings Blockhouse - Starting point Pin  📍
  • Difficulty: Moderate 🚶‍♀
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Vredehoek Quarry (24 Oct)

Walking without fear 

Walk Day 24

By Janet Purcell, Blocktober walker and integral coach 

Vredehoek Quarry passed on the way to the Blockhouse

Shortly after the start of the walk to the Blockhouse taking the low gravel road from Chelmsford Road, is a tunnel going deep into Devil's Peak. It is the entrance to the "Murray and Stewart Quarry" , also known as the Vredehoek Quarry. If you were to walk through the tunnel, under its weathered supports, you would find a small dam, with a beautiful view of the city bowl. High rock faces surround the dam and in earlier years people fished and climbed and picnicked. I have never been there before. 

The quarry is one of several Table Mountain quarries that have been abandoned, and few people know their histories. 

Much of the information in this blog comes from a 2013 article in Views of the City: The earliest excavation in the Vredehoek quarry dates from as 1902 with the removal of blue stone for roads. Extraction of stone continued during the early part of the century on and off.  Unhappy complaints and petitions from various neighbours in Vredehoek over the noise of rock crushing machinery and dust from trucks, and difficulty accessing the site over private land contributed to the final closure of the quarry in 1935. The government contemplated reopening the quarry during World War 2, but the quarry was finally closed in 1942, according to reports in the Cape Times. The report further noted “all historical knowledge of Peak Quarry and its role in the provision of gravel and stone for road construction seems to have been lost from collective memory of the people of Cape Town”.

Blocktober walker Marion, raised in Cape Town and now living in Hamburg, remembers parties and sleep overs at the Quarry in the 1980s. 

For some people, in recent times, the quarry has become a place to avoid and a hotspot for muggings. But it is has also been described by members of the film industry as one of the top ten abandoned sites in Southern Africa worth visiting and as one of Table Mountain’s ‘best-kept secrets'. 

And it was fondly remembered in comments from 2014:  "we lived in Davenport road in the 1970′s and the first time we found the quarry some youngsters were catching gold fish with hooks and line" and "back in 1990 when I was a teenager, we used to sleep over at night." 

So, it was a place of beauty and mystery, not a place of fear.


Walking without fear up to the Blockhouse

These days we often walk with vigilant eyes in the backs of our heads when we walk on the mountain. We walk cautiously past the quarry. Some of us still dare to walk alone, or in small groups with dogs. Or a friendly man. One of the many gifts of joining the Blocktober walks has been of walking without fear. We've been the big group. We've been able to relax as we walk, through fresh air and gentle interest in each other. Another gift has been to meet each other in a purposeful group, able to bridge gentle new connections, that may perhaps lead us through solidarity to a different kind of world. 

A bit like the halcyon memories of water, rock faces, a dam, and a view of a city. 

Quick links

Next walk in Cape Town: Steps for Saartjie (s4s)


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Control (23 Oct)

Sometimes, you just can't … It’s Out of Your Control 

Walk Day 23

By Nancy Richards, Founder Woman Zone and The Women's Library and Blocktober walker


No matter how much you want something, nor how hard you’ve worked for it – sometimes you just CANT. It’s Out of Your Control.

On Sunday 19th October, 24,000 runners, all set for the Cape Town Marathon were massively disappointed. The howling midnight winds caused the organisers to cancel, at the last minute. The wind was Out of Their Control.

Runners from all over South Africa, Africa and the world were – well, gutted. They’d been training for months, booked flights, paid for transport, accommodation and were fully wired for the starters gun. Not to mention all the people who had sweated blood to put up all the infrastructure, the stall holders and coffee shops who had stocked up on goods and goodies. But it just wasn’t to be. It was Out of Their Control. The whole tragic catastrophe was Out of Anyone’s Control. But what did the runners do? Many of them took to the streets – and ran anyway. That they Could Control.

On the very same day, a troop of Blocktober Walkers set off from the Vredehoek slopes of Table Mountain headed for The Blockhouse, also in the face of a wicked wind. With back packs firmly in place, clutching water bottles and hanging on to their hats, the crocodile of intrepid Walkers forged bravely on, fully In Control. But for some, just a few, the wind was just Too Much. Asthma, which is impossible to Control, got the better of them. And despite having looked sooo very much forward to the Blockhouse hike, they just had to turn back. Albeit on a slightly different scale, it was every bit as disappointing for them as it was for the 24,000 would be Marathon runners. It was just Out of Their Control.

Nonetheless – what did the Asthma Sufferers do? First, they made the brave decision to turn back so as not to spoil the hike for the rest of the Walkers by stopping too often or collapsing. Second, they appreciated that some things you just Can’t Do, with no animosity, or blame. On the way home, they shared their personal stories, no easy task for some. But whilst it sometimes feels unfair and that some difficulties are way out of A Person’s Control, it is possible to share, as they did, with good grace and gratitude – and how’s that for being In Control!



Quick links

Next walk in Cape Town: Steps for Saartjie (s4s)

  • Date: 24 October 6am
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Duration: 2hrs, 7.5km
  • Jeep Track Route: From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.

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Rage walking (22 Oct)

Walking for wellness 

Walk Day 22

By Sedica Davids, feminist-Muslim, movement and social justice activist, cold water swimmer and writer, Afrofuturist and truth-sayer, who walks for life and thrives on the Blocktober-Steps for Saartjie vibration.

Movement heals, movement connects and movement empowers survivors of trauma.

She was born in D6 and forcefully removed to Kensington, a dry patch next to lowlying marshlands, where the new inhabitants displaced the black Africans who lived in the area that was called Windermere before. It was 1980. She was a teenager with creative ideas. She was strong and sporty but no one understood her in her family. She was curious, studious and adventurous and needed to explore her world but the Capitalist-Apartheid system kept her in place, and with parents that were strict Muslims, that was not so easy. The only thing she could do was visit the neighbours or friends further up in the area.  Her parents never asked about her exact location, as long as she was home by Maghrib, the sunset prayer.

One day, her parents made her very angry. She was being told what to do, what not to do, how to be, how not to be and her head felt like it might explode.

She went to her shared room and found a pair of brown, patent leather shoes with a small wedge and double buckles. Back then, the sandshoe was the closest thing to a takkie, but with parents that were struggling to make ends meet with three children, a grandmother and her brother in one house, a sandshoe was a far-off desire. There was no need to say where she was going, cos she could be at the neighbours immediately behind their house, or all the way in 4th street at Fadia’s or at Begum’s shop, Sunshine Cafe.

She set off, walking to Voortrekker Road, all the way past 18th Avenue, then to the N7 intersection. She crossed the road and walked with purpose, a 15-year old girl, walking, no bag, no money no water bottle, just rage walking, passing the Liberty Building, always on the left-hand side of the road (a rule for climbing stairs at school also), and then entered through the Boerewors Curtain. At least she was familiar with this stretch of road, as she had started working at a dental surgery the year before. The dentist was a friend of her Dad’s, as he had done some renovations at his surgery and they had become friends. He fetched her in his Mercedes on a Saturday morning before 8am to work in his surgery in Halt Road, Elsies River. She would go on working holidays and weekends till she was in her first year at UCT.

She experienced no interference of any sort and she continued, intentional and angry.

The railway line was to the right and she crossed a large intersection that led to the northern suburbs, to her left. She passed hardware stores, pubs, hotels and small food shops as well as fruit and vegetable hawkers on the pavement. Bakkies lined the parking strip. No one spoke to her. She got to the Elsies River turnoff to the right with its large railway siding at the corner. She crossed, focussed and kept briskly moving forward up Voortrekker Road, towards the Hottentots Holland range and as far from her parents as possible. As she reached Parow, she would soon arrive at the border of Bellville, the large business centre of the northern suburbs. At this point, she did a quick mental check. How long to get back so she could make the Maghrib cutoff time? She realised it was time to loop back. 

Her mental anguish and frustration had been walked off. She breathed out and set off the way she had come. There were no smart phones to measure steps for a reward at a local gym. There was just the wherewithal and courage of a young girl to move her body to calm her mind.

Years later, her curiosity did take her across the Hottentots Holland range to places and people that she always longed to see.


Since my youth I have continued to walk, I even ran and cycled and swam. Walking is the best way to remain in touch with the body, no matter what age the body is.  Movement heals, movement connects and movement empowers survivors of trauma. This is one of the reasons why I joined the Blocktober walks in support of the survivors of gender-based violence and the Saartjie Baartman Centre. 

Come join us.

Quick links

Next walk in Cape Town: Steps for Saartjie 

  • Date: 23 October 6am
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Duration: 2hrs, 7.5km
  • Jeep Track Route: From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.

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307 walking ascents video (21 Oct)

Over 2 300 km walked with 307 walking ascents to Blockhouse 

Walk Day 21

By Lala Steyn, walking 31 days to the Blockhouse in October


Walking sticks rest at the Blockhouse after 20 walks


From 1 October to 21 October there have been 307 walking ascents of the Blockhouse clocking up over 2 300 km. Later in the week we will add up the cyclists, runners and swimmers and give you the cumulative tally. All I can say today is that there have been LOTS of Steps for Saartjie! 

Enjoy the walking video below contributed by Christine le Roux, a Blocktober walker.  Music: Ungandibulali by Berita & Ndlovu Youth Choir



Quick links

Next Steps for Saartjie walk in Cape Town

  • Date: 22 October 7am
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Duration: 2hrs, 7.5km
  • Jeep Track Route: From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.

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With Women Worldwide (20 Oct)

How little do we know about our fellow passengers in life? 

Walk Day 20

By Nancy Richards, Founder Woman Zone and The Women's Library and Blocktober walker 

 

Spotted on the streets of London

The first two weeks of Blocktober, my Steps for Saartjie were taken on the streets and train stations the length and breadth of the UK. Not least in the belly of the beast, on the London Underground where human conditions are, well - close. It’s not really Tube etiquette to stare, nor even catch the eye of fellow passengers, but as a foreigner (though in London, show me who isn’t foreign one way or another) you can’t help but wonder about the lives of all these people with whom you are so tightly pressed. So unless you have your thumbs on your device, or less likely, a book in hand, there is much opportunity to cast a glance and speculate on this collective, commuting United Nations, on who they are and how these lives are playing out.

What are they wearing, and what does what they’re wearing say about their profession, origins, history, economic or relationship status? And their body language, facial expression – what does that say about their state of mind, their joy, suffering, anxiety or creativity? Of course, you can’t possibly ask – the most communication you can expect is an apology for pushing, or being pushed into pushing, or a small act of kindness in the offer of a seat. Or perhaps a tender smile at someone cradling their dog – dogs are ubiquitous Tube travellers these days.

 

 

How little do we know about our fellow passengers in life?

Taking it one step further, how little do we know about our fellow passengers in life, and how much do we assume? From the news across all media in the UK, it’s clear that we can certainly assume a measure of gender-based violence occurs, in all communities.

Anonymity is not exclusive to Londoners on the move – it applies across the world. We just don’t know one another, nor, unless we are prepared to listen, do we have any idea what baggage others may be carrying, and what, if anything, we can do to lessen their load.

 

The Feminist Library in Peckham

On my travels in the UK, I had the opportunity to visit three libraries – the Women’s Library at the London School of Economics, the Feminist Library in Peckham and the Glasgow Women’s Library. In each case, their shelves were groaning under the weight of women’s words over, in some cases, many centuries. Well, not every woman is going to get her story into print, but many women have a story to share, and in doing so, her load may well be lightened. 

So perhaps taking Steps for Saartjie, is also an opportunity to listen to another woman’s story as we walk together – not forgetting that many men have loads that need to be lightened too. To echo Jean du Plessis’s maxim then, let’s Listen, Learn, Think and Act – more. 

Quick links

Next Steps for Saartjie walk in Cape Town

  • Date: 21 October 16.30 pm
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Duration: 2hrs, 7.5km
  • Jeep Track Route: From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.

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Meaningful conversations (19 Oct)

Please donate to support Saartjie Baartman entrepreneurs 

Walk Day 19

By Lala Steyn, walking 31 days to the Blocktober in October 

I am blown away by the fantastic turnout and discussions on our Blocktober walks. We need to do better on our donations as we have reached only 52% of our target. Please support the Saartjie Baartman entrepreneurship programme by donating via Back-a-Buddy.

Walking clothes made by Saartjie Baartman entrepreneurs

Today started with bad news that the Cape Town marathon had been cancelled due to safety concerns due to the high winds on sections of the route. Luckily our Sunday Solidarity Walk could proceed because the winds blowing across our path on the way to the Blockhouse were not strong enough to endanger walkers, although being unpleasant at times. Two walkers were forced to turn back and two others twisted their ankles.

Despite these setbacks, many told me that the conversations they had up and down the mountain were filled with meaning.

Day 19 begins with 41 walkers!

At the Blockhouse all faced away to protect the identity of gender-based violence survivors.

Quick links

Blocktober walk details in Cape Town

Next walking week: 20 to 26 October

  • Monday 20th & Tuesday 21th: 16.30pm from Vredehoek
  • Wednesday 22th: 15.30pm from Vredehoek
  • Thursday 23th & Friday 24th: 6am from Vredehoek
  • Saturday 25th: 16.40pm from Tafelberg Road
  • Sunday 26th: 8am from Vredehoek
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Duration: 2 / 2.5hrs, 7.5km
  • Jeep Track Route: For all Days expect Saturday 25th October - From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for the starting point.
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