Our KZN Battlefields trip

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Ou Ryperd

Race Dog
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
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Location
Pretoria
Bike
KTM 890 Adventure R
We left Centurion at 6 to meet the Adventure family at the Total garage on the N3 before Heidelberg. We were supposed to meet them at 7, but some mysterious cat tripped their alarm and they arrived a few minutes late. But no worries, as it allowed Marina & I to have a nice cup of coffee.

We were 5 people, 3 bikes. A great group!

From the garage we rode towards Standerton for breakfast at the Wimpy. The road there was bad, lots of potholes and traffic. In Standerton we met my boet-in-law from Secunda for breakfast.

From Standerton we left towards Volksrust. The road conditions worsened, sometimes it was faster to overtake the cars, taxis & trucks on the gravel.

After Volksrust we turned right, onto a lekker dirt road towards Majuba, our first battlefield to view. Majuba in the background, with the bikes
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Some of the graves & memorials:
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The little house at the field:
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From above:
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We decided to carry on with the dirt road to Memel, thus we had to deflate the tyres.
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The exist:
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We headed towards Memel on one the best pieces of dirt I've ridden. It had nice hard pack dirt, with the odd sand, rocky section and ruts to deal with. It was awesome.
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The road was littered with old grave sites & memorials
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In Memel we enjoyed a Coke and some snack. A small town.
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We enjoyed our first section of gravel so much that we decided to head to Ladysmith via dirt. Good idea!! When one travel of the beaten track, you can see so much more of our beautiful country.
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In Ladysmith we signed in at the Boer & Brit (see my post in Interesting Places). That was day ONE.

The next morning after breakfast we headed to Blood River. On our way there Adventurer saw a signpost indicating another battlefield, Elandslaagte. We turned, and what a good decision.
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It was a spectacular site, two koppies from where the battle was fought.
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Cool shot of Adventurer, Marina & Miss Adventurer
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We then stopped at this little shop for cold drinks and chips
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THEN BLOOD RIVER!! What a site!!!!

Typical dress for a Voortrekker from that era
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Some background info at Reception
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Outside wat this granite (I think, or it could be marble) replica of an oxwagon
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Some pictures of the laer of oxwagons, as it was parked on that day.
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We even had time for an oxwagon race, and because I'm younger that Adventurer, I choose the convertible :D
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The "Gelofte"
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Marina:
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The Adventure family
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Cool shot
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From Blood River we headed to Vryheid for petrol (I had 2km range left!! :shock: ) From Vryheid we headed to Rouck's Drif. A battle between the Zulu Impi's and the Pommies. It has a good museum were you can see the items & clothing from that era. What happened here was that the Zulus gave the pommies a beating and a half, the pommies retreated to Rouck's mission.

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Die drif
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The actual battlefield
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The piles of white rock indicates mass graves of British soldiers, the closer to the top the bigger the graves. I felt sorry for those soldiers. They were sent here by a Queen that could not be bothered what happens to them, as long as her empire grew...
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To be continued...


PS: Adventurer, please add your pictures and story. Thanks.
 
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