A Trundle And A Train!

Today we went on a trundle!

The flowers are just beginning to open, in fact we had a wonderful show of rain daisies this week, a day after our 5 mm rain. Talking of rain, this month we have had 16 mm compared to the average August total of 71 mm..... so we have a loooong way to go and time is running out. The farmers (them what knows weather), keep insisting that the big rain is coming, but we are getting tired of hearing it, just as we are getting tired of  'plans are in place to bore holes, start desalination and recyle grey water' given out daily by the City of Cape Town. Our dams are now at 31% full compared to last year's 53%, 89% in 2015 and 105% in 2014 in August. And still our precious water is being abused.

Some rain daisies... our fields are a mass of white now.

Anyway, back to today.

Rob and I just love steam trains! In fact we love trains, period, but here in SA our lines stand overgrown and our rolling stock is rusting away in various places around the country. The beautiful old Railway Stations have been vandalised and destroyed, except for a few that have been rescued privately and turned into restaurants.

So when Rob heard about a steam train coming from Cape Town, up the West Coast and passing through places close to us on the way, we started planning a trundle to find it and take some photos and just stare! And wave at the driver! The special train bringing flower-spotters on a flower-spotting tour, would begin it's journey in Cape Town, wind it's way to Malmesbury, then on to Moorreesburg, then Piketberg for an hour stop, then on to Graafwater where it would overnight before doing a quick trip tomorrow, back to Graafwater and home again on Sunday.

The original sign. 107 miles to Cape Town.

We decided to head to Piketberg and possibly double back until we found her, and then make our way home.

Piketberg Station (all pics thanks to Rob)

So, off we set, dog included of course! Piketberg station was deserted. And although boarded up and looking abandoned, it was fairly tidy and someone had made a small effort to dig over existing flower beds and plant spinach. And the gutters were sprouting a healthy looking bunch of weeds.

A garden in a gutter!

We managed to find a Security Guard who knew nothing about a train, but did give us the number of a chap called Joe who was actually working on the line further on. He too knew nothing about a train and I just hoped that his work would be completed before he had a very nasty surprise!

We never found out who Joe is!

Finally Rob managed to get hold of a lady at 'Ceres Rail' who told him that the train was indeed on its way and would be at Piketberg at 14.00, leaving again at 15.00. We checked the time..... 11.20, so lots of time to fill. She also gave Rob times for the various stops along the way, so, as trundling always makes us hungry, we decided to re-group over a burger and plan our next move!

Look carefully... see the snow? In the middle of the pic!

The countryside is looking really stunning, not a lot of flowers but the farmlands we passed through were green with wheat or yellow with the canola in flower, so it seemed a pity to return to Piketberg, especially with the line running past farms and fields next to the road and in many places over the road! We would find a great spot to park and wait.

Koringberg.

So we ended up in a tiny village called Koringberg, surrounded by beautiful farmland, snow-capped mountains as a backdrop (well, one or two peaks had a dusting of snow), with the line twisting and turning  from the distance, through the village and on to Piketberg. We found a place to park and sat and waited......and waited.......and waited!

There she is!

Finally at about 14.15 we saw black smoke behind a line of trees, and the next thing, there she was! One engine called 'Dominique' and seven red carriages tucked in behind!

Such a beautiful sight!

It was a magical moment! By then a few more people had arrived, all bearing cameras and tripods and we all stood and waved as she swept past, whistling and puffing and making the noises that only trains can make! I must tell you that she is an oil-fired steam train, not coal-fired. But she looked and sounded just beautiful!

Dominique........

And the driver waved too!

Then she was gone, and we climbed back in the car to wind our way home via a sand road. We knew that there was a back road back to Velddriff and we asked directions from a couple of people who lived in Koningberg. But the description of the way to go didn't quite match our journey..... but we finally arrived at the main road.

And then home!

And our internet is down.... so you may only read this tomorrow! Or the next day!

And today will be yesterday! Or the day before.....

But does it matter... after all the days of steam are in the past too.....