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.

Tracks and Tunnels!

Yesterday we went for a drive in a northerly direction along a lovely road that runs next to the sea before heading off on a meandering journey through vleis, farm and flowers before re-joining the sea at the little coastal village of Elands Bay. However, because we were heading towards the sun, all the flowers were facing that way too, and we had to keep peering in the rear view mirror to see how gorgeous they actually were! Anyway, because the road meanders so much, it has several bridges  across the railway line that runs from Saldanha Bay to Sishen, a long straight track that covers 861 kilometres.

As far as the eye can see in both directions.

I used to be terrified of trains, the noise and the size and the power turned me into a gibbering idiot. I remember my mum asking the Station Master at Ealing Broadway Station to please tell me that the trains wouldn't hurt me! Now I love them, I wave to all the drivers and get quite annoyed if they don't hoot and wave back! So every time we passed over the bridges yesterday I stared in both directions to see if anything was coming. Because we had Alfie with us (of course), we headed off the main road at Elands Bay to let him have a run and a drink (and other things) and parked close to the tunnel entrance/exit (depending on which way the train goes!). As we were standing there, a bakkie arrived and a chap leaped out and climbed down the embankment and into the tunnel where he began to hit something with a long metal tool that he had. So, naturally, we stopped him on his way out to find out exactly what he was doing!

The Bobbejaansberg Tunnel.