We woke at 6.15am to............ sunshine! Please let it stay sunny.
We had breakfast with Gail and then left her place at around 9.30 to drive into the Battlefields area where we are spending the next 2 days. This part of the trip was organised, booked and paid for by G&M but as I explained they are now unable to join us.
Our first stop was Spionkop. This was the site of a British defeat by the Boers in January 1900.
http://battlefields.kzn.org.za/battlefields/about/191.xml
What struck me most was that it is a very beautiful place, and somehow you can't imagine it being a place to fight. There are 360 degree views from the top of the hill - and it is such a clear day we can see along the entire Drakensberg range. Stunning.
We had Spionkop to ourselves, there was nobody else around at all. You can drive right to the top of the hill (yay, no walking!) and then do a self guided trail. It is interesting and also very sad - to see all those graves (mostly mass grave sites) and read how young most of the men were.
I also find it strange that this particular battle was between the Boers and the British - both fighting over something that didn't belong to either of them!
The famous "Kop" stand at Anfield is named after Spionkop, in tribute to the many local people who fell at this battle (the West Lancashire regiment had a large presence there). I only learned this recently! But luckily before we travelled to SA.
So after leaving Spionkop (along a 7km dusty dirt track, of course) we drove through Ladysmith, and had planned to stop there. We decided against this as there was no parking near the museum (which specialises in the Battlefields story) and there didn't seem to be many tourists around... just a working town. We drove through Glencoe and Dundee - where we stopped to get a sandwich at Pick n Pay - and parked up just out of Dundee to eat lunch. Lunch included the biggest custard slice I've ever seen in my life. But we did share it!
Our B&B - Penny Farthing - was about 30kms past Dundee and we arrived there just after 2. Penny Farthing is a lovely property in the middle of nowhere - 2/3kms along a dirt track off the main road - and we were greeted by three dogs barking excitedly as we opened the car doors. It was only 2 days later, back at G&Ms, that we realised one of the dogs had badly scratched the passenger door!
http://www.pennyf.co.za/index.htm
Ann, the housekeeper, greeted us and showed us to our room. It was lovely, and as it was still hot and sunny, we had a little walk round the gardens and sat by the pool to read for a short while. Everywhere we went we were followed by the dogs!
Roy wasn't feeling so good so he had a lie down and then we went out for another walk, venturing further out into the open farmland. It really is tranquil and beautiful here. Foy, the owner and our Battlefield guide for tomorrow, dropped some reading material in at our room and said he would see us at dinner.
We had drinks at 6.30pm and then we all sat down to eat. Dinner is a communal affair with all guests eating with Ann and Foy. Ann is the cook (although she does have a lot of help) but eats very little as she says she would get too fat if she ate the meals she cooked every night. I was starting to suffer with dog allergies as those dogs have the run of the house, including the dining area. But they are nice dogs! The only other guests are a Dutch couple, and they are not on the tour with Foy tomorrow. In fact, it looks like we'll have him to ourselves.
Dinner: Mushroom soup (delicious!) with croutons/ Lamb, sweet potato, broccoli, samp & beans, carrots, cauli, gravy/Strawberry cheesecake and ice cream.
Now, Margaret has been worrying about us driving after dark here. And so she asked us to speak with Foy to make sure that he would have us back off the tour in time for daylight driving. It is a good 3-4 hours back to Durban and sunset is now shortly before 6pm. So he agreed, and said that to "save time" in the morning, we would watch a video whilst having after dinner coffee. The idea is that he gives a lot of background info to the Anglo-Zulu War before the tour commences.
We all went through to the lounge. About 5 minutes into the first film, the dutch lady was fast asleep! I had the "fidgets" and could not keep still. I went to take an antihistamine and came back to the lounge. The film ended and I thought "oh great - bedtime". Foy came back in. Instead of wishing us good night, he put another video in the machine. We watched that. Surely now we can sleep? Not quite. He then came back in and said he would do our "orientation"! This consisted of him telling us where the Boers, Zulus and English were coming from in the months leading up to the Zulu War. So all incredibly interesting, but I'm sure I'll have forgotten everything by tomorrow!
It is a chilly night - the fire has been burning since 6 - but we have electric blankets and sleep well.
