Op die spoor van die generaal. The general, the agterryer and the sweep

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Modderfontein Hairy Krishna time

At Modderfontein (yes where Thandi Modise did not feed her animals) we stopped.  Well, a different part of the old farm.  Here the English captured a Boer canon and killed 5 horses in the attack on the canon, we stopped.  The Agterryers said we should make a circle.  I said Boet, I am to old to scrum any more.  He said, no bigger, with the bikes.  I thought he was hari Krishna and he confused the green with orange.  I thought he might also take out green stuff.  Well we made a circle and we had a live facebook session.  I a dry mielieland!
 
Ek geniet dir RR baie  :thumleft:

Dis amper asof ek my geskiedenis wat ek op skool gehaat (ek beboel gehad) het weer herleef, maar die keer is dit net baie interesanter vir my. ;)
 
OK, a lady in a Land Cruiser stopped and I asked if she is the farmer’s wife.  She said no, she is the farmer!  So we left the nice lady farmer, I think her surname is Boardman and her farm.  We also left the route for the vleispotte van Ventersdorp.  We first made a stop at the old graveyard where we went in search of the grave of the british soldier that fought on Boer side.  Private Shaw.  When burning the farmhouses he protested.  The English officer said he must join the Boer forces then.  Which he did.  After the war the Court marshall would not believe him and he was shot.  Buried in a separate spot about 30m from the other British dead.  So the Veldkornet used his military knowledge and we found his grave.  In between the British graves is the grave of a burger Kock.

 
Is daar enige belang by my uitgebreide ride report of praat ek met myself?

Natuurlik praat jy nie met jouself nie, ons wil bloot nie jou uiters interessante vertelling onderbreek nie. Baie dankie, lees lekker, hoop die einde is ver.
 
Then we went to town to liberate some meat and wine before we went in search of lodging close to the dam, 30km away.  Now we were on this dirt road searching for these cottages when I saw the gate of the named establishment.  The Natal Rebel, previously from Natal, was as always on the outlook for a masala shop.  He was behind me and my sudden total loss of momentum went unnoticed, until he was virtually 500mm behind me.  He swerved and shot passed me.  I never had a bike passing that close to me.  Nearly one accident.  We slept at this fishing lodge.  But because of bad irrigation management the water is a kilometer away.  So no Western Transvaal fishing champion coming from here.
 
OK, look this is hard work.  And I do it for charity.  Loading these pictures takes a lot of time.  Just to later realize the pictures will be gone in a few months (weeks?).  So therefore my enquiry about who is reading.  Secondly not everybody like history.  But we do it a bit differently.  it is look a guided history tour on a bike.  Then some comment.  Daai vlae is behalwe op die koerant foto reg.  Die rooi streep bo, soos dit moet wees.  Ons gaan begin met die laaste dag.  Sodra ek 'n kans kry so deur my besigheid.
 
Dankie dat jy het meeste in Engels gepost het.

Further interesting insight for a rooinek who is still learning  lot about the dubious heroism he was taught about his country's past history.

And a good RR and pics too.  :thumleft:
 
Armpie if I may add, some more interesting facts surrounding private Shaw

https://www.boerenbrit.com/archives/4030
 
Shaw's grave is about 30m to the back of the other British graves.  On the southern wall of the cemetery.  In our search for the grave the Agterryer was tripped by one of the dead.  In accordance with his code name he sweeped into the long grass when one of the ghosts tripped him.
 
So started the last day of the trip.  Shorter than the previous days.  Also with a bit more tar in between.  The start was another cold minus 3 one next to the nearly empty dam.  We went back to where we left the road near Modderfontein. And took the way north.  The farms on the old route clearly visible.  Blesbokfontein, Modderfontein, Uitkyk, Skoolplaats, Swartplaas, Doornplaat, Roodebank, Leliefontein, Groenfontein.  At a stage we briefly got onto the R30 and then on the dirt again.  At one stop the Veldkornet said “Something is not right!  Here something is blownout air!”  So we discovered a stone punctured his rear tyre. We calmly repaired the tyre.  Easy peasy lemon skweegy.

But all was not always so quite on this piece of the world.  In mid August 1900, 600 wagons and 3000 men drove the animals relentlessly over the flat earth.  Many pull animals died in front of the wagons, on the move.  It must have been horrific.  With 50 000 British soldiers on their heels.  They have been on the move for close to a month
Sunrise over the waterless dam.  Minus 3 again



Roodepan- endless plains.  Many animals died here.



An act of defiance


The Veldkornet repairs his tyre


 
We had to leave the line of the route because there is no road straight up to the Magaliesberge.  So we had to pass through Derby.  We had no breakfast.  So we stopped a woman there, and asked where we could get breakfast.  “Ek werk by die bar en maak die kos.  Ek is nou terug!”  So she came back and prepaired Madelein se Brekfis for us, in the bar.  There was a picture of Madeleine.  Then the Sweep went into deep cover.  I did not see him, but a cameraman did.

Madelein, you could not go wrong ordering her


Die Sweep in Deep Cover


[/url
]Die vliegtuig oor, Derby se bar is oop
 
So we continued after the breakfast.  Up the Kareekloof.  Beautiful but rock after 4 days of flat.  The original route was taken on two sides to our left and right, but that tar these days.  By the Selonsrivier the convoy outspanned for a day.  The good work by Danie Theron and the Western Transvaal Piet Liebenberg destroyed the british communication and intelligence structures and the nearest British was 20km away. 
Kareekloof
 
Here at Selonsrivier Capt Muller shot a terentaal and was fined 1 pound because the bullet went in the direction of President Steyn.  De Wet walked back to find Muller and gave him back his pound.  The mountain is really beautiful here.
 
Great vertelling! so tussen die RR en  Minxy se aanloop, word daar min gewerk op die vrydag. Gooi nog!
 
It so happens that Gen. de Wet was my great, great Uncle.

Until about 10 years ago my parents (who live in the UK) owned a house in Smithfield, OFS which was situated next door to his birthplace.
 
At Selonsrier the scouts indicated that Olifantsnek is held by 300 men from the Pretoria Commando.  The British Colonel Ian Hamilton made a mistake.  He would make as a general another one, 15 years later.  This one at Gallipoli.  In that 300 Pretoria men holding the nek, I have a fair suspicion that my great grandfather Gert Bezuidenhout and his brother Tom were included.

So we went up the tar road at Olifanstnek and up the hill. The original road run where the dam wal is today.  But a victory is a victory.  Technically the escape was over when the wagons dispersed at Waterval, Pres. Kruger’s farm.  Just over the hill. But ours were not.

 
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