The route now took me north again slowly working my way home, their was soft drizzle but not enough to make one wet or uncomfortable and the roads were still in good shape. I had plenty of fuel so skipped heading into Theunissen and instead hugged the Vetrivier. The proximity of the river made the valley nice and green. Out of the blue I saw an old ox wagon on the side of the road with a sign. I turned around to investigate. It seems this was the old "highway" for ox wagons that lead to Bloemfontein. Looking back up the hill one could still see some clearings showing that it certainly was used at some point. It seems back in 1938 an re enactment of the Groot Trek also took place from Cape Town to Pretoria. I'm not sure if this was a wagon that made the journey but it certainly seems to date from that time or even earlier.
Vetrivier was also where a battle that took place on the 4-5th May 1900. I took a picture of the positions of both Boer and Brit. There is also a memorial with names of those who died at this battle. In fact this whole area is quite rich in history from the late to early 1900's. Interesting none of these places are marked on maps or even Google Earth images that I searched for when plotting the route. One crosses many small bridges with streams running into the Vetrivier. Each little drif had a family of Vervet Monkeys chilling in the road until they heard the XT then they high tailed it into the nearest tree at lightning speed !
Vetrivier was also where a battle that took place on the 4-5th May 1900. I took a picture of the positions of both Boer and Brit. There is also a memorial with names of those who died at this battle. In fact this whole area is quite rich in history from the late to early 1900's. Interesting none of these places are marked on maps or even Google Earth images that I searched for when plotting the route. One crosses many small bridges with streams running into the Vetrivier. Each little drif had a family of Vervet Monkeys chilling in the road until they heard the XT then they high tailed it into the nearest tree at lightning speed !
