Our objective for the day was to get to Deelfontein, the site of a major Anglo-Boer field hospital by, as always, the most interesting route that we could find. But first there was still much to see at Melton Wold. The morning was overcast and a cold wind was blowing as we set off for old diamond mine where De Beers had excavated into a patch of blue ground that was apparently similar to that found at Kimberley. The route took us through a part of the farm we had not seen before, past the abattoir, the little church, the farm school and staff quarters. It was very clear that Melton Wold was at once stage an important little service center for that part of the world and many ox wagons and traders would have passed through. The track went on and we could get a good view of the vast empty dam that according to the old photographs in the hotel was once used for boating and fishing. We turned off and drove along the airstrip where a sign and an old ox wagon indicated the route to the mine. The mine was a deep trench cut through a small mound. We wondered why they had stopped. They did find diamonds, but it would not have been possible to find every last one. Surely with the continuous erosion of the trench, diamonds do get exposed at times? Are they ever found and could we maybe find one? We didn't! After half an hour scratching around it got to be very cold and frustrating, especially when not knowing what type of soil to scratch in. It was all very interesting. There was quite a lot of junk and old bits of concrete left lying around. The info brochure said the work was done in 1969, but it looked much older than that. The views from the mound were great, but the wind blew us down! Next we had to look for the excavated fossil that was nearby, so we turned right at the ox wagon. We weren't sure if we were on the right track - there were lots of farm roads or tracks in the area - so we flagged down a sheep herder. What made him different was that he was herding sheep on a 125 cc scrambler. He assured us that the fossil was just a little further down the road before roaring off after his sheep. The ground was flat here and covered with only small stones and low bush and this was a novel, but rather practical way of herding in this type of terrain. We just wondered about the aardvark holes! The fossil itself was put back together by scientists and one wondered what secrets are still lying below this ancient soil. It was a fine example of a Bradysaurus, a mega herbivore from the Permian Period (ended about 250 million years ago!). We now headed back to the farm, but we were thinking about whether this road would get us to Victoria West. Ronel, the owner, was not around, but we had a long chat to the couple who were assisting her at the guest house. Talking about the house, which dated back to the 1830's, made me think about how I could have done some measuring up with students to see just how this old structure had developed from a old dwelling to the present hotel. We were assured that the back road would get us to Victoria West. So we retraced our route, this time going past and not over the airstrip. We intended to turn off to the Kliphuis, a self catering house, which had been burnt down by irresponsible guests, but the gate was securely closed and so well jackal proofed with stones that it was too much work to open it. There weren't many other features along the road, but it was fun driving on what was obviously a direct route to Victoria West from Melton Wold in the old days. At a T junction with a more major gravel road, we turned left and then about 10 km further on this road took us onto the direct gravel road to Victoria West. It was now time for a morning coffee stop and we pulled of the road at the turnoff to a farm called Wolwefontein. The only features were a flowering prickly pear, a working wind pump and a pole mounted security camera. But it was good place to stop for coffee. The white shell of a dead mountain tortoise was a sad reminder of how difficult life is for all creatures in this region while the wind pump's water was the key to life and the dam was overflowing. We didn't quite know what the camera was about, or even that it was a camera. Marianne later said that she was pleased that all she did was go to the wind pump to clean the cups, and did not have to have a pee! Then it was on to Victoria West with the road fortunately staying good. It was an attractive route through some koppies and we passed a few farm gates. Back on the tar, we drove past a dam. There is a sad history connected to this dam. Back in 1871 a torrential cloudburst in the upper catchment of the now insignificant Brak River resulted in a severe flood which was responsible for destroying much of the town and caused more than 60 casualties. We stopped at the Ossewatrek memorial of 1938. This trek, conducted by many wagons from the Cape to Pretoria, for the laying of the corner-stone of the Voortrekker monument, was a major event and had a lot to do with the development of Afrikaner nationalism and unification. We did not want to spend time in Victoria West although this historic gem of a town is well worth a visit, but Marianne insisted that we drive down the back streets to see if the Karoo Deli coffee shop was still going. It was still operating, but we would give it a miss this time. We easily found the gravel road signposted to Brakpoort. The rubbish next to the road going past the township was unbelievable. For fun, I turned into the golf club to see what a golf course looked like in this dry world. No greens but browns - the putting area around the holes is oiled sand! The road follows the railway track and when we passed Fortrug siding, Marianne had just said "I wander if there is a fort here" and there it was, next to a steel railway bridge that also looked as though it dated back to the Anglo-Boer war. We simply had to stop and explore. The fort was typical of the early stone masonry blockhouses built by the British to guard vulnerable points on the Cape railways. This one was expertly built, with superbly dressed stone and projecting steel boxes to provide fire to cover the walls. The entrance was above the ground and could only be accessed by a retractable ladder. It was in very good condition, although the wooden floors were missing. It is said that some 8000 blockhouses of various forms were constructed by the British during the South African War (1899-1902) to guard strategic positions!! Most of us still speak of the Anglo-Boer War! We took plenty of photos and then carried on following the railway line. We were looking for a place for lunch, preferably with shade, and also looking for wood for our intended braai. Finding those to things in this barren world seemed impossible. The road turned away from the railway for a while and at the turn back towards Merriman station we found a number of dead and dying blue gums along the road opposite a farmhouse. We had found a shaded lunch spot and plenty of dead branches to cut for firewood. Very unusual in this part of the world! I was kept busy with our little saw and by the time lunch was finished, we had a full bag of wood. We got back to railway line and headed for Merriman where there was a small community. They were very friendly and we were amused by the colourful row of football jerseys hanging on a line! One of the residents advised us to take the Richmond road and then turn off to Deelfontein, but we decided to take the minor road that followed the railway line instead. It seemed to be continuous on our maps, but we were concerned about locked gates. Just past Merriman we found our second blockhouse. It was a bit more difficult to get to and we had to climb over and under fences to get to it. This one was interesting as it was built out of concrete. Otherwise it was identical to the first one. It was exciting as I had never seen a record of a concrete blockhouse. What a pity we did not have a ladder to get into the interior. After taking photos we carried on and stopped at the various disused sidings along the way - Laken, Sterkaar and Plaatfontein. It was sad to see station buildings stripped of all valuable wood and other materials and some now just a pile of rubble. But the siding nameboards we still there and we photographed all of them. At two of these there were forgotten graveyards. At one of them in the grounds of now disused school building, we found graves of local people with what looked like the military crosses on the British graves and we can only think that they copied this idea. Our GPS made us do a funny detour before we crossed to the north side of the line and so we came to the Deelfontein cemeteries almost by surprise. There were two graveyards. The older of the two contains only 5 graves - the soil was too stony for digging - and in the other there are 128 graves. Most are marked by simple cast iron crosses with a circular plaque giving name, rank, regiment and date of death. Some with no information were unknown graves. There are also some more elaborate headstones. Many deaths seemed to be as a result of enteric fever, now called typhoid. We drove past the old hospital site, that was at the time the largest surgical and convalescent hospital in the Cape Colony. It was below a hill that had the letters IYH (Imperial Yeomanry Hospital) packed in white stones still clearly visible against the slope. From the road nothing of this once significant complex could be seen. Deelfontein was selected as the hospital site, because it was on the main railway line to the north, there was ample fresh water and at the altitude of 1359m the air was dry and clean. Corrugated iron structures and various tents were erected on concrete slabs in the first months of 1900 and there were up to 800 beds and 191 staff (21 doctors). There was an X-ray room, an operating theatre, a a dental unit, an ophthalmology section, dispensary, recuperation wards, a therapeutic "Russian bath" etc. and water and electricity were supplied. This was an amazing feat for that time! Over a period of 12 months more than 6000 patients were treated in this 5 star hospital in the veld. A small group of society women had started a money raising campaign to fund this remarkable facility. Next we came across the ruins of the Yeomanry Hotel. It served as accommodation for visitors from Britain coming to visit the cemetery where their dear ones lay buried under the African sun. The hotel actually dates back to 1883 when a Russian Jew, Elias Adamstein who had visited the famed Matjiesfontein and had been inspired by proprietor Logan's hotel and projects. He bought a piece of land next to the Deelfontein siding and started the Deelfontein Hotel. During the Anglo Boer War the name was appropriately changed to the Yeomanry Hotel. This is now in ruins, although the overly dramatic entrance and elaborately plastered moulded walls remain. We wandered around through the ruined structure and found a room where the walls had been painted with bright colours and the pillars were decorated to look like marble. We disturbed a barn owl sitting on a beam, but it got startled and flew away. When I looked at the picture I had taken, I noticed that there had actually been two barn owls! It was so strange to find this substantial ruined complex built mostly after the war to accommodate relatives of soldiers killed in this futile war who came to visit the graves of their loved ones. It conjured up images of travelers arriving at the station after a long journey from Britain with their luggage and all the activity that goes with it. No doubt the local farmers also enjoyed the facilities of the hotel and the bar must have been a lively place at times! When Elias passed away, his son, Julius took over the running of the hotel and it operated until, as far as we have been able to establish, the late 1970's. There are also a few station buildings and the station master's house, the latter still in fair condition. While we were wondering where to camp, a local farmer came along. Herholdt Bekker insisted that we go to his farm, Gordonsville a couple of kms up the road towards Britstown. It sounded like a better option than the rather inhospitable ruins so we followed him up the hill to his farm. He offered us his very neat guest cottage, but we decided to camp in the shelter of the building. He then headed off to go spraying locusts. We could not believe our luck. Here we were sitting in a wonderfully sheltered spot in a very interesting farmyard and with a magic view of the hills behind the farm bathed in late sunlight. We had water and a toilet. Cape sparrows, redheaded finches and masked weavers were very noisy, but the real show came from hundreds of swifts that were flying backwards and forwards around the shed that was sheltering us. I soon got a fire going on the very handy fireplace (gas bottle cut in half) and we enjoyed our braai - the roadside wood burned very well. We had a good look around the sheds and junk yard. Herholdt Bekker got back just after dark and we had a long chat to him, eventually having to chase him back to his wife. His big double storey house sitting prominently on the hill looked very attractive (we later discovered that he had designed it himself), but was quite far away from where we were. He had been instrumental in setting up the security cameras on the farm roads in the area and it was very interesting hearing about how it worked. Every vehicle moving though the area is monitored from a central control room in De Aar and suspicious looking vehicles are investigated. He mentioned that if we had decided to camp at the ruined hotel the center would have notified him and he would have come to check us out! Good thing we did not "go behind the bush" at the wind pump at our coffee stop earlier that day! We would have been in full view of that camera. We had forgotten about the wind, but as we tucked in we could hear it howling through the trees and we realized just how lucky we were to be on Gordonsville farm and in such a sheltered place.

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