Bring jou gesin, tent en kamptoerusting.Kom geniet ‘n naweek van goeie musiek en sprekers wat weet hoe kwaliteit familietyd werk. Potjiekos & Pap = R30. Skaapbraaipakkies te, koop op terrein = R30 elk. Opbouende kindervermaak word aangebied

DIEN JOU GESIN MET GOD AS MIDDELPUNT.
ELKE HUIS HET SY KRUIS.
25-27 NOVEMBER 2011.
RAYTON OMGEWING.

7 SPREKERS 2 LOF- EN AANBIDDINGS- ORKESTE .
GRATIS TOEGANG DAGBESOEKERS WELKOM. GESINSKAMP

.

KAMPGERIEWE :
Mans en dames
mobiele toilette
Warm storte
Sentrale kragpunte
Gesamentlike braaiarea
Vars boorgatwater
Gratis hout

GPS : S 25 44? 59. 64?
E 28 35? 58. 52?

GESINSKAMP

NAWEEK PROGRAM

VRYDAG

19:00
Lof- en aanbiddingsorkes begin.
Tussen die liedjies gee die sprekers elkeen ‘n 10 minute voorsmakie van waaroor hul spreekbeurt die volgende dag sal wees.
19:00
Erich Posthumus (Norman) vermaak die kinders
20:30
Jan de Wet bespreek familie kwessies.

SATERDAG

06:00 – 06:30
Francois Botha verskaf rustige worship musiek met klavier en sang. Wat ‘n lekker manier om jou dag saam met ons Vader te begin!
GENIET ‘N RUSTIGE OGGEND

09:00
Erich Posthumus (Norman) vermaak die kinders.

09:00 – 11:30
Skakel in by 1 van 3 gesprek areas saam met Harro Rust / Vicky-Anne Serfontein / Chris Serfontein.

13:00
Oom Karoolus en Lente vermaak die kinders.

GENIET ‘N RUSTIGE MIDDAG – BRAAI, ENS.

14:00 – 16:00
Skakel in by 1 van 3 gesprek areas saam met Cecelia de Wet / Jandre Swanepoel / Laugh Your Way To A Better Marriage dvd.

19:00
Steyn & Ghapi + orkes met UNLIMITED en musiek van die LOOF HOM INNIBOS-konsert.

19:00
Erich Posthumus (Norman) vermaak die kinders.

SONDAG

Staan rustig op en indien jy wil, neem jou gesin na die verhoog waar jul gesalf kan word. Dit is nie verpligtend nie.

STEYN : 083 558 4947
www.familiesunlimited.co.za       WEB DESIGN www.adssa.co.za 

GESINSKAMP RAYTON

SAFE VENUES - SOUTH AFRICA

Safe lodges and Safe game lodges in South Africa.
Focusing on security may not always be the first item on our agenda, but it became a factor in South Africa. Especially when you are out there in the bush and you do not have neighbours at shouting distance.
Safe game lodges and safe game farms is a must for tourists visiting South Africa. Game lodges attract thousands of international tourists and it is our responsibility as South African citizens to ensure their safety.

All Game lodges should be listed on VSR ( Venue Safe Rating). Game lodge ownwers can register on the VSR website where they can obtain a Venue Safe Rating.

First page ranking on Google was never that easy!

If you are a Game Lodge owner, make sure that you get listed today! Safe lodges and safe Game Lodges will be listed on the VSR database. Vsr is not a security business, but a internet base database where venue owners can do a self assessment by completing a questionare and subscribing to the VSR database.

Get listed as a Safe Lodge or Safe Game Lodge

All venue owners can register:
Safe Accommodation
Safe Venues
Safe Restaurants
Safe Game Lodges
Safe Lodges
Safe Accommodation 2010
Accommodation 2010

 
Contact us now at 012 547 6893 or 082 5558 122

Visit our website at http://www.vsr.co.za
SAFE LODGES & SAFE GAME LODGES

CLICK IMAGE FOR OUR WEBSITE

Tree service in Pretoria and Johannesburg South Africa

See the Uban Tree Services below:

Crown Reduction:
The ends of all branches are reduced, in length, back to suitable ‘growth points’ (side branches). As a result the entire tree crown is reduced, in size and volume, whilst retaining the natural shape of the species. This procedure is usually stipulated in terms of a percentage rarely more than 25%.
Crown Thinning Tree Service:
Branches are removed from within the tree crown in order to make it uniformly less dense. The natural shape of the tree is completely unaffected but the wind resistance is reduced and more light allowed to filter through. This procedure is usually stipulated in terms of a percentage, rarely more than 30%. This is a very effective way prohibiting a tree from falling ,especially in unpredictable weather conditions

Crown Lifting Tree Service:
Increasing the gap between ground level and the crown. This is normally achieved by removing the lowest branches of the crown, to a specified height.
Felling Tree Service:
Causing a tree to fall under control by carefully making a series of cuts at the base of the trunk.
Sectional Felling Tree Service:
Carefully dismantling a tree in small sections. This operation is usually undertaken by making use of pulley and rope techniques as well as the structure of the tree itself for skilled branch removal.
Dead Wooding Tree Service:
The removal of dead or dying branches usually for safety and aesthetics. Larger dead branches can be safely retained (in order to provide habitat for birds and insects) by reducing their length and weight.
Hedge Cutting Tree Service:
Hedges of any size can be topped and trimmed to your specific dimensions.
Formative Pruning Tree Service:
The formation of a healthy stem and branch framework in very young trees. Achieved by carefully selecting and removing diseased wood, congested and rubbing branches and weak branch unions. Correct formative pruning can dramatically reduce the chances of disease, structural weakness and branch failure as the tree matures.

Stump Removal Tree Service:
Either by ‘grubbing out’ by hand (if the stump is small enough), employing a stump grinding machine (if the stump is large) or poisoning the stump and allowing it to slowly decay over time. All pruning cuts comply to modern arboricultural principles which limit, as much as possible, the impact of tree surgery on tree health
Veteran Tree Management Tree Service:
Veteran trees are ancient specimens in the final stage of their life. Because of their old age they provide us with significant biological, aesthetic and cultural interest. The vitality of veteran trees is normally slowing and they are frequently in a dangerous condition. As a result the temptation is often to remove them.

With careful planning and ongoing management UTC can help you safely preserve your old trees in an attractive state. One of the most recent developments in veteran tree management as a tree service is the use of Natural Fracture Techniques (NFT).

A NFT is a pruning cut that mimic the jagged edges character esthetically seen on broken branches following storm damage. When looking more natural than conventional pruning cuts they provide wonderful habitat for a myriad of fungi, insects and birds whilst removing any structural weakness.

Urban Tree Care is a fully insured, Johannesburg based tree service company with a safe and professional approach to all aspects of tree pruning, tree felling and other tree related work in the north of Johannesburg.

We guarantee you a tree service team of highly qualified staff with expert arboricultural knowledge, years of commercial tree work experience and genuine interest in horticulture. UTC is a fully insured, JHB based company with a safe and professional approach to all aspects of our work . Our pricing is competitive, our advice and quotations are absolutely free!
Our tree services include the following.

We will fell or maintain any type and size of tree!

We are at your service , 24 hours, 7 days a week!

Our fully insured service will give you great peace of mind, although we have a perfect accident free history!

We are based in Johannesburg, Gauteng South Africa and service the whole of South Africa.

We cater for domestic and industrial clients with any size and number of trees.

All our safety , tax requirements, letter of goodstanding and public andpersonal liabilities are in place.

Tree service, Tree Felling and Tree Surgery Experts at your doorstep!

LOCATIONS for our tree service.

UTC undertakes tree surgery throughout Johannesburg including Midrand and Centurion .

Tree service Atholl, Tree service Tree service Brainstone,Tree service Benmore Gardens, Broadacres A.H., Craighall Park, Tree service Carlswald, Tree serviceChantwell A.H., Tree service Dunkeld, Tree service Duxberry, Tree service Dainfern, Tree service Fourways, Tree service Fourways Gardens, Tree service Greenside, Tree service Gallo Manor, Tree service Hyde Park, Tree service Houghton Estate, Tree service Inanda, Tree service Khyber Rock, Tree service Kyalami A.H., Tree service Kyalami Estate, Tree service Lone Hill, Tree service Melrose, Tree service Morningside,Tree service Norwood, Tree service Parktown, Tree service Parkhurst, Tree service Parkmore, Tree service Parkview, Tree service Petervale, Tree service Rivonia, Tree service River Club, Tree service Sandhurst, Tree service Sandown,Tree service Sandton, Tree service Strathaven, Tree service Sunninghill, Tree service Sadenham, Tree service Vorna Valley, Tree service Wierda Valley, Tree service Woodmead Estate, Tree service Woodlands, and Tree service Witkoppen.

Tree Services Pretoria and Tree Services Johannesburg

Mbl (JHB) : 082 893 0760
Mbl (PTA) : 083 656 4992

We supply the personal touch and the loving attention that will lead to a full and unforgettable recovery.

AlcariCare is a professionally run bridging house for people needing full time, out of hospital care. We are open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

This sought after house replicates a home environment where people can come to regain strength after an illness or surgery.
 
We supply the quality attention that will make people feel loved and cared for after medical trauma or when physical improvement is required.

Situated in Clubview, just off the Old Johannesburg Road, close to the N14 and 3 kilometers away from Unitas Hospital.

AlcariCare also operates as a Guest House for family members of guests needing to be close to the hospital where their loved ones are being treated.

We take pleasure in lavishing attention on and providing a safe place for the older guests to stay short-term while their care givers needs to have a well deserved break.

We also provide anonymous care for people that do not want attention from the outside when they have had cosmetic surgery. Your privacy will be respected and protected.

This is an environment where you can feel at home.

Our team consists of a Senior Person, two Caregivers, a Night shift Caregiver and a fulltime Chef.

Home: AlcariCare is based in a sleepy suburban area. There are rolling green lawns and shady spots in the garden, and a tranquil water feature close to the tables and umbrellas, to facilitate a sense of well being, rest and recuperation. We have a wonderful deck where you can sit and sip a cool drink, play various games, or read your favorite book.

Food: Three meals a day will be served in the dining area. Room service will be provided at management’s discretion.
All dietary requirements will be met with healthy, tasty and fresh food prepared daily by our in-house chef. A tea and coffee station will be open twenty four hours per day, every day. Fresh fruit and a water fountain with purified water will always be available.

Rooms: The home has six rooms with two single beds in each room and two rooms with double beds. All rooms have TV, air conditioners/heaters, refreshment station and en-suite bathrooms. Rooms can be arranged to individual requirements. Each room is decorated in calm colors and is equipped with hand knitted blankets, winter or summer sheets and a bell
to call for assistance.

Care: Assisted care at meals, in the bathrooms and in the bedrooms.
Care of extremities in casts
Back and pressure points routine daily
Nail and hair care
Wound dressing done if supplied
Blood pressure and temperature monitoring
Twenty four hour contact with your Doctor, Specialist.
Dedicated night shift Caregiver from 19h00 to 07h00.
Special wheel chair for bathrooms access if required.
Activity room and satellite TV in the lounge.

Transport will also be available for scheduled trips to the shops, doctor’s rooms and hospital.

After a delightful stay with us, we will take you home if you live in the Johannesburg or Pretoria area.

203 Riverton Avenue, c/o Oxford, Clubview, Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa

Telephone number
+27 (0) 12 660 0673

Cell phone number
Alida +27 (0) 83 433 3937

Website: http://www.alcaricare1.moonfruit.com

Please feel free to visit us at any time, without an
appointment, to view our facilities.

AFTER MEDICAL CARE GUEST HOUSE CENTURION

Restaurant Durban. Restaurant Pinetown

Used to be known as “La Brasserie” and changed it’s name to Earl’s on the 1 September 2007 when the new owner Earl Whelan took over.

Here in the heart of Pinetown we offer a cozy pub, fully licensed restaurant known for it’s ambience. We have a  patio area with big screen and beer garden.   Our venue (Earl’s ) is open every day from 10am till late.  We cater for all staff and family functions.

We have an extensive menu catering for all tastes.  Every item on the menu is available as a take-away.  Take a look at the menu on this web site.Vegetarians are also catered for.

Earl’s is popular for live music and has recently started an “unplugged” musicians night every Monday from 8pm.  Bands like Double Axle, Byte Size, Cosmic Cowboys  and the Adam (Fig Leaf Entertainment) recently made a turn here.  Our Karaoke is taking off with a speed!.  Sunday lunch time in the beer garden is great fun with the band.

Pinetown Restaurants. Restaurants Durban. Entertainment Pinetown.

This page is sponsored by SA Towns and ADSSA. Advertise on the Internet – Free advertising here.

Many international and local visitors find it comfortable to book accommodation in fourways sandton.  It is very close to the Oliver Tambo airport and makes it easy for tourists and visitors for overnight accommodation. However accommodation near fourways in Sandton normally requires a stay for a little bit longer. Attractions in the area makes it worth the while for tourists to extend their accommodation at Nelsons B&B near fourways for a few days.

Nelsons Accommodation Fourways

Sandton, which caters for all the shopping needs of tourists, is only  short distance from this excellent accommodation near fourways. 

Nelsons B&B and fine accommodation will make your stay not only comfortable but also introduce the real South African culture and hospitality you  can expect from this friendly rainbow nation.

Accommodation Fourways  and B&B Fourways .

Great comfortable rooms will welcome your stay at Nelsons accommodation near Sandton Johanesburg.

Whether you search for Nelsons, accommodation fourways, accommodation midrand, b&b fourways or b&b midrand on the search engines, you will certainly find this awesome venue,  from where you can plan your traveling and plan the rest of your holiday or trip.

Accommodation Midrand / Fourways B&B

Being on the outskirts of Johannesburg, Nelsons accommodation near Fourways, Sandton, Johannesburg  enable you to reach other destinations like Pretoria easily .  Nelsons b&b is close to the main freeways and easy access to these, without struggling through the city traffic makes it a popular accommodation and b&b venue.  Nelsons fine accommodation and b&b  creates the tranquility and a country style atmosphere that enable you to relax and have peace.

NELSONS FINE ACCOMMODATION FOURWAYS \ B&B FOURWAYS

Other attractions like the Coca Cola Sundome and  the very popular Montecasino is not far from Nelsons fine accommodation and b&b. The Montecasino entertainment centre, along with its many restaurants and cinemas , is probably the the largest visitor attraction at Fourways.  Outstanding shopping malls , including the Fourways shopping mall is surely a great benefit for tourists staying at Nelsons accommodation fourways b&b. Situated between the Midrand office parks and shopping centres of Sandton.  Fourways are right next to the N1 Highway that leads to Pretoria in the north or to Johannesburg in the south. This ensure easy access to the soccer and rugby stadiums.

FINE ACCOMMODATION in FOURWAYS JOHANNESBURG

With a Venue Safe Rating of 4 , means that the owners of this accommodation in fourways  are thinking about your safety as a tourist.  A VSR or Venue Safe Rating is a grading system for accommodation and restaurant safety. Nelsons is the first accommodation venue in the Fourways area to be listed on the Venue Safe Rating Database. This unique database consists of venues which the owners are prepared to be graded by a self assessment system by answering a few security questions regarding the safety of their visitors and guests. Accommodation venues in fourways  should all be listed on this database , as international tourists are looking for “Safe Venues” (accommodation, restaurants and shops) to visit. Requests for these are made on a daily basis on websites like SA Towns Accommodation and Image Gallery  ,a  tourist organisation as well as AlWINCO, a Security Risk Assesment company.

Contact Nelsons for Accommodation in Fourways Johannesburg today!

Nelsons accommodation at Fourways ner Sandton, Johannesburg  is a great holiday accommodation venue which caters for young and old. Activities includes swimming,  a 18 hole mini golf course , bird watching, walking and trout fishing on a neighboring  accommodation venue.  Self catering units are available and includes bed and breakfast.

Do not miss this fine accommodation and b&b venue at Fourways when you visit South Africa

You can easily find it by searching on Google and Yahoo. Nelsons fie accommodation b&b Fourways,  is listed on the destinations listings and blogs of SATOWNS. Visit the SATOWNS website for great pictures of the Kruger National Park, Drakensberg Mountains, Namib Desert and other great destinations.

ACCOMMODATION FOURWAYS SANDTON JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA

B&B FOURWAYS

Nelsons  – Fine Accommodation Bed & Breakfast

Set in 33 acres of tranquil park-like surrounds, ideally situated halfway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, yet close enough to Sandton’s shops and nightlife. Above all Nelsons offers you a peaceful home from home atmosphere rarely found so close to a world class city. Nelsons is the ideal venue for a relaxing stay in the country, your dream wedding, important conferences and much more…
Great accommodation near Oliver Tambo Airport. Close to Sandton and Johannesburg. The perfect Bed & Brakfast accommodation in JHB (Johannesburg) for tourists, visitors, reps etc.

We have a VSR (Venue Safe Rating) meaning that we have assessed our occommodation for your safety.

Have a safe, comfortable stay at Nelsons Bed and Breakfast .

Accommodation Johannesburg, Sandton, South Africa

Click here to visit our website or phone 073 690 8877, 083 684 6145, 072 451 2348

Tourists and visitors to South Africa can travel and stay safe in South Africa , provided that they adhere to a few principals.

The current wave of crime in South Africa is a serious problem, not only for the locals but also for prospective  tourists and other international visitors.

Visitors and tourists to South Africa can have a relaxed and safe holiday by doing a bit of planning and preparation before they visit this beautiful country.

First of all, make sure that the accommodation, restaurant, shop or any other venue you visit,  have a VSR or  a Venue Safe Rating™. You can visit the VSR database  (Venue Safe Rating ™  Database) to view the venues that have  been rated and listed to assure a better, safer and relaxed holiday when you visit South Africa.

Venue Safe Rating ™ or the VSR.CO.ZA website, allows  owners of venues like hotels, guest houses, holiday accommodation venues, conference venues, shops,  training facilities, and other venues and routes, to indicate to tourists and visitors, how safe their venues are.

Safe venues has  become an important issue for visitors and tourists with the increased crime situation in South Africa. Many enquiries about safe venues and restaurants caused a need to create a Safe Venue database. The Venue Safe Rating ™ database and VSR.CO.ZA website collects information based on a few questions , answered by owners of these venues like accommodation , shops and restaurants. This information is used to calculate a rating out of 5, to indicate how safe a venue is. Generally , any rating between 1 and 5 should be fairly safe for tourist and visitors. A venue Safe Rating of 1 is not necessarily  a bad rating. At least, the owner of such a venue is prepared to answer these questions and is therefore a indication that he is  concerned about the safety of  his clients.

The Venue safe Rating can be increased by having a proper security risk assessment done by a professional   like ALWINCO.

South Africa is a beautiful country with many awesome places to visit and great people. South Africans are friendly and warm people who are always prepared to accommodate visitors and tourists. Make your visit to South Africa an unforgettable experience by using facilities with a VSR rating, ensuring that you  use safe facilities that are available throughout South Africa.

A venue Safe Rating will give most tourists the assurance and comfort they need to visit and stay at certain venues when they tour this country.

Venue Safe Rating ™ logos and certificates will also be displayed by members of the VSR database.

Tourists and other visitors should lookout for these VSR signs and also insist on a Venue Safe Rating when they visit any place to stay , eat or shop.

VSR (Venue Safe Rating ™) is not an indication that a place is perfectly safe, but surely and indication that the owner of such a venue is doing something to protect his client from unnecessary situations.

They database for Venue Safe Rating ™ will soon be populated and can be viewed at the vsr.co.za website.

This database will be available for all members of public as well as organisations like travel agencies and booking agents.

Prepare and plan a safe holiday and visit to South Africa.

Venue Safe Rating ™ (VSR) will be your first tool in this preparation exercise .

Remember to send this article to a friend who intends to visit any accommodation venue, resataurant, shops, or any other venue in South Africa.

Have a safe holiday

The Venue Safe Rating™ Team

Web design & Web Advertising   012 547 6893

Search Engine Optimisation +27 12 547 6893

Free advertising http://www.adssa.co.za

12 km from Capetown CBD and Waterfront.

Tariff : R650 per day, Max 4 persons.

Phone: Ernie 082 566 7299

Ernst 083 444 3454

Annamarie 083 457 8722

Advertise on SA Towns

Affordable & Effective

Gerieflike 1 slaapkamer grondvloer woonstel in Bloubergstrand te huur vanaf 1 Des 07 tot 25 Jan08.

Tenvolle gemeubileer, slaap 2, maar 2 kindertjies kan in die sitkamer oorslaap op matrassies. Aparte badkamer, enkele parkering beskikbaar. Laundromat en veilige swembad op die perseel asook tennisbaan.

5 min ry van strand by Sunset Beach en 10 minute van Bloubergstrand met restaurante ensomeer. 1

2 km van Kaapstad sentraal en Waterfront. Tarief R650/dag, maks 4 persone.

Skakel: Ernie 082 566 7299

Ernst 083 444 3454

Annamarie 083 457 8722

Click here for SA Towns Image Gallery

Checking up on spectres of the open road…
Where Free State, Great Karoo and Little Karoo
Contacts
Klaarstroom Guest House  023 541 1474
Mossievale B&B  049 891 0296
Japie se Huis 051 7730050

“A quest to find ghostly hitch-hikers” That was Cronje’s description of our trip to Meiringspoort via Willowrnore and Uniondale to “check up”on the hitch-hiker ghost stories that haunt this “isolated and beautiful corner of the Klein Karoo.”
Cronje, of course, snared by tangled interpretations of these unexplained legends, recalled Basil Conradie and his “missing” girlfriend. Basil once lived somewhere between Molshoop and Arniston on the coast, or “some such place.”
Basil, Cronj’e told me, skidded off a hairpin on the Bloukrans Pass near Nature’s Valley. Crashing through the barrier at the apex of a bend, he ploughed through the monkey rope-draped yellowwood trees and landed, widely separated from his bike, in a ravine below. As Basil recalled the incident, “I was leaning into this hairpin. The next thing, the bike, Julia and I flew over the edge. That was it. I thought we were gone.”
The trouble, said Cronj’e, was Basil’s prolonged concussion. He only realised two weeks later that Julia was missing. Although he’d found his motorcycle submerged in the stream below, she, who had been clinging to his waist as they tumbled into the abyss, was “gone”
Stories like this cause me to roll my eyes and change the subject. But Cronje was adamant. Basil Conradie’s loss of the “great love of his life” so closely replicated the Uniondale hitch-hiker legend that he decided to”check”the Uniondale story himself. So we left Pretoria on our ghost-busting mission, heading as usual – when we travel to the Karoo – for Edenburg, Trompsburg, Phillippolis, Colesberg and, finally, Graaff-Reinet.
Graaff-Reinet, said Cronje, was a good launching point for locating phantom motorcycle hitch-hikers. But in Graaff-Reinet Cronje found himself diverted by another
legend – that of Lucas Borman, the “gifted” cabinetmaker. Lucas chiselled “fine” furniture – now worth “thousands and thousands”of rands – in the late 19th Century from old Cleghorne and Harris packing cases.
“Most of Cleghorne’s merchandise was shipped from overseas, “explained Cronje. “Lucas dismantled the large packing cases they came in and used the wood to construct ornately carved sideboards and wardrobes.”
What appealed to Cronje most was Lucas’s tendency to fit mismatched doorhandles to his creations, one pointing this way, the other that. South Africa’s fourth-oldest newspaper, the Graaff-Reinet Advertiser, once carried an article on the mismatched door handles.In the Felix Lategan Museum in the Old Residensie in Graaff-Reinet, a wardrobe door opens the wrong way because it was the only handle he had,”said the report.
After booking into Mossievale, Cronje’s favourite Graaff-Reinet B&B, we found Chippy Joseph sweeping the pavement outside it; two short sweeps followed by the usual longer sweep. Sweep, sweep, sweeeeep… sweep, sweep, sweeeeep.
Cronje found the rhythm soothing and, after watching Chippy for a while, felt inclined to retire “once and for all” to Graaff-Reinet so that he could sweep the pavement in front of his own house too. It was over a monstrous Karoo breakfast the following morning that Chippy elaborated on Lucas’s packing case furniture.
“He only made five of these sideboards,” he said, pointing at the stained sideboard that dominated the dining room of his Park Street guest cottage. “Her grandfather,” he says, pointing at a black-framed sepia portrait of his wife, Elsie, “paid £10 for it. Lucas” he explains, fondling the ornate flower motif on the door, “used only one pattern on his furniture, so wherever you see this flower pattern, you know it’s Graaff-Reinet furniture.”
Discovering mismatched handles on furniture worth thousands and thousands of rand became an exciting diversion, but not as exciting as an experience we’d had the preceding day. Cronje swore that as we were entering Bloernfontein at dusk, he saw a snowflake drift through the main beam of his bike.
I, of course, ridiculed this observation. “It was just sleet.” “No,”he said,”it was snow. Really.” We’d travelled a long and hard road. Rain, as fine as desert sand, had spattered our visors, exploding and fragmenting the oncoming headlights into starry fragments. So I didn’t argue. Anyway, by the time we arrived in Bloernfontein in the freezing Free State winter, Cronje had started hallucinating. “We’re being followed,”he muttered, removing his soaked scarf, “by our own personal rain cloud. Wherever we go, it rains”
CronjeV’personarrain cloud followed us devotedly the next day. We continued into a frost-encrusted morning lashed by a south-easterly blizzard that whipped the N1 like a demented spirit (and shoved our machines left and right as we deviated onto the familiar old main road to Cape Town through the Groot Karoo).

Cottage waiting for an overhaul in the village of Klaarstroom.
Karoo cenery north of Graaff-Reinet and not a hitch-hiker in sight.
Sharp turn in the road near new Bethesda.
C.J. Langenhoven’s “Herrie” replicated outside a restaurant in De Rust
Chippy Joseph doing the morning chore outside his guest cottage in Graaff-Reinet.
Example of Lucas Borman’s fine packing case furniture.

Cronje’s”personal”cloud attacked usagain in Edenburg as we chugged passed the Eish Drankwinkel, an institution neatly situated on the main street across the road – and a pavement that needed weeding – from a pristine church. Then, enjoying a minor respite from the drizzle, we set off along Cronje’s favourite Karoo road, identifiable by its extensive network of cracks, to Trompsberg. Cronje said the cracks reminded him of “varicose veins that laced the old tar road together into a corset. They serve a definite purpose,” he explained.
We paused in our fight against the elements in Trompsberg, visiting Emmie van der Berg the town librarian. Emmie served us cups of hot tea and showed us the hole in the library ceiling caused by a “huge storm one night” the previous summer. The water destroyed shelves and shelves of books, “And,”says Emmie with a sigh,”things take so long to fix in a small town.”
As we arrived in Philippolis our personal cloud lost all its shame and restraint and drove us for cover into Oom Japie se Huis, a restaurant located on the left past the historic white church, just beyond the kink in the main road.
Cronje mollified himself over a bowl of creamy rich tomato soup. “It’s obviously made from farm-grown organic tomatoes,” he said, crunching on the first of four thick slices of home-baked brown toast.
After overnighting in Graaff-Reinet, we departed for Aberdeen, Willowmore and Uniondale. Cronje felt no ghostly arms clutching his waist, saw no apparitions, no extended thumbs or buxom brunettes; just clouds, rain, more clouds, and then De Rust, snug in the armpit of the Swartberg Mountains, a writhing convulsion of stone cloaked in roiling clouds and purple turmoil.
In Meiringspoort we survived Spook Drif and Wit Perd Drif, where a rabbi disappeared in a flood, the “hanging” incident at Finger Rock and the pool where a smous drowned, but saw no hitch-hiker.
After threading the stone alleys and corridors of this rock-patterned pass, we discovered Klaarstroom at the other end.
What impressed Cronje about Klaarstroom was the “old village,”which was small enough for Jeremy and Sharon WitTS-Hewinson, co-owners of the Klaarstroom Guest House, to name all its residents. “Let me see,”Sharon said, “there’s Jeremy and Edwina and I, and Derek, the shopkeeper, and his wife, Estelle, and Graham and Liz… and Lesley. That’s eight.’
But the enduring attraction for Cronje of our overnight stay in the village was Sharon’s kitchen supper. He warmed himself over an ancient Aga stove and, warmed and food-filled, proclaimed his quest for ghostly hitch-hikers on the Uniondale road unfufilled.”No hitch-hiker would travel in this weather,” he declared.
Article and pictures from : South African Country Life August 2007 page 62,63,64

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