TOPIC:

My son and I drove the 330km between Lady Grey and Matatiele today passing through places well known from the histories and units of the Boer War. We passed the towns of Barkly East, Elliot and Maclear and saw signs to many others such as Tsolo, Rhodes, Cala, Indwe, Queenstown, New England and Dordrecht.

The countryside was amazing. It ranged between high mountains, deep gorges, some of the highest mountain passes in South Africa, rolling hills and flat basins. It made me realise what a role the scouts and DMT played in the war through their patrolling and fighting in these parts and also the enormous distances traversed by the commandos carrying all their equipment and supplies with them. With so many places to easily hide large bodies of men and horses it brought home Stirling's frequently used phrase that units often did a lot of hard work in the areas in which they operated.

The high sections of the route were at 2,000m and when the mist descended it cut visibility to a few tens of metres.

David, whilst you find yourself at Matatiele, are you by any chance coming via Durban? If so we could possibly meet up?

That would be really but I don't think we will have time tomorrow as we need to be back at the airport in the afternoon.

I will come back and spent more time in KZN on my next visit when I want to focus on the Defence of Ladysmith. Hopefully, we can meet up then?

Best wishes
David

That would be great and I could share my Ladysmith bits. Accommodation is not a problem either and I could provide, maybe even a medal meeting with the boys could be on the cards. Regards, Mike

And perhaps a few of us from Simon's Town could also make the trip !!