Wednesday 2 June Avontuur line Day 2

After a delightful evening at a private game lodge, we returned to Loerie where we resumed our journey following some shunting of our coal and water supplies.















We proceeded to Gamtoos where the river has cut its way through many metres of red alluvial deposits that consist largely of pebbles. These are loosely concreted together so that even railway cuttings can be driven through.

We proceeded on the Patensie branch up the Gamtoos valley.











Unfortunately, the line is currently not available for use much beyond Hankey, 13 kilometres from Loerie, but the train did cross the bridge just north of Hankey for our benefit.

We saw few animal-powered conveyances in South Africa, but in the Gamtoos valley we spied an ox cart and two donkey carts.

We returned to Loerie for a second night.