Letseng 4 X 4 - Lesotho - 9 - 11 Nov 2018

Hair Raising Hairpin Bends

The long awaited 4 X 4 trip is here.

Richard is like really excited about this.

We Crossed This River Many Times

Firstly the running boards had to come off the Toyota and guess what? With a workshop full of tools and gadgets, there is no 12 mm socket in any of the sets. Not that they are missing. They just don't come with a 12 mm socket. It was then off to the hardware but at last the running boards were off.

Road Block

Looking Back At Our Track

Friday morning we left at about 8 am and reached the border at Caledonspoort border post. Quick and easy. Nothing required even though we had everything in order. Triangles, Fire extinguisher, NATIS documents. Bet if we did not have them, we would be asked for them.

The drive to the Oxbow Lodge is only about 75 km but we traveled through these tiny villages and had to be very careful of their cattle and sheep next to the road. The hairpin bends are plenty so it was a slow process into the mountains.

Basotho Herdsman

The Oxbow Lodge has no electricity so a generator is used from 5 - 10 in the morning and then in the evening again. The water is warmed by an enormous donkey boiler but we were never without hot water. It was amazing to see so many people accommodated with no electricity - they were not even aware of it. Also no MTN and only Lesotho

Afriski - 3225m Above Sea Level

Vodacom. It was heaven with no phone the entire weekend.

Saturday morning we set off on the A1 and just past the Letseng
Diamond Mine we turned into the mountains. A quick recap on when to use H4 and L4 and we were set.

A Village Deep In The Mountains

Oxbow Lodge

An exciting day of driving on the edge of the mountain to traversing the river time and again. Something we will always remember as part of the bucket list.

Bring on the next trip.

August to November 2018 - Clay Target Shooting Season

Ruresta Guesthouse

This has been a whorl wind three months of shooting and even though we have a super time it makes me very grateful for my bed and I really appreciate our home.

25th & 26th August - Free State Standards - We stayed at the Ruresta Guest house which was very

Stablewood Lodge

comfy but Bloemfontein is cold so at night we had to snuggle up indoors. Richard shot well the first day but the wind is a big factor here and the next day the scores went out the window.

15 & 16 September - Northern Cape Standards - I always enjoy Errol and everyone at De Beers Gun Club. We stayed very close to the Shooting range this time - about 6km - at the Stablewood Lodge. Quaint, Comfortable. Richard shot really well both days.

Villa de Vie

6 & 7 October - Western Cape Standards - We left a few days early so that we could get some training from Coenie. On the way down we stayed at the Grand Hotel in Laingsburg where we also had breakfast. We had an apartment all to ourselves at Villa de Vie. Lovely. That evening we felt the
consequences of a "green" breakfast. We spent the rest of our week on the loo and over the basin. Richard did not even shoot on the Sunday and by then I was a bit better and could drive as far as Beaufort West. We did have one good evening when we went to an Indian Restaurant in Durbanville with Frank Crane. It is one hell of a trip by car and we are seriously not going to drive down again.

Al Thandiwe

27 & 28 October - Limpopo Standards - Our accommodation this weekend was the Loanely Oaks Hotel which I don't really like but it is convenient with the guns. We both had brilliant shooting
scores, lovely weather, good company at dinner time with James, Brendon and Alberico in the evenings. On our way back on the Monday we stopped in Nylstroom which is now Modimolle and visited with Loggie and Ada. Ada of course did loads of cake and we were sorry that we did not have more time with them.

3 &  4 November - Maccauw Compak - Our hosts at Cape Tuscan could not do enough for us from

Cape Tuscan Guest House

the moment that we arrived. Beautiful linen that was changed each day and a scrumptious breakfast each morning. The shooting on the other habd was another kettle of fish. We arrived to beautiful weather on the Friday. On Saturday morning the wind gathered up and by Sunday afternoon it was gale force. Some shooters did not finish the shoot which must have been the most difficult Compak we have ever seen. Maccauw shooting has never been good for us

Hungary - 22 July - 4 August 2018

Grand Jules Hotel

Budapest was everything we wanted to experience.

We stayed on the Grand Jules Hotel on the Danube River and would sit on the deck in the evening and watch all the lights along the river light up and the boats go by.

The City Market

We visited the local market and bought the genuine paprika and just wandered round the streets enjoying a coffee or a meal.

The Hungarians do not really want to trade in euros so we would sometimes have to change out a Euro for a Hungarian Forint from locals just to buy an ice cream.

The Chain Bridge

The food is great - even at the street cafes where we would enjoy a salmon steak with salad each -
beer and wine, for under R200

The last evening we fine dined at the Trofea Restaurant and had so many courses of their traditional dishes we could hardly walk home. Even this meal with all our drinks included was less than R400.

Parliament Building

It is beautiful and simple and also very cheap in comparison to the other European countries such as Italy and France.

I again loved every minute of the trip - but then again I love Europe.