Saturday, 18 June 2011
Today we went to Van Stadens for pleasure, planning a little bit of work but mainly to do the cycle route we had been discussing. Got away a bit later than usual and we arrived at the reserve just in time for coffee and then we got our bikes in gear and cycled from the reserve to Falcon Rock, then on to the railway bridge, towards Thornhill and then back to the reserve via the Van Stadens pass, twenty-two fantastic kilometres even though I must admit that for me the pull back up the hill was a little more strenuous then I had bargained for.
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The highest narrow gauge railway bridge in the world, getting a bit rusty, good views down and towards the N2 bridge.
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Back at the reserve in time for lunch so we parked off at “the dell”, the pond we created last week, what a delightful spot and it was good to replenish the depleted resources.
Time for work and to check up on the leak. We met Francis White on the way so we caught up on the local news and his ideas with the farm before digging around the leak. Turns out to be a crack in the asbestos pipe, should be quite easy to fix with some tape and concrete so we four by foured along the very wet track to the stopcock to turn it off so the pipe can dry out a bit.
All good and well but when I checked on the meter it was still running! This can only mean that they have stuffed up the pipe under the road when they laid the new pipe last week. The never-ending job continues.