The end of a journey

It was a noisy night on the train. But I still loved it. We rattled and rolled along, with frequent stops on the way, but you really knew you were on a train.

Breakfast was excellent as usual (what’s not to love about eggs benedict and mimosas), and during breakfast the train manager came by and asked about our plans for transfers from Pretoria station. We are being picked up by our friend Colyn. She took his phone number and said she would call to keep him updated on our expected arrival time in Pretoria. This was good news as we were due to arrive in Pretoria at 4:00 PM, but as we had been making frequent stops, we were concerned about how we could let him know if the train was running late.

After breakfast we had to return to our suite to get the packing done. This took longer than usual as yet again despite not adding much to our possessions, they once again refused to all fit in our suitcases.

Finally we were done, and it was time to head to the lounge

or observation car to watch the world go by. We decided on the observation car.

We were passing through fields and fields of pink and white cosmos.

We waved back to the folk we saw on the way.

It was a very relaxing way to spend the morning. I was actually glad to be able to finally spend time on the train and not be heading off on an excursion. Sort of like a much needed sea day.

Still passing through fields of cosmos, we headed to lunch when the gong sounded, planning to spend time back in the observation lounge until we arrived in Pretoria later on in the afternoon.

Just as we were enjoying our meal, the manager said she wanted to make an announcement. Oh boy, it felt just like QM2 back in Fremantle in March 2020 again. Due to a problem with the electric hook up of a locomotive near to Pretoria, no trains were able to move, and we all had to get off the train now and coaches would take us to the station in Pretoria.

We were stopped in the middle of a corn field, and I was wondering how on earth we were going to be able to get off the train and walk to a coach with all of our luggage.

As we placed our suitcases in the corridor the train started to move again. Could it be that we were able to complete our journey? No, they were just moving the train so that the bus could get to us. That made sense, we were out in the middle of a field, so I suppose it will be less of a challenge for the bus to meet us a few miles down the tracks rather than the middle of a field.

We were still in the corn fields when we came to a halt, but they had managed to get the coach to drive up the muddy track to reach us.

So that was that. End of our Rovos railway journey. Our luggage was transferred and we climbed into the coaches.

It took several hours to drive to Pretoria, and we arrived well after 5:00 PM. I had so looked forward to arriving in style at the station on the elegant train, instead of which we arrived in the crowded car park on a smelly coach.

Still Colyn was there to meet us, and the uniformed porters brought our luggage to his car. We waved goodbye to the Rovos staff, and drove off in the rain and rush hour traffic to Colyn’s home in Johannesburg.

It was a sad way to end the journey, but it didn’t really detract from the enjoyment of our whole trip. Everything was handled very professionally, including our departure from the train, and I really only have good things to say about Rovos.

They are able to provide a wonderful product despite the challenges of doing business in South Africa, I would love to go on another trip with them!