Canoeing the Wilge river

A few days on the river; camping wherever. Thomas was out here on holiday from Germany and was keen to do a trip. Despite a bit of a drought we had plenty of water.

 

Weather was good. Thomas and I both sat in my double sit-on kayak.

John joined us too.

The best campsite - loads of flat ground, lots of dry driftwood.

Nothing like a nice campfire.

We stopped for lunch one day to find the bank very soft - we sank half a metre, nearly lost shoes, hence the use of logs to get back in the boats.

An update on my new black chicks. Looks like a male and a female.

2016 - July - Our UK trip

Strawberry picking near Grantham.

Walking along the canal with Rita, Keith and Dad. Lovely day, lovely walk. 

Nice to see a bit of wild-life.

Along the coast of Hunstanton.

Hunstanton's lovely aquarium

Jedborgh Abbey.

The hills of Scotland

Edinburgh castle.

Took a trip to see dolphins off the coast of Scotland. We did see a couple but too far and fast for a photo, but still a nice experience.

Roman ruins at Chesters, on Hadrian's Wall - : "the most complete Roman cavalry fort in Britain."

Still at Chesters. I went on a school outing to Chesters and Housesteads as a kid.

Picking blackberries with Rita and Dad. The first of the season - still seems unusually early this year.

London for a day. On the Eye. Last time we were here the Eye was closed for renovations - it was Winter. So this time we couldn't miss it. Surprisingly well run despite the thousands of people going on it.

The Old Cheshire Cheese. Oldest pub in London, just off Fleet Street. We were walking around, almost aimlessly, when I recognized the buildings almost by instinct, and we were not 20 metres from the little alleyway to the pub. Of course we had a drink there.

Inside The Old Cheshire Cheese.

Walking on the downs with stepmother Yvonne, Roy and Rita.

Fabulous new hotel in Blyth. We couldn't find a B&B room in the area so we opted for this place - it had only been open for a week. Great meals.

. . . and a lovely view from our room.

Somewhere with Dad and Rita

Dad and I took a long country walk. Most of it was along dirt tracks on the edges of farmer's fields. Was just over 5 k.

Brother Austin, Sally and Rita - still chilly on a summer's evening.

Hiking in the Drakensberg May 2016

First day: hike up and camp in the cave.

This cave is not visible from the footpath but has been used by those who know for decades. It has a nice flat floor and can sleep more than a dozen quite comfortably.

Day 2: the mist came down.

Day 2 was very wet. The normal trickle of fresh water wasn't running so here I am on my way back to the car for more water-bottles so we could stock up from the main stream on the very top. It was nice walking with no backpack.

Day 3: clearing up. The view from the cave early morning.

Day 3 on top. Lovely clouds; quite windy but not too bad.

 

Me in the cave

We did see a bit of wildlife. On our hike we saw a Klipspringer, they don't hang about.

 

Last day, day 4: morning view. 

Day 4: clear all day. Some people on the footpath show the scale of these rocks. We stayed here as long as we could, so that we got back to the car by sunset, and then the town's campsite for the night.

 

Botswana Zambia Zimbabwe trip

First camp Botswana. Nice, almost empty campsite.

 

So nice next to a fire. It does get a bit chilly in the evenings - well, it IS Winter.

 

Next campsite was at Elephant Sands. The buildings are around a popular elephant waterhole. Just before sunset about 35 elephants came in, 3 or 4 at a time, some even running. Probably about 15 in the water at once. Fabulous place.

And the occasional scorpion can be found with Ultra Violet light.

We were heading up to Sua Pan - a dry salt 'lake'. John is looking at elephant dung. We only saw lots of dung - no more elphants. This is the only road to the pan, sometimes it wasn't easy to follow, being so dusty where the trees were sparse.

Definitely a lion's print.

Good road to the pan.

 

Have to be careful not to go off the faint track. It's possible that the ground towards the centre on the pan is still a bit damp underneath and soft; and a vehicle can sink half a metre.

 

Our destination: an 'island' in the middle of all the sand. No water, the reflection is a heat mirage.

Baobab trees on the island.

Another one. 

Looks like there's no road; but there is. 

 

Camping on the road. At night we heard lions, elephants and a few other sounds. We saw eyes in our torch-light, looking at us from the road 100 metres away, wondering what it was - maybe a hyaena . After 10 nervous minutes it turned out to be a rabbit.

Then on to Victoria Falls. What a fantastic place.

 

The viewing path is right opposite the falls; everyone gets wet.

The noise is almost deafening.

 

 

The falls are so long one can't see all of it at once, except from the air.

Me.

View from the bottom as it zig-zags its way.

 

We came back through Zimbabwe, and boy were we lucky to get out. There is no money in the ATMs, half the garages don't have card machines and those that do: well they don't work. We only just made it with the variety of money we had on us and freewheeling as much as possible. The lady at Todds Motel, where we camped, charged us half price as she knows us.
This photo shows the old Zimbabwe/Rhodesian road. If two cars are approaching each other they each move over so only one wheel in on tar to pass each other. I saw and used quite a number of those in use in remote places when I was first there 30 years ago.