Hout Bay and Home

We stayed in Hout Bay for 5 nights before returning to UK. We stayed at Whittler's Lodge, 5 minutes drive outside of the town. Our hosts were very friendly and it transpired that Barry used to own a shoe factory and was still designing and making shoes using Whittler's Lodge as the head office.

Hout Bay harbour.



On the first evening at Whittler's Lodge I was speaking to another guest and to cut a long story short; we both used to go to the same secondary school in Wallasey on the Wirral. We swopped stories about teachers and he was able to bring me up to date with Wallasey itself because he still has friends there. Very weird.

We met up with the sister of someone I walk with at the weekends. Julie had been very kind and had sent information and answered questions while we were in UK. Thanks to her for her help.

Hout Bay from Chapman's Peak Drive.



Glynn Jones had mentioned that it would be a good idea to visit his friends from Waterlooville who were staying in Clifton, near Capetown. Ellen and Tony kindly looked after us on the day we were going to the airport hotel for the early morning flight the following morning.

Sue, Ellen and Tony on their balcony.



The Buchans on Clifton beach



Sunrise at Capetown airport. The fun was just about to begin.

We were all checked in and about to board the plane when I was paged over the tannoy. I presented myself and was told that there was a gas canister in the luggage (there wasn't). The plane boarded and we had to go to the baggage hall, airside, to open the offending suitcase for all to see, a jar of coffee enclosed by 2 plastic beakers!
We then had to traipse the suitcase to the waiting bus which then took us to the plane out on the apron. The young lady who had been escorting us took the suitcase beneath the plane whilst we went up the steps. Sue and I thought that's the last we'll see of that suitcase! It made it, but it was just about the last suitcase into Heathrow's baggage hall.



The plane was delayed for 75 minutes (not by us), we missed our first National Express bus and made the second with 3 minutes to spare!

Here endeth the holiday!

Early January

The New Year has brought a bout of rotten weather, I prefer crisp and cold to wet and windy. I have lead 2 rambles in the New Forest both in the dry. It was very wet underfoot and so I walked them in wellies. I had turnouts into double figures on both occasions so was pleased.

On Sunday 6th Jan we were out for a walk in West Moors and an alsatian dog followed us along a trail. We expected it to go home or its owner would turn up. No such luck!
When near the road, the dog rushed out into the traffic to attack each car as it passed. Needless to say it had a few near misses and there was lots of screeching brakes. I phoned the police and as I was doing that the dog wandered off (into the pub car park) never to be seen again. The policewoman arrived about 15 minutes later with treats and a lead for the dog, but it was too late.

We had a very good overnight stay at Trish and Colin's in Winterslow. We were well fed and watered and a good time was had by all. Thanks to Jane and Ron for the lift, it's nice to be chauffeured.

We've been out in the forest checking out possible rambles. This stream could cause problems if it has been raining. Some people come out in trainers or shoes and they would get wet feet on this crossing. Sue didn't try the crossing even in wellies!

We again saw the white deer. This time I managed to get a little closer.

I emailed the Forestry Commission about the deer and received this reply.

"The deer you have photographed is a white phase Fallow deer but not an albino. True albinos are very rare in the animal world and are identifiable by pink eyes. Deer like the one you photographed occur quite regularly in the wild population as do black deer but are often culled at an early age because they are so visible and draw attention to the rest of the herd. The keepers leave the odd white deer in areas where the public come to specifically see the deer such as Bolderwood."

That's it for a while. We are off to South Africa so watch this space in late Feb. early March.

Tot siens!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

This year's blog will run on this new blog site.

If you want to go back to http://thebuchans2007.blogspot.com/ click on the link.