Africa Photos

Hello all, as promised I'll start posting a few photos from my adventures before I had my blog up & running, starting with my trip to Africa last July/August. It was a 6 week overland trip on an expedition truck, taking in Kenya, Uganda, The Congo (for gorilla trekking), Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia & Zimbabwe.

Me in front of a 200-odd kg silverback! It was very VERY scary having my back to it... Here are a couple more of the gorillas. They really are the most beautiful creatures, we were allowed 1 hour in close proximity to them & it was just amazing, not something I am ever likely to forget... It was well worth the several hours of seriously hard trekking we had to endure in order to find them!

The animals are one of the reasons I love Africa so much, & the safaris we did in the Ngorongoro Crater & Serengetti were also pretty unforgettable... More pics to follow!

Back to the Grindstone...

Gidday,

It's been a while since the last posting I know, but time is suddenly in short supply once again now that I'm back at school! I've survived the first week, although in saying that, I was in for a couple of hours of in-service training on Tuesday & the kids weren't back till Wednesday. Despite being a short week I was still totally knackered by the end of it! I arrived back to the sad news that the father of the house-mistress of my boarding house suddenly passed away at the end of the holiday. She was signed off work for the whole of the first week, meaning I've had to run the boarding house. It has been fine, we've got a great bunch of girls in the house, but it isn't a job I would want to take on full-time!

5 weeks till half-term & counting... Yes I really do live from holiday to holiday! Mum & dad leave on the first Sunday of half-term, then on the Monday I'm off to the Lake district for the week. We've booked a bunkhouse that sleeps something like 20, & a decent group from school plus other assorted friends are going. Should be great fun... Lots of good walking during the day, then lots of cards, drinking etc during the evenings. I've finally made some plans for Summer as well. I've got a few days of walking in north Wales with a guy from St Peters I keep in touch with, then 6 nights on the Isle of Skye (Scotland) with Rich & Steve. Skye is meant to have some of the best walking in the UK, so that should be a great trip. I then have a week or so at home before the main event... I've booked a flight into Ljubljana (Slovenia) & then 4 weeks later have a flight returning home from Skopje (Macedonia). The plan is to spend the 4 weeks travelling down the Adriatic coast, taking in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Yugoslavia, Albania & Macedonia. I'm looking forward to it already! Only 11 weeks to go... Then I have another couple of weeks at home to finish the holiday. During that time is the Reading festival, & I've managed to get some tickets for the Friday. Franz Ferdinand & Kaiser Chiefs are headlining, so it should rock!!!

Not much other news to report... Some of you are still complaining that I write far too much, & have requested more photos! What I'll do is start posting a few pics from some of my travels pre-blog...

Weddings & Rugby & Stuff...

The wedding on Saturday was a superb day/evening. Everything went to plan & it was a really enjoyable occasion for all concerned. Even the weather decided to cooperate, which was pretty lucky considering rain had been forecast. It all took place on-site, with the ceremony being held in the college chapel, photos around the grounds, then the reception & evening function in the mansion building. The best thing about it all was that when it was all over in the early hours of the morning it was only a few hundred metres walk home to my flat! I actually ended up evicted from my own home for the night, mum & dad were in my room, & because my brother had left the wedding earlier than I did, he had claimed the couch! Just as well I am attached to a girls boarding house that is currently empty due to school holidays...

On Sunday I had to pysch myself up for my last rugby match of the year. It was the first round of a national knock-out cup, & unfortunately we got knocked out... We had to play 2 pool matches, & we lost them both, 22-5 & 14-7. I don't think anyone in the team was overly upset, if we had won our pool we would have been required to play at least another match, if not two, & we didn't have any subs so were all pretty knackered! It was crazy weather, sunny & relatively warm for most of the day, then during the second half of the second match it started to snow!!! It then proceeded to absolutely bucket it down, so we were quite happy to hit the showers & then head home, leaving the more successful teams to battle it out amongst themselves... I'm pretty battered & bruised today, I hadn't played a match for 3 weeks or so, my poor old body wasn't used to it. I did manage to catch a boot on my left cheekbone so that has turned a few interesting colours... That is rugby done & dusted for another season, but I've got touch rugby starting in 3 weeks to look forward to.

Not much other news... Mum & dad picked up a hire car today & head off tomorrow for a 2 week road trip around the UK. It really is nice having them around, I've been putting mum to good use in my garden & it has never looked so good! In my last posting I mentioned that 'Bitter & Twisted' took top prize in our highly prestigious Scottish beer-tasting awards on the stag do. Imagine my delight the other day when I discovered my local supermarket stocks it! It's brewed by Harviestoun by the way, those of you in the UK should hunt it out, it's fantastic stuff!

Scotland

Well, I survived the stag do, we had a great 4 nights away. We flew into Inverness & picked up a couple of hire cars. Then it was onwards to the bunkhouse in Neathy Bridge. The place we stayed was 'The Lazy Duck hostel' & I can't recommend them highly enough. If you ever need fantastic accommodation within striking distance of the Cairngorms, check them out at www.lazyduck.co.uk

We arrived early afternoon & spent the rest of the day wandering around one of the local towns, before a tour of the Cairngorm Brewery. They make fantastic real ales, & were very generous about letting us taste the finished product at the end of the tour. We of course obliged by taking a fair bit of it home with us as well. We had also picked up quite a variety of other local beers, so over the first 2 nights we partook in a bit of beer-tasting, with the 6 highest ranking beers making it through to the grand final on the 3rd night. 'Bitter & Twisted' ended up taking first place (can't remember who brews it I'm afraid...) then Cairngorm beers took 4 of the remaining 5 places.

The second day was our big walking day. The plan was to do Cairn Gorm (1245m) then carry on & knock off Ben Macdui (1309m) as well. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate & we only ended up getting to the top of Cairn Gorm. It was snowing for most of the time, then as we got a bit of altitude we were practically in white-out conditions. It's bit of a let-down when you slog your way to the top of a hill then can only see about 15m in front of you! We had loads of fun on the way down, including building a snowman, sledding on a plastic suvival bag, & also numerous snowball fights!


The third day involved a bit of low level walking (I saw my first red squirrel!), & also a tour of the Cardhu whiskey distillery. It wasn't bad, but not a patch on the Bushmills distillery in Northern Ireland which I visited a couple of years ago. We really had a great 3 nights in the bunkhouse, the evenings were filled with poker & games of 500 till the wee small hours... The first night we called it quits at 1am, the second was 2am, & in keeping with the sequence, we were up till 3am on the 3rd night.

On the Saturday it was off to Edinburgh for the stag do proper. We met up with the best man, & also 3 others who couldn't make the first bit. We had most of the afternoon wandering around the city (it was my first visit), then hit the first pub in the early evening. Several pubs, a restaurant & a casino later, & we finally made it back to our accommodation around 3am. The next morning consisted of a lie-in, breakfast at a cafe (at around midday!), & then a couple of very pleasant hours in a pub reading the Sunday papers, & in the guys' case, watching the football. Then it was off to the airport & home, for some well-deserved sleep & a serious de-tox!!!

So there you go, I survived my first (& probably my last!) stag do. The photo on the right shows a few of the guys. Steve, the one getting married is at the front. The wedding is on Saturday & promises to be a great day & night affair. Unfortunately I've got a rugby match on the Sunday which might be interesting, but I think it's in the afternoon so things should be fine. No other news really, I'm just enjoying being on holiday & enjoying spending time with my parents.