On Sunday afternoon we took a short drive out of Stanley on the Mount Pleasant road and then walked up Mount Harriet. At 442 metres it is really only a hill, but that is its name, and it was an easy walk up to the ridge. The weather had been quite unsettled all day. We stopped to pick and eat a few tea berries on the way. These are small, sweet pink berries which grow at ground level on small shrubby plants.
These are diddle dee berries which are edible but much more bitter. You can make jam and jelly from them but they are tiny to pick (much smaller than a pea). The upland geese feed on them in the winter and I am not sure why they had not tackled this particularly heavy fruiting plant.
Near the ridge is a cross commemorating 2 British soldiers who lost their lives there during the conflict. The peak was taken by the 42 Commando Royal Marines on 11th - 12th June 1982. They had been doing night reconnaisance for the previous 10 nights through the mine fields, and so managed to approach from behind within 150 metres at 2 am before they were spotted. Ultimately 2 of them were killed and 26 injured, whilst the Argentinians suffered 50 deaths and 300 captured.
All along the ridge are large rock slabs and pinnacles and piles of boulders. There is still some debris like batteries and radio wires lying around. We scrambled up some of the rocks but did not make it to the highest point as by that time a gale was blowing and a blizzard had arrived. The summit cairn is atop some particularly exposed and slightly overhanging rocks. At times it was almost impossible to stand up.
By the time I had realised my photographic errors it was getting rather dusky so some of the pictures are not too clear.
This is a view over Port Harriet (the inlet of the sea). You can just see the abbatoir and the wind farm with 3 turbines.
On Sunday afternoon we took a short drive out of Stanley on the Mount Pleasant road and then walked up Mount Harriet. At 442 metres it is really only a hill, but that is its name, and it was an easy walk up to the ridge. The weather had been quite unsettled all day. We stopped to pick and eat a few tea berries on the way. These are small, sweet pink berries which grow at ground level on small shrubby plants.
These are diddle dee berries which are edible but much more bitter. You can make jam and jelly from them but they are tiny to pick (much smaller than a pea). The upland geese feed on them in the winter and I am not sure why they had not tackled this particularly heavy fruiting plant.
Near the ridge is a cross commemorating 2 British soldiers who lost their lives there during the conflict. The peak was taken by the 42 Commando Royal Marines on 11th - 12th June 1982. They had been doing night reconnaisance for the previous 10 nights through the mine fields, and so managed to approach from behind within 150 metres at 2 am before they were spotted. Ultimately 2 of them were killed and 26 injured, whilst the Argentinians suffered 50 deaths and 300 captured.
All along the ridge are large rock slabs and pinnacles and piles of boulders. There is still some debris like batteries and radio wires lying around. We scrambled up some of the rocks but did not make it to the highest point as by that time a gale was blowing and a blizzard had arrived. The summit cairn is atop some particularly exposed and slightly overhanging rocks. At times it was almost impossible to stand up.
By the time I had realised my photographic errors it was getting rather dusky so some of the pictures are not too clear.
This is a view over Port Harriet (the inlet of the sea). You can just see the abbatoir and the wind farm with 3 turbines.
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