An enjoyable walk

I am really enjoying being able to drive again and am feeling stronger so am able to get out to more interesting places to walk.

We have a minister, Paul, visiting our church here for 6 weeks and his wife Lesley is a keen walker so this morning I picked her up and drove down to the Lady Liz at the end of the harbour. Fom there we walked along the far side of the harbour to Engineers Point.


We saw upland geese with goslings and logger ducks with ducklings.


When we got to the point a variable hawk started flying around us quite noisily, obviously not happy that we were there and then his mate appeared.

Looking down over the edge of the small cliff we spotted their large nest on a ledge and could just see fluffy chicks in the nest.

We stopped at Hadrassa Bay for a snack and watched some magellanic penguins come out of the sea and toddle off to their burrows. It was a lovely sunny morning but the wind was picking up as we proceeded along the coast to Gypsy Cove. However when we went down to the beach it was sheltered and a real pleasure to sit in the sun watching a group of penguins on the sand.


Just as we were leaving Gypsy Cove a pod of Peale's dolphins were feeding amongst the kelp. It was a real treat, beautiful scenery, lovely weather, fascinating wildlife, good company and feeling stronger.


I took this photo of lichens on a rock when I was out yesterday.

What has been happening to the Wilkies?

Once again appologies for a long abscence of blogging. I am wondering what the excuses are. Being spring the last 3 months have been extra busy in the garden, although with a lot of cold, windy weather germination has been very slow and erratic. This is when the polytunnel really makes a difference.

Last week we had a gynaecologist visiting from UK for a week and I had a prolapse repair operation on Wednesday. It was really nice to be cared for by people you know and I had the privilege of my own room. I came home on Friday and am now limited in what I am allowed to do for a while. I thought this would result in having lots of spare time but it actually means everyday tasks like hanging out the washing taking much longer because I have to take things out one garment at a time instead of carrying the basketful. However I am feeling stronger each day and am enjoying getting out for some walks.

Yesterday we had a beautiful warm, calm, sunny day which was a real treat and I enjoyed pottering in the garden and planting out some bedding plants which were long overdue. It is cold and wet today but at least the plants won't need watering!

The weekend before last Simon went with the ramblers down to North Arm for the weekend. (I couldn't go as I had an appointment with the gynaecologist). This is part of Lafonia and is very flat, with huge areas of whitegrass.



They stayed in one of a number of self-catering cottages called The Wreck , possibly named for this wreck which they visited.


You need to be able to light a peat stove and start a generator to stay here.

Simon decided to camp in the garden.

On the Saturday they drove down to Bull Point, the south westerly point of East Falkland, (a long off-road drive). There are some lovely beaches down there and some gentoo penguins. I am hoping we will be able to spend a few days down there around Christmas now that Simon knows the way.

The weekend before that we camped at Volunteers and in October visited Sealion Island. Separate blogs to follow on those as I took hundreds of photos which need editing.

There was great excitemant in Stanley last week when a branch of Peacocks opened in the West store. It is a lot smaller than a UK shop but does mean that there is now a reasonable range of clothing available locally.

Well I'm off to do what the doctor ordered and have my after-lunch nap, then I might have a go at driving, just as far as the garden centre to hunt some fruit. Fresh produce has become even more expensive over recent months since Argentina has stopped any vessels that are coming to the Falklands passing through its waters so things can't come in by boat from Chile. More produce is being flown in. A shipping link from Brazil has been established but negotiations are still under way for importing fruit and veg and eggs.