Trip to Southern Africa ... an adventure of a lifetime.. summer 1992

 This trip was (unbelievably) thirty years ago and many exact dates and some details have been forgotten but I hope to give a general overview.

My travelling companion for the next 8 weeks in Africa was Paul Slack my best friend at six form college. He originates from South Africa and still had relatives and friends in South Africa , Zimbabwe and Malawi. We also planned to visit my Uncle Ray who lived in Zimbabwe.  

 Flight London Heathrow to Johannesburg. Approx. 10 hours. 

Two memories I have of this long flight.

1. Flying over the Sahara desert and seeing many crescent shaped sand dunes. The Sahara seemed to go on and on.

2. Looking east out of the plane window to see the enormous snow coloured mount Kilimanjaro. 

When we arrived at Joburg we stayed at Barry's house. Barry was a good friend of Pauls from school. Driving from the airport to Barry's it was getting dark  I remember in the dusk seeing bare coppys or hills poking above the city and as it got dark many streetlights and houselights stretching into the distance on the hillsides. It was late when we got to Barry's parents house and Paul and I were given use of the " granny bungalow" in the back garden. Quite a nice size bungalow. We both crashed down into our beds and went straight to sleep.

Next morning I was surprised as I stepped out of the door of the bungalow to see .... frost !! This was this last thing I expected to see on my first morning in Africa ! Johannesburg is surprisingly high above sea level (1,753 Meters ... higher than Ben Nevis)  and not forgetting we were there in July ,which although it was mid-summer in UK, it was mid-winter in southern Africa being south of the equator.

That first day Paul Barry and me went into the centre of Joburg. I don't remember too much but we went up to the top of one of the highest buildings in Joburg and also I remember a big group of tribal dancers (probably Zulu) with their animal skin shields and war attire. 

Another day we went with Barry to a high rocky outcrop and cliff in the suburbs of Joburg , where I did my first ever mountain climbing and absailing . Climbing the cliff with ropes was much harder work than I expected using muscles in my body I don't usually use. When we got to the top we had to absail back down and that was pretty scary as you leaned back off the top of the cliff and started descending . 

Perfect July early morning Fishing 19th July 2021 5:55 am

 The sun is only a couple of feet over the horizon but I can already feel it's heat on my neck. I'm fishing for Pike, Perch and Zander on the old mill pool in Tewksbury. Thanks to the low sun the colours this morning are vivid bringing out the different shades of green on the rushes and lily pads. The pinks of the purple toad flax next to me, the almost identical pink of the great willowherb, the yellows of the mustard and Brandy bottle water lilies flowers.

Crows are cawing to each other nearby, gulls are congregating on the recently mowed ham field behind. . A warbler , I think, flitted across the water into some reedmace earlier on. Pigeons are sitting spaced apart on various parts of the Old Mill House , peeking over , welcoming the new day. A swan and five large cygnets are dabbling away opposite me, a moorhen trots over the lilies to my right and little fluffy balls follow her... must be her second brood of chicks.  A heron just called quite far off to my right. A coarse rasping call. I admire the red tinged flowers of the reed near me, hoverflies and bees are buzzing around near them. In fact there's a lot of insect activity all around this morning, probably due also to the recent very hot weather.  Earlier a swallow zoomed past close to me and mallards dawdled nearby. I'm not having any bites on my rod so far might be that the dead bait is from last night and has gone off a bit. Or could be that no pike or Zander has passed it or smelt it yet. Sparrows Twitter on the old Tudor houses opposite me.

The Secret Spanish Canal

 The Secret Spanish Canal

I often like to explore places using google maps .Once whilst I was exploring the areas on google maps around Los Alcornocales and Grazalema in the far south of Andalucia I noticed an interesting looking canal that went along the side of a mountain and then descended down the mountain along a steep straight channel. The map said this canal is abandoned . It looked like an interesting place to visit .

 On the map the canal is labelled thus ... " Conduccion de la Central del Guadiaro (Abondonada) " It flows in a south west direction following the course of the Guadiaro River , only uphill of the river , however unlike the river the canal stays at pretty much the same level and therefore appears to be going uphill as it follows the side of the mountain , whilst the Guadiaro valley deepens as the river is travelling towards sea level . The canal after some distance turns in a more southerly direction before it reaches a dam which is labelled on the map as "Salto del Corchado" Here is where the canal is sent down a steep chute into a Hydroelectric Station at the base of the mountain where the canal rejoins the Guadiaro river . 

The red line above gives a very approximate position of the canal in realtionship to the River Guadiaro .  By following this link you can get a more detailed view of the canal on google maps Salto del Corchado - Google Maps

Anyway approx 2018 I was travelling from Algeciras to Ronda . Usually I would take the train but because of the recent flash floods the train line was unusable up the Guadiaro river valley so i had to go by bus 

More can be found out about the Salto de El Corchado by following this link ....  Azud de El Corchado or Salto de El Corchado in Gaucín (andaluciarustica.com)

Trip to Bridgnorth, Shropshire UK 30Nov2020

 I was in a frustrated mood when I woke up with a yearning to be in sunny weather as today was very dull and miserable. Also a yearning to be in woodland somewhere. However I started counting my blessings and thinking about God and how great he must be if he created Zander , Pike, Rattlesnakes, Tigers etc. not just the soft cuddly animals some people think about. As I started meditating on this and singing little songs quietly on bus to Shrewsbury about God creating Zander I started cheering up !! 

Anyway previous to getting the bus I hung up two teapots in my parents garden for my mum who wants to attract robin's nesting in the garden. Robin's sometimes nest in old teapots. 

Anyway back to the bus ...the original plan was once I arrive in Shrewsbury to get another bus from Shrewsbury to Bishops castle . This plan was scuppered as the bus wasn't till 2pm ... a two hour wait. So I decided to go back to Bridgnorth. My second ever visit, the first one only being a week or two ago. 

I headed to the castle this time which is situated high up on the high half of town looking down onto the river Severn, quite far below.

I was amazed to see as I rounded the corner a huge tall, thick,  slab of castle wall leaning over at a very steep angle .  Apart from this there isn't much else left of the castle just a few scattered small bits of wall Apparently Cromwell destroyed most it. 

 I then looked around the gardens , there were some good topiary bushes in the shape of a tank, a battleship and a bomber plane. 

Above: Topiary in Shape of Plane and Battleship , Bridgnorth

Castle Gardens. 

There were also plenty of other pleasant ,mainly evergreen plantings of shrubs. At the edge of the garden are railings with views overlooking the lower part of town including the stream railway station. In the corner of the castle gardens was a small red caravan selling coffees. The paper cups came with paper caps instead of the plastic ones ... everything, including the stirrer, was compostable. I bought a coffee £2.10 not bad price either. The pleasant young chap who served me is the proprietor and we had a good chat about saving the environment . He told me there was a compost heap in the corner of the gardens where I could put my cup when it was finished. Some people threw them in the council litter bins, which to me is a waste as they will just go into landfill instead of being recycled into compost.    

I headed back into town stopped and looked again at the steep railway track that brings people up from the lower part of town and vice versa. It's close at the moment due to Covid . 

Before getting on the bus back to Shrewsbury I purchased a sheaf saw made by Wilkinson sword which will be ideal for use at camp ibex when I get back to Cornwall. 

There were several students on the bus coming back to Shrewsbury and even more on the bus from Shrewsbury to Oswestry. In the evening I downloaded Spanish music and did a water colour which I was only half pleased with..  boats on the river Fal with a Cornish cottage and woods in the background. 

Isle of Mull Sept 2nd to 15th 2020

 To get from Cornwall in the far south west of Britain to the remote village of Bunessan on the Scottish Island of Mull is quite a trek... taking me two days ( not including my time in Cheltenham) . I headed up from Cornwall to Cheltenham by train where I stayed with my friend for three days to catch up with life there. I then headed down to Bristol airport where I flew up to Glasgow.

This was the first time I had flown up South to north through England. Although it was mainly cloudy I did manage to get get good views of the Bristol channel, South coast of Wales, a couple of mountain peaks poked through the clouds in North Wales possibly Snowdon. Then later a good view down onto Preston where there was a break in the clouds, Morecambe bay , lake Windermere and a couple  of other lakes of the lake District. Then it went cloudy again until we got to Glasgow . 

Although the flight was only one hour in duration the late time of the flight meant I had to stay overnight in a hotel in Glasgow . It was called Charing Cross Hotel and was a pleasant clean hotel. 

Next morning, early, I caught the bus from Buchanan bus station to Oban . This was a three hour trip. I don't really like cities and was relieved to leave the conurbation of Glasgow. We then went through some stunning mountain and loch scenary.  Unfortunately it was a very rainy day and visibility was very poor in some places eg along most of loch Lomond I could see the loch through the trees but couldn't see the mountains on the opposite side. 

A particularly memorable part of the bus journey was between Ardgarten and Cairndow. The bus followed the valley of the Croe Water burn , up from Loch Long. A wide forested valley with high mountains on each side culminating at the pass between the two high peaks of Beinn an Lochain and Beinn Ime .

We passed several other lochs on the way to Oban, plenty of forest and high mountains. An interesting town was Inveraray on the coast of Loch Fyne.  Most buildings were painted white and there were expensive looking restaurants and shops... catering for the obviously large tourist industry here . There was an arch over the road which the bus only just squeezed through and signs for Inveraray castle. I was pleasantly surprised as I had always thought Inveraray was in Ireland!! 

Above: Inverary on the banks of Loch Fyne

I arrived at Oban around mid-day. My first impressions were a very pleasant Scottish harbourside town. Gayle my friend I would be staying with gave me a big shopping list of things to buy in Tesco , as it's not easy to get certain foods on the Isle of Mull, there's no supermarkets. I found the big Tesco in Oban and purchased a couple of bags worth of shopping. After having a coffee I lugged the shopping along with my huge rucksack to the ferry terminal . 

Above: Oban, where I had to do a big food shop for Gail in Tesco ...

there are no big supermarkets on Mull!  

The ferry crossing was at about 2 pm . It was still rainy so visibility on the crossing wasn't too good, but good enough to see I was in a beautiful part of the world. We headed out onto the strait  in the direction of Craignure. We passed Maiden Island on our right and the Kerrera lighthouse on our left. Around this area there was a strong current clearly visible and the ferry rocked more than earlier in the trip.A few Gannets flew past singly or in pairs on their way to feeding sites where they would dive from a height into shouls of their prey fish. 

The crossing from Oban to Craignure on the Isle of mull took approximately an hour. When I arrived at three pm ish there was another wait of an hour for another bus which travels down to the South West end of the island terminating at Fionnphort. Bunessan is the penultimate bus stop before Fionnphort. I noticed a small oak tree near the ferry ticket office that was absolutely festooned with shield ferns (Polypodum) living epiphytically on its branches.

The bus took over an hour from Craignure to Bunessan . The weather was still very rainy and misty . I could see halfway up the mountains. Water was everywhere. Silver waterfalls ran in torrents down the mountain slopes. These joined to become peaty brown burns ( rivers)  and we crossed over several bridges which spanned these numerous burns. One or two of these burns were raging torrents due to all the rain we were having.

 There was a considerable amount of broad leaf woodland and conifer forestry to be observed on  the first half of the journey .. ie the area nearest Craignure, but as we got into the Ross of Mull the countryside opened up into mainly moorland. 

We came to Loch Scridain on our right and the road followed fairly close to the loch all the way to Bunessan.  It was still mainly heather moorland right up to the loch with many rocky outcrops.

At last we came to Bunessan a quiet village not much more than a Hamlet by the side of a pleasant horseshoe shaped natural harbour . There was a hotel where Gail worked and two or three shops ... Gail also worked in the spa (and still does at the time of writing). There were of course quite a few houses , some terraced nearest the harbour along  the main road and further back a few detached houses scattered up the hillside.

Gail was waiting at the bus stop to meet me and carry the shopping . We greeted each other with a kiss and hug . She was once you could loosely say my girlfriend for a couple of weeks. It never lasted due to the interference of another girl. I seem to have a curse where when I meet one girl I meet another girl at the same time and things get confusing which one to stay with. Up till now I usually choose the wrong one and regret my decision.

Trip to Ivybridge and Totness stopping at Bodmin parkway and Plymouth on the Way.

2nd August 2020 

Trip to Ivybridge and Totness stopping at Bodmin parkway and Plymouth on the Way.

As Sundays are my worst day especially at the moment with the Corono crisis and no church i decided to fill it up by going from Redruth (where my flat is) to Plymouth by train. This soon evolved into a more elaborate tour of the southwest. As the train travelled up through cornwall I had an impulse to get off and explore around Bodmin parkway on the way up , looking for possible wild camping spots as i am planning on using my disabled bus pass to tour the country  .

A track takes you  bodmin parkway station under the railway bridge and  towards Lanhydrock house through the estates woodlands . You soon come to the gorgeous Fowey river and i took a righthand track that went past the stagnant and shady railway pond and continued along the river in an upstream direction. I noticed how very pleasantly quiet these woods were, with no nearby traffic, only the sound of the hourly train. There were a few walkers about and  I chatted at the bridge to a man from st austell aged about 60 accompanied by his two dogs . Was general chit chat about fishing and he likes football. when he was younger  he had a friend called "John the fish" who went out on the trawlers from newlyn onto the irish sea. He never drank out at sea but on land John drank large amounts hence "the fish".  

I spotted a lot of small brown trout in the fowey river and i may try and catch one or two next time using maybe a freelined worm .

I caught the next train and got off at Plymouth. I caught a bus to the city centre and then after a quick snack from Taco Bell i got on the Stagecoach Gold bus which runs hourly , even on sundays,  towards Torquay stopping at Ivy bridge and Totness.

After about 30 minutes of travelling out of plymouth and through lush devon countryside we got to Ivybridge where i disembarked . I looked around ivybridge and i could soon see that this was a small quiet town with not much open on sunday (no cafes open) . The best thing about Ivybridge is the River Erme which tumbles down  from Dartmoor and is strewn with numerous cascades flowing over mossy boulders and bedrock even in the town centre . Its a really picturesque river . I followed the river upstream using a road at times and along the riverside walk at other times. I went past a large old mill thats grounds are being turned into a posh housing estate and i expect the mill itself will become flats.  Then i came to a woodland park that follows the river and goes under the railway viaduct built by Brunel . I follwed the stream through these woods for maybe a mile . the river continues having many rocky cascades and pools as you head up  all in the shade of a wooded valley. I saw some suitable spots for camping especially higher upstream on the opposite bank where there was a conifer plantation  . If one were continue up this river you would end up high on Dartmoor at the River Ermes source . One of the Tors could be seen from Ivybridge... possibly Butterdon Hill or one of its neighbouring hills .

Altogether I spent two hours in Ivybridge . I also has a quick look at the town park  which had a covered bench that might be usefull for overnight sleeping . I also went into the costcutters looking for shrinkwrap or bin liners i could use as a tarp and stay the night camping high upstream in the woodland park . I decided to postpone buying these and continue by bus on to Totnes . I could buy them on my return later on if i decided to sleep the night in Ivybridge.

The bus went on to Totness through more rolling green countryside  with some high Dartmoor tors on the left . After maybe 40 minutes we arived at Totness . I got off craving for a coffee as id had no caffeine since i left Redruth in the morning . Iv only been to Totness once before about 17 years ago to a friends wedding. I never noticed before but it seems to be a rather upmarket town with some nice bistros etc and the river Dart running through it . THe wide river gives it  a nautical feel although its quite inland. I went into a pub to order a coffee but it was quite a palava with form filling (coronovirus) before i could be seated and quite a palava to pay the three pounds once i had finished the coffee ( i wasnt allowed to pay at the bar (Corono)) and was worried i would miss my bus one of the waitresses got to me in the end.

Back at the bus stop an attractive blonde lady of maybe 40 struck up a conversation with me after i double checked with her about the bus time . She was from London and was about to start a weeks treck across Dartmoor, Solo, camping for part of the trip. I said i was impressed and told her i was thinking of camping that  night in ivybridge however the conversation didnt go much further she wished me a good trip and i wished her the same.

I decided to go back that night to Redruth as i felt i needed a few more things with me for wildcamping eg torch  , knife/saw , tarpaulin but i have some new ideas about using clingfilm to do wildcamping as its only £2  for 25 metres in costcutters . Bushcrafters on youtube use clingfilm in various ways eg on benders and teepees . I am thinking cover one of the  picnic tables in the wooldland park with clingfilm and sleep under it or make several triangular panels using straight branches/cut saplings  as the framework and wrap each panel with clingfilm. then join three or four of the panels into kind of pyramid and hey presto a tent .

The trip home was fairly uneventful i meditated on Gods awesomeness .. especially as there were very good cloud formations and nice red orange and pink colours due to the sunset as we travelled through Cornwall  . Very High up were beach ripple type clouds with more solid clouds lower .... all lit up by the sunset . I also mediated on Gods greatness in creating Zander fish, Mackerel , Oak trees Spruce and pine trees , various bird species and so on . I saw a lovely deer run across a field somehere around liskeard i think . 

Coronovirus ...Stranded in the Spanish mountains !

I arrived in Spain to spend a month where I usually go in the Spanish mountains.
The day I arrived up to my abandoned cottage was the same day I was told Spain was about to go on lockdown.
I had to make a choice, try and get back down to the airport and head to uk or stay up here. I decided being as coronovirus was already also in UK i might as well stay up here as it would be warmer and I had plenty of things to do out in the forest rather than cooped up in my cold flat in UK.
The next day I was told buses were no longer running down to the train station and so the only way to get to supermarket was a long walk to Ardales 9 km away. I decided that I probably had sufficient bushcraft knowledge to survive even without supermarket.

5th April 2020

Well my friend Jill says I should be keeping a diary of my time stranded in Spanish mountains so thought I better get back into my blog. So it's been nearly 4 weeks since I found myself stranded up here. The days have been a bit frustrating not being able to get back to UK.
I planned to use my survival skills to survive up here and go fishing most nights for bleak. Then supplement this fish diet with wild plants such as nettles, bramble leaves, fig leaves etc. This I did for a short while until my Fishing rod was confiscated by a security guard. Thankfully another security guard has been bringing me food out of kindness of his heart. The restaurant here has been letting me charge my phone and keeping me fed with toasted jamon sandwiches and various cakes and snacks. Every day I sit in the restaurant and keep up to date with friends and family on WiFi Facebook etc.

Being here has allowed me to watch the wildlife. Yesterday I think I spotted a Roller ( a  colourful blue Mediterranean bird) flying near the dam. However I only got its sillouette and couldn't see it's colours but seemed the right size and shape.
Down in my abandoned cottage iv made a bird table in the garden and have been getting 2 great tits, a robin , 2 black caps to the table. I'm just giving them scraps of bread. A grey heron flew from the lake below and landed in the top of the tree near my cottage. At night I often hear a tawny owl hooting nearby in the woods.
Some days several Griffon vultures soar overhead on their way somewhere.

Mammal wise there is a brown rat in my garden that's getting quite tame and I spotted the resident tame red fox near my cottage one evening. Two days ago the third of April a herd of Ibex were on the water shoot of the dam and later that evening I disturbed them up in the neighbouring gardens possibly feeding on people's ornamental plants while everyone is on lock down. One of them ran incredibly nimbly through the bars of the fence and into the side of the cliff at great speed. If that had been me I would not have been able to stop with such momentum and tumbled over the cliff but not this Ibex there so incredibly sure footed.

As I sit here now in the restaurant I am looking across the lake at two great crested grebes fishing.

The house Martin's have recently returned in a big flock two or three weeks ago.. They build their nests on the dam wall under the overhang.

texts I sent to parents and friends

Text to dad. 13 march 2020: ( I had just found out I'm stuck in mountains due to buses stopping)

I'm probably in the safest place here, the more I think about it. You can eat  fish for months before getting the disease with bow legs and there's pine cones  galore with pine nuts in plus plenty of wild spinach and asparagus growing in the woods. So that's all the nutrients you need  Xx