We, myself, Ashley – boating officer to be, Steve – Met man, Adam & Chris – Fleet Air Arm Navy boys, have had a super journey thus far!
Firstly quite an emotional farewell at Heathrow with Mummy and Beckie, enjoying our last Pret for a while, and more importantly some time with one another!
Thereafter a short flight with Iberia to Madrid followed by wine & tapas and then on to board our flight to Santiago.
I have discovered Ashley is an absoulte dream to travel with; not least as she has skills extraordinaire in befriending airline staff… hence our super seats on the 14 hour flight South, and most importantly freshly squeezed orange juice to greet us at breakfast!
Santiago was super; pisco sours, cafe cortado, ice cream almost as good as Italian and a trip to the zoo, complete with public displays of affection by the rather amorous monkeys! The day concluded with more pisco sours at a cool little courtyard bar in Bella Vista and then a meal at Giratorio, which is rather less dodgy than it sounds – a restaurant on the 16th floor of a tower which revolves, so we enjoyed the sunset over the Andes as we tucked into Chilean culinary delights.
Yesterday was a mammoth flying mission to the Falklands – stopping at Punta Arenas, somewhere in Argentina and finally Mount Pleasant Airport.
The Falklands has grown on me; it is quite an unsual destination and I really knew I was heading to Antarctica,whereas previously one could have been off on a holiday jaunt to South America.
This morning I took a wander along the harbourfront of Stanley in glorious sunshine, watching the tourists from a cruise ship disembark into little Ribs to come ashore, and also noticing two brave sailing yachts,oh and a fur seal!
I attended my last Mass for a while, and was fortunate enough to go to confession too, which unfortunately I had failed to do prior to departure.
Today we have been taken on a Battlefield tour of the Falklands by Tony, a Falklands resident since birth in 1949; the island is certainly much prettier in sunshine which we graced with today! We have seen Goose Green, where Falkland residents were held under house arrest in the Village Hall, and San Carlos where British landing forces arrived from whence to start their action. We also went to Tony’s farm for afternoon tea – Ashley was in her element playing with his Collie dog, and me in mine with their cat by the aga! And then back home again to Stanley for a roast Lamb complete with crumble for pudding, rather coincidental as I cooked the same menu myself last week at home in Durrington!
Tomorrow we should be flying to Rothera… weather permitting!
Good to know you’re in a state of grace ,but for how long ? Could be a long time ’till the next confession .