Around Pietermaritzburg

On Saturday, after a relaxing breakfast on the terrace, we spent the day around Pietermaritzburg with Georgina and Michael.
Pietermaritzburg is the town where Gandi was removed from a train in 1863 because of his race. A statue in the main street commemorates the event.




We walked down the main street. This was once a colonial town with Barclay's bank and other familiar names. Many of the buildings remain now under new ownership. There are plenty of stalls at the side of the road too.




The Town Hall is the largest brick (only) building in the Southern Hemisphere.












This was the bandstand.




We turned into what looked like a residential street, but many of the houses are now businesses. We stopped at one which has a cafe and several small enterprises, including crafts by Georgina and Michael's daughter-in-law, Lisa.




This is Lisa's section




The garden is lovely








There is a croquet lawn




Where we saw our first Hadeda a South African species of Ibis and very common and noisy. They woke us up the following morning from the large tree in Georgina's garden.




When we returned to the house for lunch, John took the opportunity to take some photos of the house and garden












In the afternoon, we were out again to Worlds End for the view over Pietermaritzburg which is surrounded by hills.




John tried out a panorama on his iPhone.




Next, we were off to Howick to see the falls (94 m) which are SA's fourth highest falls. Their highest falls, Tugala Falls (about two hours drive away), are ten times higher and are the world's second highest falls. The falls were quite impressive after overnight rain.





After afternoon tea in Howick we returned home before setting out to Andrew and Lisa's house for supper.




Pat and John on tour

Arrival in South Africa

We were due to arrive at Johannesburg airport at 6am local time and depart for Durban at 9am, so plenty off time to freshen up, collect money from an ATM and possibly buy SIMs for phone and iPad. In the event, we arrived at 6.35 and joined a very long passport control queue, so that it was after 8am when we tracked down our case and went through customs in search of the domestic terminal.
We were checked in and only needed to drop off a bag - no problem, we thought.... We got to the head of the queue and the person on bag drop disappeared for 10 minutes ..... Another tense wait and another getting to the gate with 10 minutes so spare.
We arrived in Durban without further problems where John's second cousin Georgina and her husband, Michael were waiting. It took a while to pick up our SA phone SIMs and then we were off to Ballito and the Durban beaches. By now it was 10.30 and the temperature was over 30 degrees, which is quite different from -2 deg when we left in London.












After our walk along the sea front we returned the the car and drove along the coast by the side of the Indian Ocean before driving through the centre of Durban and turning north in the direction of Pietermaritzburg where Georgina and Michael live.
We ate lunch on the terrace before catching up with our sleep.
In the evening, Georgina and Michael's son Andrew and family Lisa, Emma and Sophie arrived. We spent a very pleasant evening drinking wine (tinta barocca vines), eating and talking with family history as the main subject discussed.
Pat and John on tour

In London

Our journey to London was trouble free and we arrived at Helen and Nick's in the late afternoon. We left Béziers in sunshine, but on our way passed through snowy landscapes and sodden fields.

We enjoyed lots of walks with Ernie while we were in London sometimes leaving Helen for a few precious moments to herself. Crouch End has many parks within easy walking distance. Here we were in Priory Park watching a small scale cricket event - 2 boys and 2 dads.





Elnthorne park is very close to Helen's flat





On Sunday, we all (including James) met for lunch at 'The Victoria Stakes' close to Alexandra Palace We have enjoyed Sunday lunches there, en famille, in the past but our last visit had been disappointing. We were pleased that this time, in was back to the usual standard.






Ernie was in fine form and Margot, one of his friends was there with her family - you can just see her high chair.




We went shopping in Oxford street on Monday and on Wednesday, we went with Helen and Ernie to an RHS plant and design show at the RHS halls near Victoria. The displays were mostly of spring flowers and most of the landscape design courses were represented.

















On Thursday, it was time to take Ernie for a final walk before we left London and then make our way to Heathrow for our flight to Johannesburg. We had ordered a taxi which should have left us at the airport at 4pm for a 6pm flight. Unfortunately, 35 minutes into the journey, the traffic was such that we had to ask the driver to drop us off any the nearest tube station. Thankfully, we reached Heathrow at about 5pm and our departure gate with 10 minutes to spare before the gate closed. That's far too close for me!

This was written in the air, and when it appears on the blog, we will be in South Africa.




Pat and John on tour

Packed and ready to go

We are all ready to set out on our trip to South Africa. We leave first thing in the morning by bus to Béziers, then TGV to London changing at Lyon and Lille and arriving in London on the EuroStar, then bus from St Pancras to Helen, Nick and Ernie in Crouch End.

The weather in the south of France has now improved and we have been seeing blue skies and sun, with temperatures of about 16 deg.

The first signs of spring are showing on the terrace with crocus appearing in the boxes on our terrace.




Every year at about this time, I take a photo of the same mimosa tree in the village. It is one of the first to flower. This year, the photo was taken by John as we walked down to the supermarket.




As yesterday was Valentine's day, we went out to the local restaurant where they had a special menu.

First we had an apéro with some nibbles: a creme brûlée of foie gras and a mousse of Languedoc truffle.





The starter was grilled gratinee oysters, still raw in fact.





And the main course was duck with mashed potatoes and wild mushrooms picked by the restauranteurs themselves.





The pudding, which John forgot to photo was one of his favourites, apple crumble, which is very fashionable in France. It was all very delicious.

Tonight we will be back at the restaurant with friends as we so often are on Friday evening. Then the adventure starts, with the bus at 7:15 on Saturday morning .....


Pat and John on tour

A short break in Spain

As usual, one of John's Christmas presents was a couple of nights on the Costa Brava. When we tried to book our usual hotel, which is on the beach at L'Escala, we discovered that it was closed between New Year and Easter.

With the aid of TripAdviser we found the Hotel St Jorge on the outskirts of Platja d'Aro further down the coast and at a bargain price.

We set out on Thursday with Tom Tom navigating. The Pyrenees were magnificent as we drove towards Spain.





Somewhere along the route, Tom Tom decided that he would like to take a look at a restaurant in Girona that we are planning to visit - the driver thought that she was driving to the hotel and was a bit confused when we started to head inland .... We're there said John, no we're not, said Pat. This is El Celler de Can Roca and we're in Girona!

This is a world famous restaurant where one books well in advance. We had already tried and failed to book a table in April and, because we will be going with another couple, our next attempt will be for October. We were allowed to look around and established that there are a few tables still available in October and November.

This is the courtyard




We drove on to the hotel and discovered that it was quite as good as we had hoped! This was the view from our terrace.





Essentially, the hotel has several connected but separate beaches that can only be accessed from the hotel.






View from the beach to the tower blocks of Platya d'Aro.




The town in the distance behind the sea gulls is Palamos with its two ugly tower blocks.





We walked into the town of Platja d'Aro but were not impressed - too many high rise apartment blocks. It could have been Torremolinos. We only found one restaurant that might be interesting and lots of high street shops with sales still running. We decided to eat in the hotel restaurant and this was the right decision! The menu was varied and reasonably priced and the food was excellent. There was no doubt where we would be eating the next night.

The next day, we were debating what we should do, when a couple at the next table suggested villages further up the coast, Calella de Palafrugell and Llafranc. Here we found a lovely unspoilt Catelonian fishing village. Most of the hotels were closed, but many restaurants were open, suggesting to us that people would come to eat in the middle of the day.


















It was a lovely day with a temperature of about 20 degrees, so we sat out in the sun at lunchtime and enjoyed turbot at a small fish restaurant.



After lunch we walked on round the coast to the next seaside village, Llfranc. The large beach which must be full of people in the summer, but was almost deserted at the beginning of February. It was obviously a bit upmarket, given the seal of approval by Hemingway, Dali and Tom Sharpe, and some of its small hotels were open.















In the late afternoon, we returned to the hotel for a rest followed by another delicious meal in the restaurant. There were many more people eating on Friday and when we came done to breakfast the next morning, it was obvious that there were many guests for the weekend.

We left the hotel on Saturday morning and stopped at Palamos on our way home. We had cloud with some blue sky from time to time, but it was not as warm as the previous two days.

Palamos is much larger that the other places we had visited, and has a commercial port and fishing fleet. It was just as deserted near the beach. With the exception of the two monstrous tower blocks the town was on a nice scale. The really large blocks being further from the town at Calonge.









We walked into the town and saw the shopping area and church.








After morning tea and a lunch of tapas, we set off for home. As we reached the Pyrenees, the tramontana was blowing strongly. Crossing into France, we were greeted with rain squalls worthy of an English April. It was still windy when we reached Thézan but no sign of rainfall while we had been away.

So now we go into packing and organising mode for our trip to South Africa in two weeks time.

Pat and John on tour