My glorious summer holiday

On Saturday (5th Feb) as it was such a gloriously sunny day, and after working most of the morning in the office, I decided to walk over to Penguin River - around the coast in the opposite direction to King Edward Point. Anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with beachcombing, so I walked most of the way looking at the ground, but did stop now and again to enjoy the wonderful scenery and the wildlife. One of my first stops was to talk to a yachtsman whose boat is tied up at Tijuca Jetty, just near the Museum - he is from Israel and is sailing single-handed - and was telling me how he had had a bit of a problem when in his small inflatable boat with leopard seals trying to bite it ... eek! He thought they were just investigating it ... yeah, right - investigating how to get him out of the boat so they could eat him!! Apparently he is a keen runner so is interested in going in for the South Georgia Half-Marathon on Wednesday - I wonder how he will get on, having been on a 42' boat for months? On a bit further till I met the little fur seal pup in the picture. While I was taking photos, he lumbered over to my rucksack and investigated it thoroughly, then when he realised it wasn't going to hurt him, he climbed on top and sat there smugly looking around! I had to wait until he got bored with doing this, and wandered off, before I could set off along the beach. I met lots of fur seals who all felt they had to growl at me, and lots of moulting elephant seals that I had to skirt around quietly so I didn't disturb them from their slumbers. The ones lying in heaps of rotting seaweed (i.e. a nice soft bed) smelt terrible, so I gave them a really wide berth. The beach was littered with old whalebones from the whaling days before they used every part of the whale, the odd fur seal skeleton from seals who didn't survive this year's breeding season, and lots of old wood washed up. Had I been on the beach at Spey Bay I would STILL be loading wood into the back of my van!

After a lovely walk along the stony beach I eventually got to Penguin River - a fairly wide and shallow river coming from the glacier high up in the mountains above. Lots of king penguins just standing around, moulting, with more elephant seals lying in smelly groups, and fur seals lurking in the tussock grass waiting to ambush me! I tried to walk across the river so I could walk over and look round the 'corner' into Moraine Fjord - I got halfway across and then the last bit of the river was too deep and I wasn't prepared to get wet feet so abandoned that. It was so lovely sitting on the grass just soaking in all the sights and sounds, eating my lump of cheese and an apple. I decided to climb up onto the hill and cut across back to Grytviken that way. It was very steep for me and I kept sliding, but I made myself do it and it was worth it for the scenery alone. (In the photo of the hill (above) I walked from bottom left to the exact centre of that picture.) I felt a million miles away from everyone and everything and it did me so much good. The sun was really hot (yes, I did have suntan lotion on!) and there was little wind - all I could hear was the tide on the beach way below me, and the birds calling. A pair of light-mantled sooty albatrosses flew low above me, checking me out - they are such beautiful birds.

Everyone had said to me that if I went along this ridge of land I should be sure to go and see the gun emplacement and the crashed helicopter .... why?!?! I am not interested in war - all it meant to me is people dying and families heartbroken - British and Argentinian, it doesn't matter what nationality. Why on earth would I want to go and gawp at the evidence?

I walked back across the high land beside King Edward Cove until I reached a point high above the cemetery where Sir Ernest Shackleton is buried, then slithered down beside the waterfall to where I took the photo of Grytviken and the cemetery. I didn't realise how weary I was and how stiff my knees were till I got on the track that goes through the whaling station, and I tried not to hobble in case anyone could see me! Then I had a quick shower and a lie-down before heading along the track to KEP for our regular Saturday night supper on base with everyone.

We started with fresh granary bread rolls with lovely homemade Greek dips - black olive, avocado and onion, and black bean, and a sort of cheesy custard (?!), followed by a lovely paella, and then a layered white chocolate mouse with raspberries. Yum!! A quick rest in the bar, then I set off in the almost dark on my own to brave the fur seals lurking along the track to get back to Grytviken. But I didn't sleep very well, my knees were sore from walking along the uneven beach, I was a bit sunburnt and I had a headache in my eyes from the fierce sun - apparently the ozone hole is just about gone from here at this time of year, but with absolutely no pollution to filter out the sun's rays they are incredibly strong and you do have to be careful. Poor me.

On Sunday morning I got another trip out on the jet boat to collect Ashley and Rob from Sorling and to drop Tony and Julia there for a three-day holiday. This time we did get some iceberg ice to go in our freezer to add to our drinks! I did a bit of work in the office and then had a quiet day recovering, a snooze in the afternoon to make up for my lack of sleep last night, then cooked myself a chicken breast wrapped in bacon and chips for supper, after which Hugh came back from KEP with our chocolate ration for the month so I now have 5 chocolate bars to last me till 1st March. That'll be right!