Sand Dunes Thursday 4th Feb Today is a really early start. We have packed up the camp and are on the road by 5:15 a.m. The first reason is that we are heading into the sand dunes and we need to get to the National Park as soon as the gate opens. We then drive to Dune 45 {That’s the only name it’s got so far} and climb it in time to see the sunrise over the sand dunes - I actually only get about half way up before picking my spot to watch the sunrise. Bush Man The next reason for starting out so early is that, after a break for breakfast, we are taken for a short walk through the desert at Sossusvlei. We walk from about 8 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. but, even ... read more

Cape Town to Orange River Sunday 31st Jan All the group is assembled now and we head off out of Cape Town. There are 23 of us all together. We are a mixture of ages and nationalities - We have Brits, Australians, Swiss, Dutch, Koreans, French, American, Mexican and two of the crew are Kenyan. I’m going to struggle to learn everyone’s name especially as there aren’t too many bog-standard English names. We are travelling in one of those trucks converted to an overland vehicle that you see quite a lot of in Africa and we’re going to be camping - I’m sure I decided at some point that it was time to start growing old gracefully and to start travelling in a bit more comfort! We head out of Cape Town towards Cedarburg. The landscape ... read more

South Africa The trip to South Africa is easily the one that has taken the longest time to come to fruition. My great-grandfather went to South Africa as a missionary {I don’t know what sort, I discovered quite recently that the family may have been Quakers}. My grandfather and a few more children were born in Cape Town but my great-grandfather died when my grandfather was five years old. My great-grandmother then decided that the best thing to do was to take all her children back to Britain and settle in Stoke (!!!). When I was a child my grandfather often talked about visiting Cape Town and had promised to take us children there. It never happened. Previous generations of the family have always talked about visiting Cape Town but have grown old before they ... read more

Around Gran Canaria....more Fuente De Los Azulejos Fuente De Los Azulejos is about a 20 minute drive inland along the road from Mogan. Here you can see where the rocks have been coloured (blue, green, brown and orange) by mineral deposits. There is also a small cafe here serving excellent mixed fruit juices that will probably provide your 5-a-day requirement several times over for €4. Puerto De Mogan Puerto De Mogan was, I guess, originally a fishing village and a port for Mogan. The harbour is now mainly filled with yachts though. The original harbour area has survived with its small houses, and colourful, narrow streets with displays of bright flowers encouraging the tourist brochures to describe it as "Little Venice" - I didn't see any canals or gondolas, though. Cuevas De Bermajas The Cuevas De ... read more

Christmas in Gran Canaria One of the reasons for coming out to Gran Canaria each year, apart from getting away from the weather at home, is to also get away from the over-commercialisation and over-indulgence of Christmas at home. We still do lots of meals together as a family but without all the extra trimmings that would normally have to be added at home. In fact on Christmas Day we make a point of all going down to the beach with just a bag of butties. Christmas Day Christmas Day isn’t such a big event out here as it is at home. I don´t know if what I see happen here is unique to The Canaries or if the same happens in the rest of Spain. And, of course, because we are in a tourist area, ... read more