Cape Pembroke Lighthouse

We had intended on going to the Welcome the New Governor Parade on Saturday 16^th October, but we were sat in Jacs, a local excellent cafe before the parade when a friend asked us if we wanted to go the Cape Pembroke Lighthouse as they had managed to get the key.  They were going with the Falkland Conservation Watch Group, who are the local young wildlife group.  The weather was fantastic – glorious sunshine, and not a breath of wind.  Ideal weather!

We had been trying unsuccessfully to get the lighthouse key for several weeks, and had also heard it was an interesting drive.  A friend had got bogged the week before on his way out there, and it took him 5 hours to get out!  The peat bogs are really soft, and will swallow a vehicle.  Off roading out here is somewhat different to the UK!  We decided we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to head out there with some experienced guides, so we met up at the airport and set off in convoy.  This view is from the lighthouse looking back to Stanley, and you can see the different tracks used by people.

It was quite an interesting journey out, but we didn’t get bogged.  A few people seemed surprised we were taking the Lightweight when they had Discos, 110’s and the usual collection of Mitsubishis and Toyotas, but the old girl did us proud, and everyone was suitably impressed with its performance!

Having got used to laning in groups of 3 and 4 in the UK, it came as a surprise that 10 vehicles headed out there.  Sometimes as many as 40 or 50 vehicles will go off roading!

Now, this will surprise my UK teaching colleagues, but some of the kids in the Watch Group go to my school, and they were extremely mature in their attitude to seeing a teacher outside of school – none of that silly giggling stuff; because it is such a small community, they accept that they will bump into their teachers all the time outside of school.  They had been looking at the role of camoflage for predators and prey, hence the bits of grass and head bands!!  Harry didn't want to put bots of grass into a head band, so he borrowed Dawn's hat!

Harry wanted to go up the lighthouse, so I took him up to see the view, and then went back up on my own to take some photos.  He wasn’t very sure when we got to the top, and the last two ladders inside were nearly vertical, which made it interesting getting him to the top!

There is also a memorial to the Atlantic Conveyor which was part of the Task Force, and was carrying useful equipment like helicopters.  It was the loss of the ship to an Exocet that meant the Task Force had to yomp across the island.  The memorial is a large bronze propeller with the names of the dead and the location of the wreck.

Again the wildlife was stunning, and this is one of a sequence of photographs of a night heron.  Unfortunately it refused to dive into the water to catch a fish!

Surf Bay again

We went back to Surf Bay, it is rapidly becoming a favourite place for several reasons.  The walk along the beach is fantastic; the wildlife is excellent; the sand is gloriously white, and the waves crashing over the rocks makes it brilliantly moody, or extremely pretty depending on the weather!

Harry had his wellies on, so we let him paddle in the pools in the sand.  Needless to say, he still got soaked!

He also made friends with a dog.  The dog was also called Harry, which caused great confusion for both of them!  “Mummy and Daddy, why are they calling me?”  and the dog kept running to us!

He then decided to climb the dunes, and roll all the way down!

Some steamer ducks were swimming on the sea.  This is one of a sequence of photos I took using the multisnap facility on the camera.

After that we visited the guns they located just above Surf Bay.  Apparently they were moved here in ‘82/3 to deter our friends from across the water should they decide to do anything silly again!

It is located just above the airport which serves Stanley.  No large planes use the airport, just the Government Air Service planes, and the view of the aiport is extremely commanding.

Fitzroy and a Picnic

4th October was a Bank Holiday, known as “Peat Cutting Monday” as it is the day tradition dictated when people began cutting peat to allow it time to dry for burning over winter. Don’t forget that October is Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, as we have Summer at Christmas, and June, July and August are Winter.


As we don’t have a peat fire, we have no need to go and cut peat, so we went out for the day. The weather forecast for the day was 25mph winds and rain, so when we got up to see it was sunny we were pleased. Actually, weather forecasting is somewhat strange here, as it is rarely correct!!!

Anyway, we decided that as the weather was good we would go to Fitzroy. This was the scene of the greatest tragedy the British Army suffered during the whole Falklands campaign. During the offload of the Welsh Guards on 8th June 1982 in preparation for the assault on Stanley, Argentine planes bombed the Sir Tristram and Sir Galahad, killing and injuring dozens of men. One of these was Simon Weston, who suffered horrific burns to most of his body, but managed to survive.

There are several memorials to the ships and men who were lost on that day. The Sir Galahad never made it home. She was towed out to sea and sunk as an official war grave

You can see how the daffodils are just getting ready; it is the equivalent of March/April here. The beer bottle is full and has never been touched, and the daffodils are a nice touch for the Welsh Guards who were on the Sir Galahad.

It’s something I find incredible...people leave little tokens like the beer bottle, whilst all memorials with a metal plaque have an ammo box containing cloths and metal polish, and no one damages or nicks it. In England the items would be gone very quickly! People here have the utmost respect and reverence for those who came to free them in 1982, even those who weren’t born at the time. Nothing says this more than the number of families who are willing to put veterans and their families up in their houses when they visit. Often it is also the families of those who never made it home that people are willing to accommodate too.

The place was perfectly still, and beautifully quiet. The sun beating down was extremely hot, and it was easy to see today why so many people get sunburnt when visiting the islands.

We also saw some birds nesting on the cliffs below the memorial. I actually had to lie down and hang over to photograph them. I used a 300mm zoom lens with a UV filter. I was using the UV filter as the photos from Wireless Ridge the previous day were very glary, even with the shortest exposure time I could set up.  They are Rock Cormorants, also known as Rock Sh@gs.  I have the @ in, as some filters were blocking it with an a there!!!

I took a sweeping panorama view of Fitzroy Sound and then stitched the individual photos together, as I had done when at Gypsy Cove. I think I’ll try a 360 from the top of somewhere like Mount Longdon or Mount Tumbledown at some point; Wireless Ridge seemed to have too many rocky outcrops to get a good panorama.

We got home in time for lunch, and the weather was so nice, Harry announced we would have a picnic outside. The weather was still glorious, so why not!

I also used the opportunity to take some snaps of the garden.

It was pleasant sat out there for 20 or so minutes, when in true Falkland form, the weather changed in about 30 seconds flat, so I tried to take some moody pictures with the black and white setting and some different coloured lenses. Top to bottom: no filter, yellow, green, orange, red, blue, and then finally in colour.

Wireless Ridge

Sunday 3rd October was a fantastically sunny day, so we decided to go for an explore. First of all we headed to the Murrell River which is a good place to fish.

I forgot to fit my UV filter to the camera, and struggled to get a short enough exposure time, even using the fastest setting!  Lesson learned!

On the way to the Murrell, you have to cross Wireless Ridge, which was the scene of some fairly bloody fighting on the last couple of days of the war.  I can actually see Wireless Ridge from my classroom window.  I'll have to post some pictures of the view from my room at some stage!

Just short of the ridge is this Argentine Battery position, complete with old boots and gas canisters

Harry wanted to take this Land rover home....”But Daddy, we can fix it, you and me...."  It is minus its wheels and tyres, lights, seats, but the engine (2.5NA), gearbox and axles are still on it.  The side bins and 6 way lighting switch show it to be ex military.

We then had an explore of the ridge. This next set of photos show the sweeping and commanding view from the ridge back to Mount Longdon, Tumbledown and Two Sisters. Also clear is the view towards Stanley, and you can see why it had to be captured as part of the final assault.  The rocky outcrops make Wireless Ridge a natural defensive position.  28 years on it still bears the scars of shelling and many of the rocks show signs of pockmarking from where bullets struck them.

There is a cross at the top to the Paras who died taking the ridge. Don’t let the blue sky fool you, it was actually quite cold! Next to the cross is an ammo box with some brasso and cloths for people to polish it. So many people have polished the brass plaque that the names of the people who died have been worn away so that the plaque is smooth! We did our bit and gave the plaque a polish before heading off the Ridge.