Mount Tumbledown

The school has a race up Mount Tumbledown, scene of some fairly heavy fighting.  It was held by the Argentine 5th Marine Infantry Battalion who were fairly determined to hold the positions.  Against them were 2nd Battalion the Scots Guards.  10 British troops and 30 Argentinians were killed during the assault.  8 were Scots Guards, 1 Welsh Guard and 1 Royal Engineer.  There also 43 British and over 100 Argentinians wounded.

The battle was were Robert Lawrence was injured.  His story of his recovery after being shot in the head by a sniper was turned into a film "Tumbledown" starring Colin Firth.

The day was overcast, and as I walked around the battlefield the wind increased.  I actually came down because I was struggling to stand up!

Some of the positions the Argentinians had constructed would have been difficult to assault, and I am amazed that only 10 men were lost during the assault!

I parked at the bottom of Tumbledown and had an explore around before climbing up to the top.  The old Argentine positions are still there, along with loads of war debris

The remains of a Argentine field gun

 
There always seems to be lots of discarded boots in the old positions, I often wonder what they wore on their feet!

The next few pictures are some of the old positions which were dug into the soft peat.

The position in the picture below must have been a signals post, as these are battery packs which have gradually fallen apart

Once you get up ont Tumbledown, the positions used the rocks as cover, as in the ones below.

On top of Tumbledown is a cross and memorial.  I decided I would visit it last after exploting the length of Tumbledown.

To make matters worse for the assaulting toops, some of the positions were well constructed, and partially blend into the rocks.  This is because the troops used loose rocks to build better defensive positions.

 As you get closer, the position becomes more obvious

By this point, the position looks damn near impregnable, only a grenade posted through one of the firing slits would deal with the defenders.

The roof of the position was made using wire mesh with nylon and rocks piled on top of it.  Again, this would helped with making the position difficult to asssault.

The entrance is around the back, and very small, you have to crawl in on your hands and knees.  If you look carefully, you can see an old Argentine blanket on the floor!

Once inside, the cooking equipment and water bottles can be seen, still there 29 years later!

A look though the firing slot shows how narrow the field of viewwould have been.  The walls are about 2 feet thick!

An old blanket and ammo box

The roof is also supported with wooden struts.  The wire in the centre of the picture runs out and forwards to other postions

More debris on the floor...

Given that many of the other positions were simple piles of rocks under overhangs and quite small, and this was quite large, I'm guessing it may have been a command post.  It is also roughly in the centre of Mount Tumbledown.

Once you get to the eastern end of Tumbledown (nearest Stanley) you find the memorial to the 8 fallen Scots Guards.  Just like every other memorial here there are personal effects and the obligatory ammo box containing polish and cloths.  This one also contains a copy of the armed forces book of common service and prayer.

The brass plaque lists the men who died, and looked a little dull....

So I gave it a quick polish

On the very eastern slope of the crags are two trailers.  These were used for cooking food for the Argentinians on Tumbledown.

Again, it amazes me how the debris of war is still evident.  The respect that people have for these battlefields is amazing, and it makes the news if someone damages them.  I just think that back in the UK, the sites would have been vandalised, and the memorials would not be as well looked after, but that may just be me being negative.

Again, another very moving experience, with the wind making Tumbledown seem very bleak.  I was there for 3 hours and was blown all over; it must have been awful for the Argentinians up there with little shelter in late autumn and early winter.

Funny weather, faulty anchors and a strange way to sleep!

The weather here never ceases to amaze me.  We get some fantastic heat and sun, or gales and rain.

The again, the cloud formations can be really strange.  In this photo, the cloud has hugged the hill across the harbour and made them look almost snow capped!

The following day we had a cruise ship in, but no one could get off it due to it breaking anchors, and it could only drop one.  I would have been fairly upset if I had been on the boat!  It couldn't even turn around and head to its next destination because it needed fuel, so they had to carefully refuel the ship!

Now we are back at school, we can get Harry settled into a routine.  Basically, we have had our Summer holiday, so finished at Xmas and went back in the last week of January.   This led to Harry getting out of his routine, so we have some hard work getting him into his bedtime routine.  He ended up falling asleep in this position the other night, which surely can't have been comfortable!!!

A Glorious Sunset!!!

The lovely weather has given rise to some fantastic sunsets recently, and the other evening was no exception, especially when coupled with incredible stillness.

The rocks across the harbour were illuminated perfectly, and the ships in the harbour and at FIPASS stood out perfectly in the sun.  I went down to the water's edge to snap a few pictures.  These pictures were shot on a 300mm lens with a UV filter and hood.  No colour filters were used!!

I took a few wildlife pictures too

There is also quite a lot of debris and rusting scrap at the edge of the water too.  I thought I would snap a few pictures of this scrap to see how it came out.

A new hat and fun in the middle of town!

We have been having a real battle with Harry getting suncream onto his face and ears; arms and legs have been no problem, but anywhere near his face with suncream and he goes mad!

We decided he needed a new wide brimmed hat to keep the sun from his face.  We trawled through every shop in town, leaving the FIC until last simply because they are often the most expensive.  Finally we found one, in the FIC Giftshop, the Capstan.  There were several choices, but Harry plumped for this fetching number with a penguin fluffy toy stitched to the front and back of it!

After we visited the Capstan, Harry wanted to explore the shingle just down from the shop.  The tide was out, so there was a good bit of shingle for Harry to explore, which involved him throwing lots of stones into the water, and collecting some stones and shells to take home!

There was also a colony of Shags on the remains of one of the wrecks.  We were also treated to a Typhoon flyby as well.

New Year's Day

The weather over Christmas has been absolutely cracking, with glorious sunshine just about every day since Xmas Eve.  NewYears Day was no exception!!

It was the day of the raft race, so we went down to the harbour to watch the fun, which, it true Falklands fashion, finished at the pub!!  Loads of people were out on their jet skis and in their boats.

The boat at the bottom of this picture used to be used for moving sheep around.  They even used to fit 88" Land Rovers in them!!

After the raft race, we decided to have another BBQ, a few beers, and let the kids play in the garden.  This time we were round at Laura and Tracy's house.  We were constantly slapping the sun cream on, Factor 50, and every half an hour at that!!  You can literally feel yourself burn down here when you are in the sun!

The kids had great fun rolling old tyres down the steep garden slope, before turning them into dens by adding old wood and some blankets!

After we had BBQ'd, Will and Olly decided that they wanted to have a swim in the Harbour.  Believe me, the water in the harbour is very cold, even in the middle of Summer!

After they went, some Steamer ducks and their chicks appeared at the edge of the water, so I managed to take a few snaps of them.