BACK HOME

Alec, Diana, Conal and Gershon the driver

It was so hard to say tear ourselves away from our family and friends - but it's also good to be home again! I guess we'll always feel torn between what now feels like three homes - Bern, Cape Town and Sydney. We've had a wonderfully warm welcome from everyone here  and I'll never forget the joy of seeing Anton and Nicky at the airport to meet us.  We've spent the past few days putting our lives back on track and reflecting on what now seems like a dream.

We've been asked a number of times what we enjoyed most about our travels. A difficult question to answer. On reflection we've experienced the beauty of our world: I love mountains and we certainly saw some of the best- the Rockies, the Alps and the Cape mountains - but what was most precious was having time to be with our far-flung family. Time to catch up with David and Maeve in Colorado, renewing our contact with Peter Lanigan-O'Keefe and the rest of the family from Ireland in London and then the wonderful summer hanging out in Bern with the Roos's followed by our magic holiday in South Africa where we managed to see so many of our family and friends at a leisurely pace.

Each part of our trip was extraordinary - our visit to Utah with David and Maeve, Lake Como, Rosenlaui and Rasa with Hendrik, Anna, Louisa and Jan, the Cevennes and the Midi with Diana, Prue and Anthony, the Kruger Park with Alec, Sara, Leon & Chriscelia and ending with the trip to Nyarhini with Francie and the Rovos Rail with Diana. Such marvellous memories of happy times.

Have bags - will travel

Our home is let until May so we'll be gypsies for a while yet - but one day, maybe - we might just have to pack our bags again!

THE ROUTE HOME ON ROVOS RAIL

All aboard 

We always intended going on Rovos Rail with Buck and Di - and our return journey home was done with this in mind. Rovos Rail is the ultimate in luxury and we started in style at Cape Town station when we were shown to an elegant waiting room where we were offered champagne, coffee and dainty sandwiches while being entertained by a violin/guitar duo. And then we were shown to our very comfortable larny compartments. A far cry from the sort of trains that I caught to school at the end of each holiday.

Rose petal hearts! Compliments of Rovos Rail

The compartments and shutters are polished mahogany and the dining car, lounge and observation car have that old fashioned elegance of a bygone era. Our meals were delicious - the four course meals perfectly balanced and complemented with the best wine.

Fine dining

We arrived in Worcester during lunch - and that's where we remained for the next day. The copper cables had been stolen and so eventually our trip was very different from what was intended in our itinerary. We visited the KWV brandy distillery and found ourselves sipping aged brandy through chocolate at 11 am,  and then after lunch the following day, still at Worcester station, we were bussed to Zandvliet wine farm in Robertson - a trip down memory lane because the last time Conal and I were there was to attend a wedding shortly after we were married. 

The train was eventually re-routed via George where we said a tearful good bye to Di, and flew to Johannesburg to connect with our flight to Sydney. It was an ill-fated flight though. Delayed 24 hours for technical problems, we were bussed to a strange gated conference centre near Boksburg for the night.  We returned the following evening, and this time were kept waiting on board for 5 hours while two faulty tyres were replaced. At this stage I was convinced that it was a mistake to be on the flight at all, and when after take off we hit a storm that flung the plane around like a kite, I thought my misgivings were correct and that the flight was doomed. It was with a sigh of relief that we touched down at 10 pm on Friday at Sydney International - and I burst into tears when we walked into the arrivals hall to find Anton and Nicky waiting for us. What a welcome home!

NYARHINI

The bush in November was a very difference experience from Punda Maria  in August where the bush was dry and tawny with dashes of green along the river. Now at the end of November, after the first rain, the bush turned a lovely light green with the migratory birds returning and the excitement of seeing the newly born impala kids.

Alastair the game guide and Rayka the game tracker

Breakfast in the river

We were guests of Andrew's mother, Francie who not only invited us to her game farm Nyarhini, but also provided an extremely knowledgable guide Alastair Kilpin who enriched our bush experience immensely. It was definitely Conal's idea of heaven on earth. On the first morning Conal was sitting on his bed looking out of the window when with a yelp - "there's a rhino" - he shot out of bed in his pyjamas into the Landrover with Alastair to follow the fast moving hunk down the river bed.

We arrived on a perfect day and then the impending rain was announced by increased activity – the call of the monotonous lark and that of a frog – and yet there were very few clouds and we were beginning to think that the signs of the bush had got it wrong but suddenly as we were having dinner with a flash of lightening and a roll of thunder the rain arrived.

Nyarhini 

The lodge is our idea of a perfect place to be. Thatched roofed, it hugs the Klaserie River and one could spend days just in the shyeesha watching the game coming down to drink in the river. At night the way to the bedrooms is lit by paraffin lights and candles light the bathrooms - although we did have a bedside light for reading.

Sundowners - Alastair, Conal, Phillip, Barbara & Rayka

Francie and Wendy on game drive

And so we draw close to the end of our holiday - 

STELLENBOSCH AND PLETTENBERG BAY

We had one of those Sunday lunches that leaves one groaning at Graceland, the lovely wine estate owned by my cousin Paul and his wife Sue. Sue must be the most glamorous wine maker in South Africa and her red wine is delicious - she has now added a light pink called Strawberry Fields

Sunday lunch at Graceland- Paul, Sue, Sara & Alec

And then we packed our bags yet again and hitched a ride with our friends David and Kate to Plettenberg Bay where we stayed with Conal's Irish cousin Richard and his wife Pamela and we all joined in to celebrate Monica Pickering's 70th.  Plett is as stunning as ever and although we only had one good day and the rest were sombre and overcast it didn't dampen our enjoyment.

Central Beach Plett - summer yet to arrive

Pamela and Richard in front of the Beacon Island Hotel

THE BEAUTY OF THE CAPE

Our days in the Cape have been filled with nostalgia – days spent re-visiting our favourite areas.

Hermanus from the cliff path

We spent a few days in Hermanus with Diana It was a time warp being in her lovely house where we've had so many good times. We walked along the cliff path and oohed at the whales and their babies, marvelled at the luminous light on the mountains and had a good sticky beak at the house that's replaced our precious holiday house, Avonduur. Ironically the architect has used many of the elements of Anna's design with the lovely wide verandah and the view from front door and passage to the sea.

Alec treated Aunt Amelia and I to the Paul Cluver Wine Estate for lunch and we drove along the tree-lined road to have a delicious lunch and good wine in a cosy restaurant surrounded by lovely gardens with iceberg roses in full bloom contrasting with the lime green trees and tall cypress trees.

Alec and Aunt Amelia

Our visits to our friends Thucki, Ruth, Mags and Kinki in Hermanus were far too fleeting. There's somehow never enough time but we're so grateful for the time that we've had with so many of our friends – friends from Holy Trinity Church, book club and those that we've known for a lifetime. We are reaching the end of our epic journey but we continue to find reasons to pack our bags yet another time.

CAPE TOWN CAPERS

Our holiday just keeps getting better. Cape Town has put on it's best to stun us again: whales wallowing in the waves below us, mountains decked out in spring finery and the most lovely weather.

Cape Point - Miles of beach

Death by chocolate - Grace, Francis, Stuart, Sara and Alec

We've stayed in Constantia with Alec & Sara in their lovely Cape Georgian home and have taken their Toby for walks along the Alphen trail. We also went to a packed opera house to see La Traviata where I bumped into many familiar faces. It's fantastic seeing the new South Africa in action: the chorus was almost exclusively made up of large African women dressed in unusual costumes with the most lovely voices and it certainly made for a very different and refreshingly African La Traviata.

Conal has as usual managed to fill our social calendar with his usual energy and we've been busy dashing around at a steady rate catching up with family and friends this time we've been at a more leisurely pace.

Symphony in white - flowers in Cape Point

Alec & Sara invited us to Betty's Bay where we celebrated Sara's birthday – Kate, Francis, Grace and Stuart, Leon and some of the neighbours joined us for tea and the most decadent Black Forest cake. Death by chocolate!

NORTH TO SOUTH in 3 Days

Dinner with Glen & Andre - and Nicholas in Johannesburg

 We drove from Punda Maria to Cape Town in three days - the northern border of South Africa to Cape Town - through the most lovely countryside spending the night in Johannesburg and on a marvellous farm in the Karoo near Colesberg.

Kuilfontein, Colesberg

The journey took slightly longer because we chose to do a detour through Graaff-Reinet where Alec, Leon and I were born, to avoid the road works on the national road driving through the Karoo where space seems infinite.

You can see forever

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK - Punda Maria and Pafuri

We drove from Johannesburg to Punda Maria in the north of the Kruger Park on Tuesday arriving mid afternoon in time for a late afternoon drive. The northern part of the park is great for bird watching and usually not as good for game as further south, but we saw lots probably because it's the end of the dry season and the game hasn't  dispersed yet.

Guess who has come for coffee?

World Cup supporters

We drove from Punda to Pafuri the next day to Wenela Camp perched on top of a hill and stayed in a house belonging to the Chamber of Mines - a house straight out of colonial Africa.

 Pafuri Camp was built in 1918 on a low rise surrounded by mopane scrub overlooking the KNP to the west, Zimbabwe to the North and Mozambique to the east.  Harold Mockford spent 47 years (1937 - 1985) at Pafuri as recruiter, “temporary” customs and immigration officer and Special Constable of the SA Police. He was a dedicated conservationist. 

In the middle and late 1890's the supply to the Wits mines could not meet demand resulting in high wages, illicit recruitment and poaching of labour between the different gold mines. The illicit recruitment was carried out by unscrupulous individuals who “sold” the labour on to other traders before the recruit reached the mines all of which added to the already high costs.

By 1900 the RNLA was formed and Wits Native Labour Assoc (Wenela) was set up. Recruitment was done by runners from Mozambique – from 80 bases – recruits marched or travelled by ox/donkey wagon to the nearest rail head connecting to Jo'burg. Pafuri was one of the staging posts.

The area was favoured by opportunists, mainly diamond smugglers,  and our favourite view site on the banks of the river is named Crook's Corner where the infamous Barnard nicknamed "The Swaggerer" slipped across the border to evade the law. The banks of the river is lined with huge yellow evil crocodiles so it must have been a difficult choice - crocs or cops!

Zebra crossing

FAMILY AFFAIRS

Leon and Chriscelia hosted a family get together at their home on Sunday and thankfully the day was sunny because the family has increased considerably and it was perfect for lunch under the trees in their lovely garden. It was a wonderfully happy occasion and lovely to see the various generations and to meet the latest addition to the family - young Jacques Leon.

Three generations of Pienaars
Andre holding Jacques, Leon, Alec Julian holding Rueben and Lexie

And the power behind them
Nrike. Louise, Sara, Chriscelia, Hayley, Annabelle
Ushi holding Danica, Eubre with Jeani and Ines

JOHANNESBURG

To be in Johannesburg in spring and see it in all its spring glory with banksia roses, petria, yesterday-today-and tomorrow in full bloom and the heady scent of blossom is a treat. We were met by Chriscelia and we caught the new Gautrain to Sandton - it's a joy not to have to brave the heavy traffic and to arrive after a 15 minute journey in Sandton City. The gardens in Johannesburg are glorious and we're staying with my brother Leon and Chriscelia whose garden is an oasis and its wonderful waking each morning to the familiar bird calls.
We've met up with some of our friends. I spent the morning with Elnor in her astoundingly beautiful garden and we went out to lunch close to where we used to live and had a superb meal at The Burnside. It's so lovely to be with lifelong friends where one resumes the friendship with ease. We had lunch with Henry and Pat in their lovely garden and dinner with Grant and Ushi. We met up with Rob, Barbie, Les and Sandy and had one of those lunches that's filled with teasing and laughter.

Elnor - cherry blossom time

Conal, Pat and Henr 

Johannesburg is vibrant, the people are warm and friendly and at every traffic light there are people selling flags and rugby jerseys and wherever one goes there are people wearing Springbok colours. It's also a city of high walls and I was so amused to see the ultimate wall in Hyde Park decorated with Greek sculptures!

Jo'burg walls - EISH

Conal, Barbie, Sandy, Les, Louise and Rob at the Fishmonger

LAST DAYS IN BERN

We arrived back in Bern from our barge trip somewhat travel worn after braving the early morning traffic on the highway, dodging huge trucks and trying to read road signs to Montpellier Airport where we dropped Di, Ants and Prue in a flurry. On to Nimes where we handed in the car with a sigh of relief and caught the TGV to effortlessly slip through the French countryside in speed and comfort.

Anna and Jan were at the station to meet us and we settled into the easy routine of our life in Bern again. Our last few days were spent visiting our favourite spots, watching Jan and his team trounce the Italian Soccer team (Jan scored 4 out of the 6 goals) and saying good bye to Hendrik and Anna's friends who have been so warm and kind to us during the summer. It has been a beautiful summer - one that we'll always remember and treasure. We have been so privileged to tap into the Roos's life and now can picture the small things that make up their daily routine.

Henrik and Anna in Como

Louisa, Anna and Jan

Anna and her good friends Trix and Simone

The weather changed, the temperature dropped and we left Bern on a grey, sombre afternoon matching our mood - goodbyes are always so painful.

CANAL DU MIDI - IN RECORD TIME

Clearing the lock

Reflections in a green cathedral

Di and Ant got their wires crossed and so instead of doing the barge trip in 7 days - we had to get to Port Cassafieres in 6 days and we set off from Castlenaudry after stocking up at the local supermarket with provisions determined to get through 64 locks and 157 km within the limited time. It's difficult to pace the trip because it's never possible to gauge how long it'll take to get through the locks. Sometimes one has to wait for the upcoming boats to clear the locks, sometimes there are as many as 3 locks  in a row - and in the case of the locks at Beziers called the Fonserannes Staircase - 7 locks. The last time we went on this trip was over 20 years ago - and we definitely felt the toll of the intervening years! But Conal and I leapt off the barge, pushed and pulled, coiled and attempted to lassoo - and tried to improve our imperfect skills. We were the oldest on the canal by far and provided much amusement to the tourists and the locals who come out to watch people making a mess of things. And we did mess up on numerous occasions. We laughed until we wept at the spectacle we must have made of ourselves. It was a heap of fun - although the last day was too hot and the sun too relentless for my liking. But we made it and it is the most idyllic trip so worth every minute of nearly falling in the canal, the twisted ropes, the barge caught broadside in the canal and once almost taking an entire restaurant with us! At times we did it like professionals though...

Lock keepers house

The countryside we passed through is sublime - and thank goodness for the shade of the beautiful old plane trees that line the banks of the river. The Midi is the brain child of Pierre Paul Riquet and was made possible by locks designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Riquet must have been passionate to overcome the many obstacles that he had to face but he made it his life's work, sourcing water from the many rivers in the area. The project was started in 1667 and finallly completed in 1681 sadly just shortly after his death when the canal was finally filled with water. The construction is complex with spillways making provision for floods, acqueducts that contain rivers and it must have been a constant battle not only of problem solving but fighting off his detractors. Of course originally the barges would have been horse drawn so tow paths line the banks that now are perfect for cyclists and we also took the opportunity of cycling ahead of the barge under the dappled shade.

Mind your heads!

Our route took us through the ancient town of Carcassone and we caught a little tourist train up to the old fortified city, dating back to Roman times and renovated at the end of the 19th C. It's become a real tourist trap inside the walls of the old city with lots of lovely shops providing all kinds of beautiful clothes and souveneirs and we wandered through the city trying to imagine what it must have been like in the 3rd & 4th century AD before the age of consumerism.

Di encouraging us

LAST DAYS IN LE VIGAN

We drove through to Nimes on Monday to collect Di, Ant and Prue Hare - handing in our little toy car at the station and swopping it for a Peugot Partner. Our guests were late so we didn't get back to Espigarie until after 7 pm and we had a great deal of fun watching their look of disbelief when they arrived at the farm. The splendid confusion was quite a shock for them - and then like us they seemed to grow used to the confusion. 

Paillerols from the contour walk

Di and Prue showing the way

We spent the next few days showing them around the area. We have loved living in the beauty of the Cevennes and being part of life in this magic part of the world for a short while. We started to recognise people in the village, listened to the local daily news on TV in French, gazed at the wooded rugged mountains and the many rivers that curve through fertile valleys and enjoyed living off the land and dipping into life in rural France briefly. Sadly our time in Paillerols drew to a close and we had to leave fig heaven on Friday 9th for Castlenaudry early in the morning for the next leg of our journey. It's one of those memories that I'll treasure forever.  

Painting by Omer Faidherbe - the artist living in Paillerols

CIRQUE DE NAVACELLES

A number of people recommended that we visit the Cirque de Navacelles, a round trip to the biggest gorge in Europe. On the map the road has that treacherous look of many sharp twists so it seemed a good idea to do the excursion on a good day. Tuesday was a stunning day and we set off armed with our picnic lunch along the Arre River (yes Le Vigan is on the Arre - as opposed to Bern on the Aare!) in a verdant, thickly  treed valley through little villages where the road blends with the buildings. It's a slow incline and suddenly the typography changes and we arrived on a plateau with stunted oak trees - and then abruptly the escarpment gives way and there is the spectacular gorge with Navacelles in the bend of an extinct oxbow of the River Vis far below. The road zig-zaggs down to the bottom and fortunately being the end of the holiday season, there wasn't much traffic because we had to stop to manouvre our way past oncoming cars as we made our way through 3 million years of erosion. The limestone cuttings on the side of the road are fascinating - the horizontal layers of rock have vertical intrusions and the rock face looks like carefully laid bricks. 

Navacelles at the base of the Gorges de Vis

Navacelles is a quaint little town and we had lunch close to the waterfall where the Vis suddenly emerges again - I still have to find out where the course of the river is, because the gorge looks as if it ends in a blind valley and although there is an aqueduct somehow it wasn't apparent where the source rises. Our little toy car strained up the steep pass with Conal warning that we'd have to descend again - and indeed we no sooner reached the top of the escarpment than the road dipped - this time fortunately a slow decline eventually driving along yet another beautiful valley whizzing past XIthC churches and Roman bridges - I would have loved to stop but once behind the wheel, Conal has the habit of only stopping when once he has reached his destination.  On our trip we drove along three different rivers, the Arre, Vis and finally the Herault River.

The village of Navacelles

Although the gorge is not as vast as the canyon we saw in Utah, it is spectacular in it's own way and of course being able to drive to the base of the gorge and being dwarfed by the height of the mountains gave us another perspective. Certainly worth the journey - although I would hesitate to take anyone who suffers from car sickness along the route. 

Conal says this is one of the descendants of Modestine - the name of the donkey in Robert Louis Stephenson's book we're reading - grazing in the field next to our house in Espigarie

ENCORE FRANCE

Cafe des Cevennes where we have our daily coffee

Centre of Le Vigan

Le Vigan has 10,000 inhabitants - in summer this doubles and with August drawing to a close the town is emptying as people leave for their journey home. However when we went into town on Saturday we found it transformed - it was market day, the whole town was buzzing and we had to wait patiently for parking. We wandered around looking at the local produce including chickens in coop an then decided to drive to a little village called Brieu where we'd been told that there was an auberge that served delicious meals. I wandered into the restaurant to find it deserted and in fact it I suspect that the whole village had gone to Le Vigan to the market. 

View from Auberge la Borie where we had Sunday lunch

Yesterday we decided to go to Mangadout  for lunch, yet another village along tortuous roads where the restaurant is perched on the edge of the mountain with wonderful views across the valley. We had a delicious meal - and staggered back to Paillerols with Conal driving with the added confidence of a full stomach. 

We've been hearing a donkey braying and on our walk yesterday found the rather handsome animal grazing happily in the field nextdoor - accompanied by a number of Isa Brown chooks. I'm about to start a book recommended by Sara called Travels with a donkey in Cevennes written by Robert Louis Stephenson so was thrilled. 

LE VIGAN AND SURROUNDS

St Martial in the rain

Anna says that it sounds as if we've landed up in Jean de Florette country - and indeed that's exactly what it feels llike. Our days here continue to delight - the past two days have been rainy and the valley is clothed in mist. Our routine is to drive into Le Vigan to the cafe for our daily coffee au lait and croissant while we check our mail. We had planned to go to the biggest gorge in Europe yesterday but thought it might be better to do that on a good day, so armed with delicious bread, brie and baby tomatoes we set off for a little circular drive through the village of Ganges up into the mountains. This area used to be the centre for the silk industry and so there are huge ancient stone mills dotted around. Sadly it was so misty that our visibility wasn't great and the roads so narrow that we had to concentrate as we climbed up the steep pass and then we had to have our picnic in the car. Guess you can't strike it lucky all the time!  Conal is getting the hang of the roads although I still have to remind him to stay on the right sometimes - but he seems far more confident driving although found it a bit nerve wracking on the narrow passes in the rain. He is enjoying pottering around the farm - fixing things and putting in new globes where necessary. We go for little walks around our area called Paillerols and found a path taking us along the contour where the hill side has been terraced with stone retaining walls - terrace upon terrace all overgrown.

Duck a la Conal

We wandered across to thank Ani for letting us in and met her husband Omer Faidherbes. They are both well-known artists who have had numerous exhibitions - he paints landscapes and has done a series of botanical water colours for books while she does outlandish wooden sculptures and all manner of patchwork out of wonderfully rich fabrics. The curtains in our bedroom have been made by her. They are both such interesting people and we had a lovely time looking at his studio and art - and Ani showed us her work as well. 

 We are surrounded by fig trees and even I can't keep pace with all the ripening figs - huge walnut trees, apple trees, vines, pears & olives - the list just keeps growing. And the bird life entertains Conal - he spotted a pair ospreys flying overhead and a paradise flycatcher visiting the fig trees. 

RURAL LANGUEDOC

Our trip from Bern to Nimes was hugely enjoyable - we had to change trains twice and being seasoned travellers with our small bags it was easy. We arived in Nimes at 3 pm and collected our little car at the station. I tried to persuade Conal to get a GPS but that would make it too easy for him - and he is a great believer in making things challenging. I thought driving on the right would be enough of a challenge. Anyway with a great deal of trepidation we set off for Le Vigan. I do think the angels must have been watching over us because other than Conal side-swiping the kerb, we found our way out of Nimes and onto the road to Le Vigan with me constantly reminding Conal to keep to the right. The road was well sign posted and we drove through countryside that kept getting more beautiful, through a gorge. and arrived in the village in time to stock up with groceries and set up the narrow road to Les Paillerols a village consisting of about 3 houses where we managed to find Annie who came with us to open up the house. 

View from the house

The farm house is perched high in the mountains is HUGE and old - with crumbling walls. It was renovated about 30 years ago and is quite comfortable and must have been lovely while Evelyn was alive. Sadly it now has a rather unloved look about it  with things dumped in cheerful confusion on every surface - but as Jan would say "what the hell Michelle". It took Conal's ingenuity to get us set up - we took rust encrusted keys to locks to connect the water - and then down into a cob webbed cellar to find the electricity and hot water system. Lots of chatting from Annie in French - tres complique she kept saying - and trying to get by with my rather basic French - in between raiding the fig trees laden with the sweetest black figs - eventually we managed to sit down with a glass of French rose and an omelette eaten beneath the fig trees outside the kitchen.

Farm house - note the fig tree

We went into the village again this morning and walked into the central 'place' to a cafe for our coffee and croissants - then to the tourist information to get maps of the area, to a little market set amonst the old buildings - some dating from the 15thC and earlier. There's lots to explore and I anticipate that we're going to have lots of fun - this is the bread basket of France - olive trees, fruit trees and vineyards galore. Too many cheeses to chose from - and this is where pate de fois gras is made - ou-la-la! 

View from the farm