Housesitting and planning our next adventure

With Donna and Keith at Ounce in Bishampton. The chateaubriand was amazing, as usual

We didn’t make it to the pub on Sunday, partly as most of the boys seemed to be away but also as we got only home at 9:00am on Sunday morning  after an overnight flight from Nairobi, so keeping eyes open was a challenge. Monday was thrillingly spent changing our address from John’s. Very boring but necessary I suppose. We did then make it out for a Monday Club pint which was very enjoyable. We even had a bit of a night safari. As Mark and I opened the pub door there were two foxes almost on the doorstep. One ran off immediately but the other was quite happy to be photographed.

Our UK wildlife experience. One of two foxes waiting just outside the pub door as we left

Tuesday we came down to our Housesit for the beautiful Max and Otto. They live in an amazing house, lovely to visit, but not one either of us would want to own, a 1640’s money pit! It is big, three staircases, one just going to our suite where the floor is so up and down it’s unbelievable. The skirting board probably varies between 8cm and 18cm and you almost feel like you are at sea walking across it.

Our housesit for this week at a huge, amazing and very old house set in immense grounds with two fabulous cats to look after. Easy to get lost here both inside the house with its three staircases and outside in the extensive grounds

The grounds are also extensive, I did just under 1000 steps yesterday looking for the gardener and then taking her a cup of tea! It’s the boys however who we are here for, they are Egyptian Mau cats and so beautiful. Otto loves fuss and attention, though Max isn’t far behind, we had both of them for cuddles with a movie last night, and on the bed this morning. Heaven.

Look at these two fabulous cats we're looking after, Otto and Max. Very hard to tell them apart, they are near identical, but we think we may have got it sorted now

Yesterday we went to Bishampton to have lunch with Donna and Keith at Ounce for the Thursday Chateau Briand special. As good as ever. We had a lovely time catching up with D&K and making a fuss of Cookie and Cracker. We got the usual uproarious welcome from the boys which I’m sure everyone gets, but is still a pleasure.

Jackie giving Cookie and Cracker their treats yesterday while we were at Donna and Keiths

Apart from that we’ve been out for a couple of short walks, trying not to get too muddy and gone slightly square eyed looking at screens trying to plan the Bolivian salt flat and the Atacama desert. Home tomorrow though and back to normal life.

Another view of one of the gardens at this lovely house

Look at this part of the house, there's not a straight edge to be seen. The window top right is amusing, specially made to fit the opening

Off on one of the two short walks we've done while here

Snuggled up together on us both last night while we watched TV

We think this is Otto as the fur on the top of his head has a slight O shape. However Max has a slight O there too but he is slightly smaller than Otto. He could be Max, but I think he's Otto

Look at their coats, they are amazing. Reminds me a bit of the Serval cat we saw in Kenya. Serval's are bigger (have sharp teeth and are wild) but a similar spotted coat. Lets see if I can find a photo of the one we saw in Kenya for comparison...

Here's the one we saw. Vague likeness I suppose, now I've seen them side by side

And now |I've got a pussy cat on my lap demanding lap space, making it very difficult to write this. Which one is he? Otto I think, but he clearly thinks he is more important than this blog!

Kenya Part 4

At Diani Sea Resort, Kenya, an all inclusive beach resort by the Indian Ocean, just south of Mombasa where drinks and food flowed freely beneath a hot Kenyan sun

Days 12, 13 & 14

Pretty much the same as each other. Brian and I went in the sea, I did stretching and aqua aerobics, Fiona stayed in the pool till she was wrinkled, books were read, drinks drunk and food eaten. Three nights was definitely enough for us, but this is where Fi&J are in their element. The predominant nationality at the resort was German, so although it’s a cliche getting a sunbed (or 4) wasn’t that easy, though we wanted them in the shade so perhaps that worked in our favour. Our rooms were good (far enough away from the main building to be quieter) once we’d got our AC sorted. Fortunately it stopped working early in the evening, on the first evening, before we went to dinner rather than in the middle of the night which would have been horrible. More gas was put in and I was promised all would be well, and so it was, thank goodness, it really was needed here. Amazingly it is the only AC we have had since our first night in Nairobi. There was entertainment of an evening, two sets of acrobats and a really not very good trio. There is something a bit off putting watching the band sing the words from their mobile phones. The food was another buffet, and really was ok, but having had buffet for all meals (bar 1) for a fortnight it had all become a bit samey. Our biggest gripe was the time it took for drinks to arrive once ordered, and how often they had run out of things, like gin, tonic or white wine!

A familiar sight for us from sun loungers in the shade, Fi relaxing in the pool (all day!) with a drink in hand, James nearby, usually with a drink

It was good to relax and talk over all that we have seen and experienced with a few drinks, though actually not as many as might have been expected, and suddenly it’s all over and we are awaiting our 2pm collection for transfer to Mombasa airport. This was painless and we were very early. Ice cream then, think we were stung, $29 for 4 ice creams! Warnings that flights were being delayed due to huge rain in Nairobi, fortunately ours was only half an hour late and we had 3 hours before our Heathrow flight. What we hadn’t accounted for was that although luggage was going straight through we weren’t, we had to go through security between domestic and international terminals which was painfully slow, as it had been on our arrival in the country. We did just manage to grab a burger (not wanting to do anything but sleep on our 22.40 flight) before going to the gate, only to find that we had to go to another gate just to confirm that we wanted our bags to also go to Heathrow! Never had to do that anywhere before, but it was all ok.

It was a dramatic change after 10 days of early mornings of action packed safari drives and travelling around the country, but the relaxation was very welcome

A relatively painless flight, with us all getting a bit of sleep, before James driving us up the motorway. We were home by 09.00, unpack, first load of washing in, breakfast, food shopping. Brian has been for a run, I’ve done some gardening, both showered, blogged and I’m now feeling perhaps I didn’t get as much sleep as I thought I did.

The tranquil pool at night

We had an amazing trip, saw and experienced so much, but not everything. We saw no hunt or kill, so there is still something for next time. It was fun to go away with Fi&J, we did have a laugh and seeing things through their eyes as well as our own was a joy. We know they enjoyed it, but we haven’t converted them to our way of travelling, James was looking for their next all inclusive while relaxing by the pool! We on the other hand have a few days Housesit next week where more planning will be done for our South America trip.

This photo was taken at Best Memory Safaris office just before we arrived at the resort by Isaac. The lady (whose name we have forgotten) works with Isaac and does all the reservations and organisation. Without her it wouldn't happen  

What Jackie failed to mention in her write up was this spider. Unknowingly we chose an outdoor table after our evening meal in the corner of the patio area to watch the evenings acrobatic show. It was by a tree and I did feel things crawling on me in the dark but thought nothing of it. It was only when a group of people came over with torches and cameras to take photos of this big girl on a web less than 2m away from us. You don't really get an impression of its size here but we would guess it was about 7 to 8cm across its legs. We think its called a red legged golden orb, which can grow up to 10cm and can give a nasty bite

A little bit of video of it just to show it was real

Last photo sitting by the ocean before we left for our first flight from Mombasa airport back to Nairobi for our overnight connecting flight back to Heathrow

Monkeys at Mombasa airport! Its a small airport and was open to the outside so they could come in and out as they wished. We just made sure we had our possessions close, they are fast and you might not get back what they take