Photos from walks
Well, I admit I haven’t been so good at writing on my blog recently, but life has remained busy (sometimes manic) and I’ll try to share some of it here.
Last weekend I went walking. No, lets start a bit earlier than that, sometime in the week before last I heard of a walking group that met each Saturday morning at 9am and went for a walk, but I was having difficulties in finding out who was organising it, if I needed to sign up and such like. Anyway, a friend I met on that Friday told me she was going on the walk the next day and she would send me on the email and try to get me the contact details of the person in charge of the walk so I could sign up. That didn’t happen- due to meetings and technology failures (I think I might’ve mentioned them before), the email never got sent, so I went out on Friday evening and chilled and chatted with friends, getting in at the not too unearthly hour of 2am on Saturday morning. I was woken suddenly at 7:30am on Saturday morning by my friend ringing me to tell me that another friend of hers had dropped out and there was space to go on the walk if I wanted, so with my eyes just about open I gathered water, long trousers, boots and sunscreen and went off to pick her up (she very kindly made me lunch) and then managed to get to the meeting point just in time as they were organising who should go in which car.
Since it was our first time, we went on the short walk and it was very enjoyable (if getting quite warm by the middle/end of the walk). We walked near Charlotte Falls (not quite close enough to see the falls properly but we could see parts of the top of the falls, which looked nice) and then up through Regent village, past a lot of two storey houses (you don’t normally see very many of those and these ones looked pretty old, so conceivably built by freed slaves in the 19th century). I didn’t manage to take a pic of the prettier ones, but I’ll try to put up some of the pics. I did go for a swim after the walk (and a shower 1st), which was really relaxing and then tried to spend the afternoon reading development economics (normally interesting- at least to me), but my body decided that after a busy week, a lack of sleep and enough exercise for the day, that resting my eyes was going to turn into a 2 hour nap (well, I didn’t time it, but I certainly slept for longer than I planned).
(looking down the valley towards a 2 storey house). I think the long walk went up those hills in the background-rather them than me!
Saturday evening involved a hog roast- very tasty, I watched as it was turned over the outside fire for the last bits and it smelt good. We also had delicious garlic bread- could smell it ages before we saw or ate it, as well as fresh fish (which may also have been BBQed), oh and watching England do so badly in the rugby that someone said they were going to go and change their England shirt for a French one! I left early cos I had promised a very special friend that I would chat to them that evening, which was brilliant and much, much enjoyed.
On Sunday (yes- I know, this weekend seemed to have a lot happening, either that or I’ve suddenly become a lot more verbose than normal) I went to the early service, where I actually got to chat to the pastoral team (am sure they have a different name here), but that was nice, since I haven’t really ever had much of an opportunity to chat to them before because they’re always quite busy and the meetings are normally pretty big. Then went down to Kent (not the one near the M25) beach for the afternoon with a couple of people, one is a retired Lebanese friend who always has a lot of very interesting information to give about SL’s history and people and culture and the other, was a friend of mine who’s doing work with an NGO. We had crab and enjoyed the beach and swam in the sea- tho’ I did forget to take any photos, but golden sands and a turquoise ocean under a blue sky basically sums it up.
Ok, so last weekend dealt with, I’ll skip over most of the details of this week, since they mainly involved work, although I did manage to play squash (badly but enjoyably) with someone who’s definitely better than me, but we’re still able to have a good game and she doesn’t have it all her own way!
So the weekend just gone- I planned to go out on Friday evening because several people have just got back from trips abroad/home, however, my body decided that it preferred the idea of sleep, so that’s what happened. It did mean that I was much more fresh faced than I had been the week before and had a lot less difficulty in getting to the start of the walk on time. Now, the (apparently) highest mountain in (either the peninsula, or at least this end of the peninsula) is called Sugarloaf mountain (not sure if it abides by international standards in terms of being the right height for a mountain, but it felt a bit like one). The main walk this week was to go up and down Sugarloaf, now this week I’d actually got a proper rucksack-so I felt a little bit more the part than the shoulder bag I’d used last week, but although I made it to the top and didn’t lag behind or anything, my fitness leaves a whole lot to be desired. I think I probably manage to make it to the top on stubbornness alone because the body really wasn’t willing- and let me know by aching the whole of Sunday. The views were good (at least from 2/3’s of the way up) and from the top, you could see other mountains on the peninsula, which annoyingly looked taller than the one we were standing on, but we just said it was the perspective/angle (hmm-not sure about that). Anyway, was glad I did the walk- much enjoyed and managed not to fall asleep in the afternoon after all. Some of the rock faces were somewhat sheer-hopefully you can see this from the pictures I’ve taken, so in some ways going down was more difficult than going up (tho’ in my opinion, you’ve got gravity working with you rather than against you, so really, going down is much easier- you just need to work how when/how to stop!)
The view from 2/3's of the way up
The clamber to the 2/3's marker- the bit I still had to do but decided to photograph instead. I think it felt steeper than it looks, tho' that could just be my lack of fitness
The bit i'd just walked/clambered up.
the group at the top of sugarloaf mountain
On Sunday afternoon, after a very enjoyable lunch at Country Lodge (good views and you can get there by car instead of walking), I went down to Lumley beach, where I met a friend who’s here working for a couple of weeks and we joined in some volleyball- the first game was really good fun, but then people started getting really serious about it all, so we just chatted and enjoyed relaxing in the evening sun. The beach was sooooo busy- maybe I just don’t really go down to Lumley beach very often, but I didn’t realise how busy it got on Sunday afternoons- I guess we normally go to a beach that you need to drive to and since Lumley is part of Freetown, those without transport go there to enjoy the beach.
So anyway, you’ve heard a lot about the ‘new’ activity for me- going walking on Saturday mornings- long may it last and I hope it will help improve my fitness just a little bit more. Am still trying to swim a bit, tho’ that mainly ends up being at weekends as well and I don’t do enough exercise during the week- will see what I can organise.
Labels: BBQ, beach, photos, views, volley ball, walk
Pics from travels round SL
The main trunk road to Kailahun- without the major potholes going up to the car's windows that we encountered later on this road!
Back to Bonthe and a large mud hut dwelling typical of those in the villages on the 'main roads'. It's nicer than many houses in east and central Freetown to the extent that it is a fairly deceny size and has some land surrounding it, although much of the land is does not look like it's being put to productive use. There's a lot of debate over land issues here- some people say that almost no land is being used productively because it 'belongs' to the paramount chief and/or to all people in the chiefdom ie is communal land and it's too uneconomical to work round or through the system in order to make it productive. However, there's another view that says all land that is productive is used somehow because people are good at finding ways round the system and therefore any land that hasn't been cleared and used is deemed as unproductive. I'm not sure about this and I'm definitely not convinced with the idea that there's so much land in SL that's unproductive, because (and again i'm only commenting on the land closest to the main roads to towns and hence to the major markets) that would be a huge amount of land that's unproductive and given the rainfall and lush greeness of the savannah (for want of a better word), I'm somewhat sceptical about the latter viewpoint.
At the agricultural show in Mattru Jong (Bonthe mainland), this was the most impressive of the corncircles on display.
Palm oil fruits- a big business in the south where there are several palm oil plantations
The main district council office in Mattru Jong- may well be newly built after the war, tho' may also be an oldbuilding that has been rehabilitated.
Labels: agriculture, Mattru, palm oil, photos, roads, travel
More photos
These are photos there were all taken when leaving the ferry to go the the airport to fly home
The airport is not only across the water from Freetown, it's about a 45min boat trip and is in an entirely different province to Freetown. You can also take the helicopter to get to the airport, but that costs about 50USD, whereas the ferry costs about 20USD or 12GBP (or at less if all you do is the actual ferry trip, but I got a bus which took me all the way from the centre of town, across the ferry and onto the airport, hence making life a lot easier for myself rather than having to find a taxi once I'd gotten onto the other side of the water). Since the flights I've taken to SL have always arrived late in the evening/at night, it's easier and safer to take the helicopter (and certainly a lot quicker, unless you get a storm which grounds the helicopter). However, since I was leaving Freetown in the afternoon I thought I'd try taking the ferry, which worked out really nicely and was very relaxing and chilled.
This first photo was taken while still on the ferry as we were moving towards the port- the sillouettes were foot passengers on the ferry.
More people leaving the ferry- having sold their goods in Freetown.
The welcome sign at the entrance to the airport, promoting love and peace in a country where until recently there didn't seem to be too much of either, but so far things have definitely been much more peaceful and positive.
Oops- just realised that these are a bit in the wrong order- this was just after the bus had come off the ferry. It's a bit like a RORO except for the fact that you drive on and reverse off- rather than opening at both ends. I think our driver had done this before tho' as be seemed pretty good at getting the bus on and off the ferry without touching any of the other vehicles. They did put the vehicles onto the ferry very tightly tho'- the door of our bus wouldn't open because it was so close to other cars. However, the windows were large sliding ones, so we could still get a lot of air (and clamber out if we needed/wanted to).
Labels: ferry, photos, travel
A few photos from the beach (plus one other)
Wahey- have managed to make it work!! 
This is Bouray beach-v beautiful and clean and sometimes has good enough waves for surfing on- tho' the recent ones have been more suited for beginners than anyone else.
These were all taken sometime ago since this is the first time I have managed to get a browser to work with blogger to get photos up.
And the beach from another direction- ah it's a tough life
More beach
Taken leaving the ferry on my way to the airport to head home- these were the first people off the boat, they were all heading home having sold their wares in the Freetown markets. Apparently they sell a lot of fish, fruit and vegetables at cheaper prices than you'd normally find in Freetown.
And finally, I took this ages ago- the same time I took the pics of the beach above; it's pics of the surfboards we rented when down at Bouray (still not sure of spelling!) beach and were beginning to attempt to learn to surf (tho' these boards were pretty short thus making it kind of tough).
Hopefully will manage to get some more photos on here now that have worked out a possible way of doing it!!
Labels: bouray, boure, photos, surfboards
Pictures from River No. 2 Beach
Well, I managed to remember to take my camera with me, so here are some pics from the weekend...
One of the shelters that you can use at River No. 2 beach. And the white sand on the beach!
Looking down the beach as it moves towsrds high tide- you can also see the river that the beach is named for (tho' a lot less clearly than you can at low tide). On the right you can see the remainder of the bar of sand on which some of the guys were playing cricket.
Enjoying the waves and warm water at the beach
The beach was pretty crowded this Sunday- I have been told that it's normally a lot more deserted than this!
Labels: beach, photos, river no. 2
Tokeh beach
Tokeh beach slightly overcast but more desrted than it had been earlier in the day- the water was amazingly warm.
Locals selling various handicrafts, from wooden eagles to elephants, as well as jewelry and cloth. In the back is the BARV tho' am sure this photo doesn't do the size of it any justice
Marines waiting to leave on the transporters
A quiet evening at Tokeh beach, with the helipad (near set of rocks) and Billy's island the further piece of land
Labels: beach, photos, tokeh
Part way up with some way to go..
Part way up Leicester Peak I took this photo, you can see part of the peak in the back ground. We'd already been walking for sometime (uphill all the way).
The national hobby- football. It seems as though everyone plays. These guys were playing as we ate our lunch. They then challenged some of those who we were hiking with to a game- it was so much nicer to sit and watch!Labels: leicester peak, photos, trek
Pics from Leicester Peak
This picture is of the view from the top of Leicester peak towards Lumley beach and the Aberdeen area of town. We hiked up Leicester peak from the town on Saturday.
A view of central Freetown from part way up Leicester peak (round the other side of the ridge to the above photo. The 'large' white building towards the centre left of the picture is the Youyi (sorry if I've spelt it wrong- am not quite sure of the pronounciation either!) building, which houses several of the government ministries. It was built by the Chinese and is the only/ one of very few 'high-rise' buildings in Freetown. I work about 10 mins walk from the Youyi building (5 mins if I'm wearing very practical shoes).Labels: leicester peak, photos
Nice view
View from the verandah- I'll try another time of day when the light's better distributed or something like that in order to balance it a bit (maybe). The foreground shows a v boring courtyard and square of grass so you're not missing much. It's definitely better when seen in person. Many of the views around the area are really stunning- much better than this one, I'll try to remember to take some while I'm here.Labels: house, photos
