Ecosse and Beyond: Falkland Islands Part 1 of (I don’t know yet)

I’ve been back for 3 weeks and have been cogitating about how to do this and have decided to do the trip (without the wildlife) in sequence and do the wildlife separately – not that you can separate the wildlife - the Falklands is a bit like the Galapagos without the tourists.

The trip was very well organised by Falkland Islands Holidays (FIH) – I told them how I was intending to get there and what time I wanted to spend there and they put together an itinerary for me. Once I was there it was a bit like pass-the-parcel with me as the parcel – the only thing I needed to do was pack my bag and be ready at a particular time.

There are only two ways to get there independently, by Lan Chile via Santiago and Punta Arenas (once a week on a Saturday and under threat from the Argentinians) or by RAF from Brize Norton, twice a week. The RAF flight is known in the Falklands as the Air Bridge.

Sadly the RAF flight is not by Hercules but by a (privatised?) Titan flight on a big Boeing. The flight stops at Ascension Island (always reminds me of a poster outside a church in Kenilworth in 1982 “Ascension is not just an island”).

Ascension Island is about half way – 8 or 9 hours each stage. It is a volcanic island and the runway is between steep brown hummocks. It is close to the equator.

After leaving Brize at 11 at night we landed at Ascension sometime in the morning. It was a cloudy but a balmy 26 degrees.

Re-embarking at Ascension

Nearly there

Mount Pleasant

I was met by Arlette from FIH, handed over to Graham who drove me to his home in Darwin. I stayed there for 2 nights.

Darwin

Darwin House

Darwin (named after Charles who didn’t think much of the Falklands) was the main settlement until the well ran dry and there was a shift to Goose Green. Darwin is now much the smaller of the two, up to 6 houses in occupation. Goose Green has a shop (open for a couple of hours once a week), a tiny school and there is a church building (where the inhabitants were kept captive during the Falklands war) but it appears that the only churches in the Falklands are in Stanley (1 Anglican and 1 Catholic).

Three other people were staying at Darwin House, a film crew of 2 and a 2 Para veteran. They were filming the route the 2 Paras took from San Carlos in the Battle of Goose Green.

I spent the rest of the day walking along the shore, watching the wildlife and avoiding the mine fields (more of this later).

San Carlos, Darwin, Goose Green

The following day I did a full day tour with Ken taking in San Carlos and Goose Green, visiting the Argentine and British cemeteries. Ken talked me through the Battle of Goose Green.

The Argentine cemetery, which is close to Darwin, is, as you’d expect controversial. The Argentinians were asked to repatriate their dead but they said they owned the Falklands so the question of repatriation didn’t arise. There is considerable regret that the British were not firmer about the issue….

I know I said I’d separate the wildlife from the “tour” but this is an exception. When I saw this penguin (a King) I thought it was poorly maintained sculpture so I was shocked when it moved…

They can’t go to sea when moulting and so they wander about, often on their own, being miserable. My first sighting of a penguin….

San Carlos water where up to a dozen Navy ships were moored

Ajax Bay on the other side of San Carlow Water where the old whaling plant was used as the hospital base

The British cemetery at San Carlos. This is laid out in a Commonwealth War Grave way but isn’t maintained by the CWG – another controversy. As is the flag flying: the Argentinians wanted to have a flag at their cemetery but the request was refused. But, they said, the Union flag is flying at San Carlos (and there are not flags in CWGs cemeteries). The response – the flag at San Carlos is not in the cemetery but on the farmer’s land behind it.