walk – Shardlows Highs

USA Part 4, Onwards to Boston, MA

So with the wedding celebrations over, we leave Sturbridge and head towards Boston.

As we couldn’t book another night at the lodges, we had arranged an Airbnb in Westborough, not too far from either end.

When I mentioned this to Jenn, she asked ‘Why?’.

We had told the host we thought we would arrive around 17:00, so she had got painters in. But we arrived earlier, so stopped in town for lunch. And as Ian put it ‘You can’t even watch the traffic lights change, as there aren’t any’.

But we had a pleasant pizza and lasagna, and then stopped at a nearby reservoir for a while.

Our Airbnb was a huge rambling old house, full of lovely furniture and decor. Our host, Geraldine was very welcoming, explaining she was going out for that night. Then she mentioned that there was a lodger who had been in the loft for 4.5 years. Oh, not up there all the time, he did come down sometimes!

After some card games to end Ian’s birthday, we all needed some sleep so had an early night.

As we only had the hire car until the afternoon, Kirsty requested we visit Boston Zoo, as zoos are a bit of a family hobby. When we arrived at the zoo there was a marathon being run though the zoo, but a policeman guided us the wrong way up a street and to some parking, and we set off into the zoo.

The first animals we saw were red pandas, a favourite of us all, and they were very active, we we stayed here for a long time.

While this is a fairly small zoo, and some enclosures were rather mean, overall it was good, and we had a good visit. I won’t bore you with yet more animal photos, as I know I have posted a lot before.

This big

One exhibit we got excited about was a kiwi, which Kelsey said must have got lost on it’s way to their wedding.

With car return time looming, we got permission to enter our Boston Airbnb a bit early, so once the cleaners had left, we settled in and Jason returned the car.

We then walked along part of the greenway to Back Bay Fens before deciding we were hungry.

Kirsty and Jason chose The Cheesecake Factory, and as reviews suggested it could be busy we headed there early.

We needn’t have worried, we were seated right away, and presented with a HUGE menu, including dozens of cheesecake options.

I decided to be sensible and leave lots of room for dessert, so chose a delectable small beetroot and avocado salad, but Jason opted for a chicken sandwich – there were two huge battered chicken breasts topped with a bun and chips, and Kirsty chose the burrito – about a foot long. Of course, I helped them out when they couldn’t finish their meals.

Then to choose dessert! Go check out the menu

I had Key Lime, and we all decided they were heavenly, and were pleasantly surprised by the low cost of the meal, given the huge mouth-watering portions.

So fully fed, we headed back to the apartment, which sadly only had comfortable seating for three, and our bed creaked every time we moved, and the second bed just had a futon mattress. For some odd reason it also only had 1 fork, and 3 knives?

On Monday Kirsty and Jason had a trip to the Sam Adams Brewery, while Ian and I decided to follow the Freedom Trail through Boston, a walk recommended by our guide book. The route is marked by red bricks along the pavements, and takes you to the prominent places in American Independence history.

We started in Boston Public Gardens, where a children’s fun run was taking place – this was Columbus day weekend, so a holiday.

Massachusetts State House

Not the real Cheers

Holocaust memorial

It was a very interesting walk, with lots to see. We stopped in the Haymarket for a bagel for lunch, which we ate in the Rose Kennedy Greenway, then continued over the bridge to USS Constitution museum.

From here we caught the inner harbour ferry across to near the Aquarium.

and continued around the Harborwalk

until we reached the Tea Party Museum.

We then strolled back along the Greenway

A rabbit!

and through China town. As Kirsty and Jason were not very hungry, we walked round to Frenchie restaurant, for a light meal, delectable mussels for me and a succulent beef bourguignon for Ian.

And so we reach our final day, but as our flight was early evening, we dropped our bags at a Bagbnb, and caught the ‘T’ railway to Macy’s, where we had to buy some beautiful clothes for my future granddaughter.

Ian and I then followed the South Side walk in our guide book, through the stately houses and elegant streets,

look at the number

then back to the park to see the Make Way for Ducklings statue

We met Kirsty and Jason again, they pointed out that we had seen the fake Cheers bar, the real one was next to the park.

With a couple of hours left, we asked to visit the Mapparium, a huge stained glass globe created in 1935 of the world as it was then, that you can walk through. We were just in time for the next tour, and found it fascinating, noting changes in ‘ownership’ of the planet. Sadly, they don’t allow photos.

Oh, did I mention, we popped into The Cheesecake Factory again, well, it was scrumptious?

And so our time in Boston, and USA came to an end, picked up our bags and set off on the T to the airport, meeting Pete and Jess there.

Thank you to Andy and Kelsey for giving us a wonderful reason to visit, and choosing the best time of year, and to New England for putting on a grand show for us.

Our favourite places were Wilmington (in Part 2) and Boston.

Can’t wait for our next adventure, see you soon.

Tanzanian Safari part 2 – Selous

After our trip to Serengeti in my last blog, we then travelled to the Selous Park for the next part of our trip. This started with the 150km drive back to Mwanza, a flight to Dar es Salaam, minibus to Dar train station (a wreck of a place) and onto the train to Kisaki. This train actually travels twice a week all the way to Kapiri Mposhi, in Zambia, and takes 2 days.

Our trip should have been a 4 hour trip, but mechanical problems added 2 hours to the trip, so we arrived late at night, tired and hungry.

A quick drive to Sable Mountain Lodge, and dinner, and bed was all we could manage.

Due to the remote location, and the bandas are spread out, a guard with gun had to escort us to our banda.

Next morning, we woke with the dawn, and opened the curtain (no door) to the front of our banda, and WOW!

The bath was outside on a high balcony with the most incredible view

the outdoor bath

our bed

The view from the bath

After a later start we set off for a game drive in the Selous Park.

Mother and baby baboon

Baboon

Baboon school?

Entrance to Selous Game Reserve

Warthog

Mongooses? Mongeese?

Run away, run away

Red Colobus Monkey

Baboons and warthog

Muddy warthog

Elephant

Umbrella tree

We were met by a troop of baboons as we entered the park, and continued to see many animals on our drive.

And lots of birds:

Tawny eagle

Red BilledHornbill

Ground Hornbill

Flying white headed vulture

Grey Go-away Bird

Long-tailed Fiscal

Flying white headed vulture

Hoopoe

dead tree

African Fish Eagle

African Pied Wagtail

Lapwing

Sacred Ibis

African Jakana

Ibis standing on Hippos

Fish Eagle

Giant Kingfisher

Spoonbill

Flight of Glossy Ibis

We stopped for lunch by a large lake, and then took a boat trip amongst the hippos and crocodiles.

Croc

This flying fish leapt into out boat

Mother and baby Hippo

Hippo attacking a crocodile

We were warned about flying fish, and sure enough, one tried 3 times, and eventually leapt into our boat. We saw mother and baby hippos on the banks and lots of crocs.

We then had a quick look at the ‘Bush Rover’ Land Rover Tent, which another couple we met in camp were staying in here overnight. The spiral stairs lead to a bedroom with balcony.

This must be rather exciting, but noisy at night with all of the wildlife.

Fed and watered, we set off driving again, and were lucky enough to meet some kudu, which are normally very shy, plus many more animals and birds.

kudu

Kudu

Eventually, worn out from our ‘African massage’ of a drive, and nearing park closing time, we speedily drove back to camp.

The next morning, as I started getting up, I heard noises above our tent in the banda, and as I went (outside the tent, but under the roof) to the toilet, a bushbaby (galago) ran across the top of the wall!

Sadly, he didn’t stay for a photo shot.

It was another early start, setting back out for a dawn game drive before breakfast.

We saw a lot of zebra, impala and giraffe, and a tree full of black and white colobus monkeys.

black and white colobus monkeys

Giraffe

Zebra crossing

Brown snake eagle

Brown headed parrot

Bee eater

Vervet monkey

Back to camp for breakfast and a lazy morning, then after lunch we set out for a visit to a nearby Masai village, but first we walked down to the tree-house that overlooks the watering hole the camp built, but no wildlife was around. The watering hole takes the water from the camps swimming pool every 3 days, which is drawn fresh from a spring and contains no chemicals.

On route we came across 4 male elephants bathing in a mud hole they had dug right next to the road.

Elephant bath time

Time to go

Mud, mud, glorious mud

The Masai village was interesting. The chief had 3 wives, the second of which is a teacher in their school, and she has insisted he have a brick built house (with solar panel and satellite dish), but other villagers still live in mud and coconut leaf huts.

They showed us the trees they grow and explained their medicinal uses, and then laid out goods they had made for us to buy. The Masai always wear their traditional clothing and the men are allowed to carry their knives in public – we saw a lot of Masai security guards on our later travel.

Masai chief

Masai children

Fence around cattle – they say this confuses lions and keeps them out

a traditional masai hut

Masai goods

Masai baby

We called in at the train station and village where we had arrived, people were waiting for the return train, as they only run twice a week, and it was running several hours late.

On the road back to the camp, we stopped to see some hornbills, when Mbasha noticed a tree full of black and white colobus monkeys, who then leapt from the trees.

Black and White Colobus Monkey

The following morning we had a dawn walking safari, again with an armed guard. Nothing was at the watering hole, but we saw warthog, about 20 water buffalo, and other quick sightings. We also saw some bones from an elephant that was poached for its tusks a few years earlier, and footprints from civet cats, hyena and lions, all only a couple of hundred metres from our lodges.

We walked back uphill to join the river that runs below our camp.

Elephant jaw bone

Bee-eaters

Sadly this was the end of our time in Selous, as we prepared to set off for Zanzibar – keep watching for the next installment.

But not before one last bit of excitement. We were sat in the back of the jeep, and I dropped a water bottle. Mbasha started turning around to pick it up, and stopped, so Ian said he would jump down and fetch it, when Mbasha shouted NO!.

There was a black mamba on the side of the road.

A lucky escape, and we carried on to Zanzibar.

Quintessentially English

What can be more English than a cricket match by the canal?

I have been thinking about doing a blog closer to home, but never got round to it, until we decided to take a good walk along a local canal, nothing unusual, and found a section nearby we had missed before, and couldn’t stop taking photos.

We often take the dogs along the network of local canals and have been to Fradley Junction many times, and normally turn towards Rugeley, but decided to head the opposite direction this day. As we had already had a good walk that morning, we left Tez dog at home, as her old legs cannot take 2 walks a day now.

We parked up near a bridge over the Coventry Canal and walked the short distance to the Junction where it meets the Trent and Mersey Canal. There is a wonderful signpost just for us there, but we forgot to take a new shot of the the sign, so here is one I took about 10 years ago.

We were greeted by the beautiful Cherry blossom cascading over the tow path. We crossed over the canal and turned right towards Alrewas.

The sun came out for us, and we started enjoying the views of fields and countryside.

After a couple of miles we reached Alrewas, and were enchanted. This village sits mainly alongside the A38 road, and so we only see that side which isn’t the prettiest, but it was saving its best for canal visitors.

First a wonderful graffiti to welcome us as we passed under the road.

Ian spotted the reflections on the roof.

Reggie says hurry up!

There are several pretty locks along this stretch

and what can be more English than a cricket match by the canal?

We then discovered the pretty thatched cottages and gorgeous gardens

I love this old shed in an overgrown garden

The village church was visible over the hedgerows and old oaks tree

We carried on walking past the village to where the River Trent flows across the canal – you don’t see signs like this very often on a canal (photobombed by Reggie)