Getting off subject!

What would you say when a relative says, “I have just bought a static caravan”. Well I must admit my first thoughts were of an old mobile home, on some rundown site, cold, damp and uninviting. Well, I’ll hold my hands up, I was wrong!

My brother in-law bought this static home a couple of months ago and we thought we might as well go and see what all the fuss was about. So we packed the car for a weekend in the Lakes.

Friday;

It took us about three hours to arrive at the caravan but the rout was straight forward and as you can imagine, once in the Lakes, the scenery was wonderful.

We were greeted by my brother in-law and he showed us around the caravan; a large living room with dining area that lead onto the well appointed kitchen, this lead to a generous bathroom / toilet and to two bedrooms, one of which had an on suite bathroom, so not what I thought of as a caravan.

He told us what we could expect to find in the local area, as it was a little way off the beaten track, as in not the typical Lakeland tourist attraction, he then left us and made his way back to Manchester as we settled down for the weekend.

Saturday;

We woke up fairly early and put the heater on as the night was a bit cold, this was early November, got dressed, had breakfast and out for our first walk. On one of the book shelves we found a walking guide of the area and so had to try one of the walks. This took us into the little village and onto an RSPB reserve by the coast. Lots of waders, and other birds to see, also the reserve used to be, what looked like a quarry and steel works, so plenty of history to explore too.

On the way back we decided to stop off at the beachside café, a small building, looked like a converted bungalow, but warm, friendly and made the best bacon butties and mugs of tea, I stress, mugs of tea. The rest of Saturday was taken up by exploring the coast in the opposite direction, over the sand dunes and along the pebbly coast line. In the evening we had a meal at a local rub come restaurant, a short walk away, and as everything in the area, a warm and welcoming reception greeted us as we entered the pub. We had some really good wholesome food at a good price. I’m getting to like this place more and more….

The amazing thing about being out of the way of towns and cities is that you get an amazing night sky. That night the sky was clear and, for the first time for me in the UK, I could see the Milky Way! (and a shooting star).

Sunday;

Again woke to a cold morning, but today we had a light breakfast because the call of the bacon butties was too strong, but we decided to go for a walk first. Today’s walk took us past the bird reserve and up along the Duddon Channel and back through Millom, plenty to see and great views.

So don’t do as I did and think that a weekend in a mobile home is boring and not for you, because we had a great weekend and chilled out big-time………   

 

My first trip into the rain forest with the students to see what sort of creatures we can find and what the terrain was like.

After breakfast we got our gear together, that is, bug repellent, long sleeved shirt, long trousers, boots and protection from the sun. We gathered at the main entrance to the school ready for the bus to arrive, Paul had warned me that the Cubans call these busses Wha Wha’s, and it was not long before I found out why! Around the corner came an old coach, puffing out blue smoke from the exhaust and making that familiar diesel engine noise but somehow a lot louder that I had heard before. When we got on, it was not much better, none of that familiar soft internal panelling you get on British buses, the floor was a patchwork of welds and the seats were hard moulded plastic.



Our driver and Paul in the blue shirt.

How can you sleep on a wha wha!

The experience of this mode of transport was, well, an experience, the noise, the fumes and the jolly giant of a driver, who bounced about in his seat, holding on to the open window or leaning against it as he took the corners at some speed. We drove down some, straight but very bumpy roads before we reached what the Cubans call a motorway, now this was something else. It was a three lane highway with a grass verge in the middle, every thing you would expect from a motorway.

That is until you see the cyclists, people selling cheese and jam, horse drawn carts and people doing random u-turns across the grass verge in the middle!

 Finally we turned off the motorway on to a small road that was sign posted “Las Terrazas”, finally we were in the rain forest.

The roads got progressively worse from now on, but still not exactly dirt tracks. Then we came to a guard post, our producer got out and spoke to the guards for what seemed like a fairly long time, probably minuets. Its hard to know what to expect the first time you visit somewhere, especially a country that has a reputation for its military junta. The barrier was lifted and off we went, gears grinding as the driver manoeuvred up the steep hills, well hills anyway. We turned off the road onto a dirt track, one side was a cliff face and the other a drop down to a river, the coach struggled on the rubble surface, hitting branches as it went, finally turning into a clearing where there were log huts and what looked like a tourist picnic spot.

Gear together, cameras to hand and off the wha wha, students formed groups, some to look for spiders and the others to look for reptiles and amphibians and off into the jungle we go…….

I was slightly disappointed at this time because I expected to have to machete my way through the jungle, but in reality, there where unmade roads and pathways that took us through the jungle. But saying that, when you stop and look at what is around you, it becomes all the jungle you could ever want. Lizards, butterflies, birds, snakes, insects and lots more.

First night

I hope you didn’t get the impression I was complaining about all the wildlife in my apartment, on the contrary, it was great, and they kept the mosquitoes at bay.

My first night in Cuba; my bed (a double might I add) was made of a big slab of foam and as it was a bit old, it had a big dip in the middle. So even if I tried to sleep on one side of the bed, I rolled into the middle, so in the middle I slept. I didn’t sleep very well that night and kept wakening up, strange place and all. Finally fell asleep only to be woken by something running over my hand, yes a dreaded cockroach, I chased it for a while and got it with my shoe, one dead roach, yes! Got back into bed and once more drifted off to sleep…….only to be woken by my phone going off, it was Marie sending me a text at 4:00am. She was going to work and thought it would be nice to send me a text, only about 9:00am in the UK and Cuba is about 5hr’s behind, so replied to the text and went back to sleep, just nodded off when….. an almighty growl, croak, noise!!! What in havens name was it, as I was not familiar with the wildlife around the school, it could have had big teeth or claws. I know, big wimp, but I had never heard a noise like it and when you have not had much sleep, well you tend to imagine all sorts.  I searched the room and found nothing, looked all over the apartment, still nothing, well back to bed as it had stopped and all was quiet. Well the noise continued sporadically for the rest of the night until dawn, my eyes must have been a bit bloodshot, what a night.

As I opened the curtains in the bedroom, there looking down at me from the top of the air-conditioning unit was a beautiful green tree frog, and just to make its point it made one more growl, croak, noise, just to let me know who was boss……

 My first breakfast was interesting, met up with Paul, my boss, who was teaching with me, and we both went to breakfast. Over to the canteen and queued up for my first breakfast, one spoon of scrambled egg, two dry melba toast, one small bun, a slice of processed meat and a small butter. We put this onto our table and got our coffee, water and cutlery, if we were lucky we could also have a florescent liquid that tasted of watered down sherbet and a glass of yogurt, which was delivered from a plastic sashay type bag. For country that has very little, I can’t complain so far, maybe not the Ritz but its more than the locals get.        

Cuba 2011

In 2011 I was lucky enough to be asked to teach in Cuba. The course was a short (3 week) wildlife documentary course at the International Film School (EICTV) and a totally new experience for me.

My role was to teach basic lighting and camera to the students, who came from all over the Spanish speaking world.

My first experience of the journey was at Manchester airport, at the Air France check-in desk. “Sorry sir but we can’t accept a copy of your visa”. But this is what the school sent me and said it would be OK. Sorry sir but we can’t accept a copy of your visa; you might be able to get one at the Thompson desk or the Thomas Cook desk. It was Sunday and I was in terminal 3, the two tour operators where in terminal 2, for those of you who don’t know Manchester airport, they are about a mile apart. So two bags and a large holdall in tow, I had an hour to trace the tour operators and beg for a visa to Cuba. Thanks to both Thompson's and Thomas Cook for their help and understanding, I got a visa!

The next challenge was at Charles De Goal airport in Paris, a place were you need a lot of help to navigate the vast metropolis of terminals, and as a further challenge, the French staff keep giving you misleading directions!

As I disembarked off the plane after a long flight, I was greeted by an official holding a card with my name on it. She gave me my visa and whisked me off through customs and immigration as a VIP, ending up in the VIP lounge with a welcoming cold bear, yes this is the way to do it.

Then my driver picked up my baggage for me and escorted me to his minibus, an old Toyota that had seen better days. I noticed that the steering wheel had padding on it and I was about to find out why!!!  With seat belts on and foot to the floor, he drove like a bat out of hell. “Esta lejos” I asked (is it far), no, 45 minutes, he replied in broken English, and at the speed he was going that came as no surprise, even if it should have taken more like an hour!

When I arrived at the school I was shown my accommodation by the lady who holds the keys. It was a two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and bathroom, I have pictures! Nobody told me that I would have to share my accommodation with………the wildlife! Geckos and lizards freely patrolled the walls hovering up any nasty mosquitoes and other biting bugs. The floor had a constant parade of beetles, ants and millipedes patrolling, I didn’t realise this would get worse at night…. Life was good.