Namibia - September 2015

Introduction

This is the tale of a 17 day trip to Namibia.  It was organised by Jane and Mary with help from Trailfinders (more...). There are about 20 Namibian Dollars to £1.

To see all the photos click here.  To see where the photos were taken click here.  Instructions are here.

Tuesday, 15 September - Departure

We leave home at 4pm but return as soon as Graham realizes that he has forgotten his sunglasses.  We drive to Hampton to leave the car at Bill and Mary's. They are aready in Jo'burg visiting their son. We talk to the dog minder. We arrange for Parker Car Service (more...) to pick us up earlier than we had planned. We arrive at Terminal 5 at 6:30pm. The plane leaves at 9:40pm.

Wednesday, 16 September - Arrival in Windhoek

We arrive in Jo'burg at 8:30am having not had much sleep in World Traveller class. We collect our luggage and take ages finding the check in for South African Airways to Namibia. We make our way to gate A15 and sit and read. Bill and Mary join us at noon. The plane leaves at 1:15pm and lands in Windhoek at 2:55pm. We pick up a Toyota Fortuner and Bill drives us to the Safari Hotel (more...). It's about 40km from the airport on the outskirts of Windhoek. Bill starts the wipers. It's a problem with the car.  The indicators are on the right side of the steering wheel yet it's a right hand drive car and they drive on the left side of the road. At home the indicators are on the left side of the steering wheel. This could be the holiday game for the drivers.  Who will be the first to go a day without unintentionally turning the wipers on? The journey is through arid scrub land along a well surfaced road. We soon spot a troop of baboons by the roadside. The voice on the sat nav is too quiet. We check in and find our rooms 109 and 110. They are at the top of a flight of stairs. It's a bit like being in a motel. We find the poolside bar and wait patiently for our beers. After a couple of pints we amble to the restaurant and have the N$173 buffet. It is excellent. We retire very tired at 8:30pm.

Thursday, 17 September - Journey to Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch

We meet at 9am and have a buffet breakfast. We check out at 10:30am and leave a somewhat disappointing hotel. We had been booked into the Olive Grove and that had very good write-ups. Bill is the nominated driver for today and Graham is the navigator who finds out how to make the sat nav voice louder and selects Serena. We drive south on the B1 through very arid savannah. We stop at Reheboth for biltong and victuals. We drive more and Mary suggests we make a detour. Graham convinces Mary that her detour is a single track railway line. Mary finds another detour which is a sand road. We stop many times to get entries for photographer of the year awards for little brown jobbies. We fill up with diesel at Kalkland and make our way up 25km of dirt track to the Bagatelle Kalahari Game Ranch (more...). It is now 4:30pm. We are allocated chalets 5 and 6. The car won't start. We lift up the bonnet to find a battery connection has got loose. We push it back on and the car starts. While Jane rests the three of us make our way to the bar for beers and admire the tame springbok called Skunky. It looks as though it has been pollarded.  The horns are protected by hose piping. The service is much better than last night.  The owner feeds Skunky stale muesli. We return to chalet 5 for sundowners. We dine in the open air restaurant. Three of us try the springbok steak. It is excellent as is the fish and the rest of the meal. Our waiter (number 96 is on his jeans) is the one who served us beer earlier. He lives with his wife in staff quarters whilst their children are looked after by their grandparents. We have a malt whisky in chalet 6 and retire.

Friday, 18 September - A Day at the Bagatelle

The alarm goes off at 6:30am. Jane has not had a good night so just Graham gets up and reads his book on the stoop admiring the sun rise. At 7am Bill and Mary whisk him off for breakfast. We return to our chalets. Graham has brought a large bowl of yoghurt back for Jane. Three of us gather at reception with a couple of people to go on the bushmen's walk. Jonathan (96) is our interpreter. We walk a short distance and are joined by five men dressed only in leather loin cloths who greet us with a handshake and a clicked hello in San. They stop at various points and enact descriptions of shrubs and traps which Jonathan translates into English for us. We end up at a demonstration village - three grass huts and a group of leather clad San ladies and children with grandparents. There is an opportunity to buy necklaces made from porcupine quills which Mary accepts. We wander back to our chalets and rest reading our books and watching the wildlife sitting on our stoops for the rest of the day. Mary goes for a small swim in the small swimming pool. Bill takes lots of photos of LBJs and a mongoose. Graham finishes 'The Girl on the Train'.  Jane recovers enough to join us for the evening meal. Skunky strolls round the tables waiting to be fed morsels of food. The kudu steaks and ox-tail are acclaimed by all. Three of us sample the blended whisky we bought in Reheboth and retire.

Saturday, 19 September - Journey to Le Mirage Desert Lodge

We have breakfast with Skunky roaming around the tables. An eland is spotted. We check out and leave at 10am. Graham is the driver and Jane and Serena are his navigators. We drive to Mariental and then to Matahohe on asphalt apart from the first 25km. We stop for a comfort break. The road now turns into a dirt track and the scenery is just scrub and desert as far as the eye can see. The occasional goshawk is snapped sitting on top of a telegraph pole. We stop. Some of us walk to a canyon but it is not there. We descend down the Tsaris Pass through hills which remind us of the Badlands of Dakota. At about 3pm we arrive at Le Mirage resort and spa (more...). It is built like a castle in three buildings. We are greeted by Tenashe with cold towels, fruit juice and smiles. There are a lot of oryx arond the water hole. Our rooms are on the first floor. They are spacious and have a balcony. They have partial internal walls which appear to represent sand dunes. Three of us swim. Graham drinks green tea and reads a new Kindle book. At 5:30pm we have beer outside the restaurant block and watch the sun go down behind clouds.  Oryx roam the desert. We have a five course tasty meal and retire to bed.

Sunday, 20 September - The Sand Dunes

The alarm goes off at 5:30am. We have breakfast at 6:00am. Graham takes a couple of Imodium as a result of possibly eating a dodgy mussel last night. At 6:30am we clamber into an eleven-seater safari truck. There are 4 Australians, 2 South Africans and Presley the driver. We set off at a lick along the dirt track road and are grateful for the blankets which protect us from the cold wind. We fill up with fuel at Sesriem and enter the park. We drive on asphalt for 65km to its end. We have stopped to view sunrise and some ostriches. We pass Dune 45 and park the truck in front of Big Mamma. Many of the party climb up the spine of the tall dune. Jane and Graham stop after a short distance. Shane from South Africa takes a team photo. We are driven to another car park where we walk to the Deadvlei, a dried up lake with 500 year old tree trunks sprouting from its dry white bed. To our left people are climbing Big Daddy at 325m high. We return to the truck and to the park entrance nearby which we stop and climb down to the base of a canyon. We return to the lodge at 12:30pm. Three of us have lunch whilst Graham takes a beer to his room and has an afternoon nap.  Jane has a swim and a face treatment. At 6pm we have drinks on the terrace. At 7pm we have another wonderful 5-course meal. Jennefa is a very attentive waitress. After a medicinal whisky we retire.

Monday, 21 September - Journey to Burning Shore Hotel

We have breakfast at 8:30am amongst the house sparrows, We say our farewells to the Australians and South Africans. We leave at 9:30am. Bill drives us first to the petrol station at Sesriem and then on to  Solitaire where we have a comfort break and wander around the general stores and car wrecks. We do not eat any apple strudel recommended by the South Africans whom we meet again. Back on the road on a long journey along a very boring desert dirt track spotting one lonely roadside zebra, some oryx, some ostriches and a rolled over van being helped by another vehicle. Eventually we get on to tarmac on the outskirts of Walvis Bay. We make our way to the lagoon and park to admire a large gaggle of wading greater and lesser flamingoes. We drive north to Swakopmund and are surprised when Serena tells us to turn off the road into a seaside estate. We stop by the Burning Shore Protea Hotel (more...) and confirm with reception that we are at the correct address. We get shown to our rooms. We each have well appointed rooms with balconies overlooking the sea. We start to drink beer on Bill and Mary's balcony when they get a phone call asking them if they would like to upgrade to a suite. They do. They now have a living room, bedroom, upstairs bathroom and toilet and walk-in wardrobe. We sit on their very large balcony and finish our beer. We walk to the end of the dilapidated jetty to find that the Cowboy Bar is closed. There are oil rigs off Walvis Bay. We see egrets, oyster catchers,  cormorants and small plovers. We return to our rooms and meet up for sundowners. At 7:20pm we walk out of the suite and down the stairs straight into the bar area of the restaurant. We eat a two course meal and retire without taking any medicinal drinks.

Tuesday, 22 September - Visit to Swakopmund

We get up and have breakfast at 9am. The sea is covered with mist. Many flights of cormorants fly south close to the water. A few minutes later many cormorants fly North. It's as if they have popped down to Walvis Bay to pick up their newspapers. Graham drives the team to Swakopmund where we park close to a tall tower with a view. We walk around the Woermann building looking for an entrance. We find one. It leads us into the library. The tower is closed. We get back in the car and park in a street not far from the museum. We can only park for an hour so Graham and Mary, who has a street map, return to the car and drive it to the museum where Bill has found a free place. We pay to enter the museum. It is full of artefacts relating to Namibia. The Germans occupied the country from 1884 to 1915 (more...) when it was taken over by South Africa. Many German descendants live in Swakopmund. The labels in the museum are written in Afrikaans, English and German. We watch a video about the harvesting of Devils Claw which is a tuber. When dried it is used as a homeopathic remedy for back ache. We leave the museum and drink at the cafe outside. We walk to the post office where the Swansons buy stamps and post their cards. We amble along the streets towards the jetty looking for somewhere for lunch. We almost pass a Snake Park but Bill goes in. We walk to the jetty but the restaurants are closed. Jane and Mary walk to the end of the jetty while Graham is chatted to by a young lady trying not very hard to sell him a day's flight to the sand dunes. We regroup and walk to the cafe opposite the museum. We sit on the veranda and eat calamari and share an ice cream. We return home. Graham takes to his bed whilst the others walk on the beach. The others have supper whilst Graham has a medicinal whisky and finishes his book.

Wednesday, 23 September - Journey to Twyfelfontein Country Lodge

We have breakfast at 8:40am. It's cold and cloudy. We pack up and check out. Serena is woken up and told where we're going to. It will take us five hours to get there. Graham drives to Swakopmund. We park outside the post office for Bill to post some cards. Graham discovers he has the safe key he forgot to hand in. Next stop is a petrol station. We fill up. Diesel costs N$10.24 a litre. We drive north to Henjies Bay and turn off on the road to Khorixa. After a couple of kilometres the asphalt runs out and we are back on a dirt track. We are surrounded by a very large beach with not a lot of animal life or vegetation. It's a desert. Eventually low shrubs and mountains sprout up. Small rickety wooden stalls display gemstones and crafts. We stop at 1pm at the Ugab liquor store. It is closed. We have a comfort break. Jane spots a jackal but it could be a dog. We drive on and reach our destination at about 2:30pm. The Twyfelfontein Country Lodge (more...) is set at the foot of a mountain. Today the temperature has risen from 14C to 35C. We have a welcome juice and admire the scenery from the bar area. We view the ancient engravings carved into the huge blocks of rock which form the entrance way to the lodge. We drive to get close to our thatched block of rooms. We have the end two in a block of four. We unpack and rest. At 5:30pm Bill drives us to view the  Organ Pipes and Burnt Mountain. They are about 6km away. We park the car on the edge of a short canyon and  Bill and Mary climb down to get a better view of the pipes - a rock formation made of dolorite columns. Jane and Graham watch. We drive and view the disappointing Burnt Mountain.   We return to our rooms. Once more Graham declines to eat, takes an Imodium capsule and reads his book. The others have a buffet meal and return about 8:30pm. Our toilet didn't flush so whilst the others are dining a man came and fixed it with a length of wire. Jane says it's taking a long time to fill. Graham finds out that it is not fixed so fixes it temporarily. We retire with the fan blowing. There is no wifi so the previous hotel can't be told of the missing key.

Thursday, 24 September - Journey to Etosha National Park

The shower stops serving hot water after four minutes to save water. We have breakfast wth lots of fresh fruit, pack up,  check out and leave. The lodge has a lorry from Windhoek delivering food to them once a week. Serena is told where we are going to and Bill starts to go there. We see a sign to a petrified forest and Welwitschia and a 'Chinees' girl. We drive down a track to  a car park and hut where two men greet us. We pay N$180 and  Cameroon takes us on a walk showing us samples of the  Welwitschia plant which  grows only in Namibia and  petrified trees lying on the ground. There is no Chinees girl. It's a tourist trap! The walk lasts about 15 minutes and we thank Mary for persuading us to do it. We drive to Khorixa. On the outskirts the road is tarred. We fill up with fuel and buy some soft drinks and fruit for lunch. We drive another 200km to  the Andersson’s Gate of the Etosha National Park (more...). We sign in and are given a bill to pay at the first town we come to. We drive slowly on the tarred road until we reach the town. We enter it through its gates and park the car. Jane pays our entrance fee of N$660 for two days. The journey continues but on dirt roads. We exit the town through its eastern gate and take the road to Halali. The terrain has now changed to flat and dusty white low lying shrubs with apparently no animal life but we are soon not disappointed. We see elephants, giraffes, oryx, gnus, ostriches, a jackal, springboks and a variety of birds. We make several diversions to watering holes following the map Jane picked up when she was paying. Jane is excited about her map as she can now tick off the animals as she spots them. At 5pm we arrive at Halali camp (more...). It is one of three camps in the park.  Each is wired off and contains camp sites and solid accommodation. We sign in at reception with 'Over Dressed' Rebecca - that's what she has on her buxom top. We pay a N$500 deposit. We drive to park outside rooms 27 and 28. We have a celebration drink and then walk to the watering hole. People sit in silence holding their cameras focused on the water hole. Some birds are seen and the sun sets. We return to our rooms and dress for dinner. Short sleeves are changed for long sleeves. We lower the mosquito nets and turn the air conditioning on. We walk to the restaurant and have a buffet. Our waiter is the only Crystal Palace supporter we know. The meat is fried kudu, lamb or pork. We have the meal. Bill and Mary walk back to the water hole and see rhinos. Graham and Jane retire.

Friday, 25 September - Etosha National Park

Graham sets the alarm for 5:30am but we awoke at 6am to discover that his phone had been muted which is not helpful when using it as an alarm. We dressed quickly and met the Swansons in the restaurant for breakfast. We take our third Malarone pill but wonder where all the mosquitoes are in this bone dry region with its sparse water holes. We try to fill up the car but their is no fuel at the petrol station. Graham drives out of the camp at 6:45am and we start looking for animals. We drive to various water holes. One of the places we stop at is out in the pan which from a distance looks as though we have driven into the sea. The green dirt stretches as far as the eye can see. No animals are seen here at the Etosha Lookout. We drive on further. We see gnu, hartebeest, giraffes, Corey bustards, khoran and a  tawny eagle sitting on the ground. Just before noon we return to the camp. We fill the car up with diesel which has just been delivered. We inspect the shop which stocks a variety of goods from curios to spaghetti. We don't buy anything. Jane has a bowl of soup in the restaurant which is offering a lunch buffet. Graham has a large beer - 500ml for N$25. Meanwhile Bill and Mary are eating their pomegranate ice creams bought in the shop. We return to our rooms and sit outside and have a drink. We retire and agree to have cocktails at 6pm. We read and sleep. At 6pm we meet on our veranda and drink from our five litre box of red wine. We dine at 7pm. The meat tonight is oryx and beef. Fried fish is also available. At 8pm we climb into a safari truck. We join a young German couple. Sam drives us out of the camp and sweeps the ground with a red lamp light looking for animals. The first one we stop for is a tiny steinbok. We see a cape fox and jackal following a honey badger. We see nine black rhinos around a water hole. We see hares, polecats,  elephants and a giraffe. We see lots of grounded birds. We return to the camp at 11pm very happy that we have been on the night ride. We retire.

Saturday, 26 September - Journey to Onguma Bush Camp

We get up and at 8am, knock on the Swansons' door. No reply. We walk to the restaurant and have breakfast. The Swansons join us. They have been for a walk to the water hole. We pack up and check out. We get our N$500 deposit back. We leave Halali. Graham is the driver. We visit many water holes and see many elephants, giraffes, a secretary bird,  three cheetahs under a tree, a lone cheetah stalking in the grass and a  hyaena wallowing in one of the water holes. Among the many zebra spotted is one which had evidently had bit of a run-in with a lion – a huge open gash was visible down its side, just in front of its right hind leg.. At about 2pm we arrive at Namutoni Camp (more...) where we enter and park. We meet the South African couple again. After a comfort break we make our way to the shop. We buy ice creams and eat them in the shade of the restaurant. Graham has a Pomegranate Magnum. We return to the entrance and post a card to the grandsons at the museum. We enter the museum and learn about the place's history. We go to the water hole and watch   a wart hog and its child. It is 39C.  We return to the car and drive to the Von Lindequist park gate. We get out of the car and walk on a mat soaked in disinfectant. We drive a short distance and stop at the gate to the Onguma Bush Camp (more...). We drive 8km to the bush camp where we are greeted with cold flannels and a cranberry juice. Sakaria shows us to our rooms and around the place. Our luggage is taken to our rooms. From the restaurant verandah, we watch a  warthog come to the  waterhole and then walk under the platform to emerge on the lawn, where it crops the grass. A tree is full of Grey  Louries and there is also a noisy crowd of Blacksmith Plovers in residence. We rest and log in as they have wifi here, albeit a weak signal. We have drinks at 6pm and watch the sun go down from the wooden tower by the swimming pool ander overlooking the water hole. A Belgian couple keeps us company. At 7pm we go to the restaurant and eat. We each have a very tender rare piece of fillet of beef. It is excellent, especially when washed down with Guardian Peak Merlot. After the meal we have a malt whisky and retire. On the bed is a scroll containing an African story.

Sunday, 27 September - Onguma Bush Camp

Bill and Mary got up early and were rewarded with the sighting of a pair of lions prowling in the distance. The waterhole was also visited by a jackal and a pair of parrots. We have breakfast and decide that today, being Sunday, is to be a rest day. There will be no driving along dusty tracks looking for animals. They can all come to us at the water hole. All but Graham order their lunch. We sit around and read our books helping ourselves to coffee. Apart from staff we are the only people here. At noon Bill and Graham have a beer. At 1pm lunch is served - smoked ostrich salad and ice cream. Graham has another beer. Some of the staff have 'business' names for example Michael, Simon, Emil as their proper names are difficult for us tourists to pronounce. Throughout the day there are visitors to the water hole. Springboks, zebras and impalas. It is as though they have been allocated time slots when to drink as they do not come all together. A heron wanders into the water and spends the afternoon and evening fishing. The hole has a plentiful supply of carp which are fed stale bread by the staff. We have  pre-dinner drinks at 6:30pm and watch the sun go down. We dine at 7pm. Tonight we have rare kudu steaks which are excellent especially when washed down with Guardian Peak Merlot. Jane drinks some so two bottles are consumed. We have a whisky and retire.

Monday, 28 September - Journey to Frans Indongo Lodge

Jane gets up to watch out for lions but sees none. Bill saw some giraffes at the waterhole earlier. We have breakfast and check out. Bill is the driver and Serena is told our destination. Once we reach the entrance to the estate we get on to a tarred road. We drive south and stop at Tsumeb to fill up with fuel and go into the town. We admire all the palm trees and  jacaranda trees in bloom. We stop outside the museum for Bill to take photos of the old machinery. Back on the main road we hope we have negotiated a police speed trap. The maximum speed is 120kph. We turn off the B1 onto the D2443, a dirt road, and reach our destination, the Frans Indongo Lodge (more...). It has a lot of large well mown patches of grass. Ebba pours us a welcome drink of lemon juice and mint in a small pot bowl. We sip it on  the veranda as we wait for  our rooms to be ready. There is an electricity problem with Chalet 10 so we get Chalets 8 and 9. We read our books. At 5pm we get on a safari truck with ten others - two ladies from Switzerland and a family from Israel together with their guide from Cox and Kings. The driver is Stoffel. Sitting by him is Christine, a gap year student from Düsseldorf who is spending 6 months at the lodge. We enter a gated area and Bill spots a leopard tortoise. Unfortunately their is no body just a shell. Jackals like tortoise bodies. We spot wart hogs, steinboks, roan antelopes, gnus.  Stoffel tells us that the roan antelopes are also referred to as 'bastard gemsbok'. At one point, we pass a gnu lying on the ground unable to get up. Stoffel believes it had run into a tree and damaged a shoulder. Perched on tops of trees are white-backed vultures, which will enjoy the gnu in the morning. When the  sun goes down we see the backs of two white rhinos. A little further on we see a large white rhino making its way to a water hole. We return to the lodge. The meat tonight is wildebeest. It is served by two ladies who make a small ceremony as they lift the domed covers off the plates. We are reminded of Le Mirage at Sesriem where the girls did the same. Guardian Peak Merlot washes it down. After a whisky we retire.

Tuesday, 29 September - Journey to Windhoek

Jane's alarm goes off at 6am. We dress and walk to reception. Stoffel drives up in a more modern safari truck than last night's. We climb up into it and off we go. It's just the two of us and Stoffel. We cross the road and enter the gate of another part of the estate. We see jackals, impalas, springboks, guinea fowl aka government chickens, oryx and a khoran. We enter another part of the estate and see more including giraffes, wart hogs and water bucks. After two hours we return to near the lodge and see Bill and Mary who have been for a walk up the nearby hill. We return to our chalet and shower. We have breakfast and are entertained by Loide and her dreadlocks. We pack up, pay up and leave. We drive south. At Otijwarongo we stop to buy fuel and biltong. Jane discovers she has left her Tilly hat at the lodge. Serena guides us on to dual carriageway into the sprawling city of Windhoek and then through side streets to the Safari Lodge Hotel. The rooms we are allocated are on the ground floor and a better than the ones we had the first time we were here but they are still disappointing compared with the other places we have stayed at. After unloading our bags we reconvene for a beer. Mary decides not to use the swimming pool as it is green with algae. Jane sends an email to Mr Walter about her lost hat and gets a reply. They will work out how to reunite Jane and her hat. The Swansons take the shuttle bus and the safe key into town. The Lawrences read their books. We meet up at 7pm and finish the whisky. Bill found a Protea hotel and handed in the key. Graham is very pleased. We have the buffet washed down with a bottle of Guardian Peak Merlot. We say good night and retire.

Wednesday, 30 September - Leaving Namibia

Graham gets up at 7am and makes a cup of tea. He showers after getting rid of a cockroach. We have breakfast and check out. Serena tells us it will take 40 minutes to drive to the airport. On  the way we see an eland and  baboons begging at the wayside. We stop at the Puma fuel station to fill up. The airport is at 1830m. Bill drives to the Avis return  car park via another dirt road. The checker spots a chip in the windscreen. Bill fills in a form but there is nothing to pay. We have travelled 2500km around Namibia. We wheel our bags to the check in desk to collect our boarding passes for the 12:25pm SA75 flight to Jo'burg. Our bags are checked right through to Heathrow. We have an hour to wait. We land in Jo'burg at just after 2pm and Jane tumbles down the steps and lands on the asphalt. She is helped to her feet and given a wheelchair lift to the arrivals medical centre. A paramedic assesses Jane and agrees with Graham that if she vomits within the next couple of hours she will be carted off to hospital for an X-ray. Matron Sinnar Nube leads Jane to a treatment room where her blood pressure and blood sugar is measured. An ice pack is applied to the egg size lump on the top side of her head. The blood sugars are too high so a saline drip is fed into Jane through the back of her hand. Graham wanders along long corridors past custom control to the BA check in desks where he discovers there are no upgrades to business class but he does get two boarding passes. He returns to Jane. At 6:15pm a wheelchair and the rush to gate A16 begins. We pass Bill and Mary who are on an SA airways flight. At last we arrive at the gate. There are no upgrades but boarding is about to start. We are one of the first to board the A380 on its upper deck in World Traveller class. The flight departs at about 7:30pm with about 525 passengers on board.

Thursday, 1 October - Returning Home

Breakfast is served at 4:15am and we land at 6:15am. Jane boards a trolley and is whisked off. Graham walks with the wife of one of the trolley occupants. We are reunited at the baggage carousel. We book a taxi with Parker Car Service who had taken us to the airport 16 days ago. They are very efficient and we are seated in the taxi by 7:45am. We are dropped off at our car and drive to be close to the bus stop where Bill and Mary will arrive. Five minutes later they do. We have a cup of tea, discuss the Girl on the Train which Mary is the last of the four of us to finish. We have all been excited about the twist at the end of the story. We drive home. We arrive at 11am. At 1pm we attend the A&E department at the Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth. At 6pm Jane has several X-rays.  The Practitioner Nurse, Dave, reviews the X-rays.  There is a fractured clavicle and potential tendonitis in the left lower arm.  Dave makes a sling to rest the shoulder and provides a wrist support.  Graham's car park ticket is unreadable so after discovering via a two hundred yard walk that if this is the case then the Help button on the ticket machine must be pressed.  Graham collects Jane and we return home in our Leaf just as The Archers end.  The meat tonight is cold ham and salami with fried egg and baked beans on toast,  We are home, exhausted.