January 2019
Peter Giddy Guided Tours
Trip Advisor Reviews.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.za/Attraction_Review-g312559-d8837822-Reviews-Peter_Giddy_Guided_Tours-Port_Elizabeth_Eastern_Cape.html
Website
https://petergiddyguidedtours.wordpress.com/
- Addo Elephant Park
- Kragga Kamma and Combo Tours
- Hiking -- Two hour easy walks for everyone.
- Garden Route Tours
- City and Cultural Tours.
- Airport and other transfers
peter.giddy@gmail.com Contact me on email to make a booking.
+27 (0) 82 550 3174 -- Contact me on Whatsup to make a booking.Website https://petergiddyguidedtours.
Ally had spent the weekend and New Years eve in Cape St Francis with her friends; Lara Odendaal; Kelsey Vaughn; Jason Collier and others.
I join the Wednesday Walkers for a 2 hour walk from the top of Lovemore Heights.
Friday 4th. Start the day with a beachfront run with Adrienne; Viv and Jenna.
I have a transfer for a family of five. Jorge and Daniella plus three children from Geralds Gift to Airport.
Saturday 5th. I have now been on this earth for 68 years. I meet up with Chris who has already run. Then Adrienne; Viv and Andrea join us for an 8km run around Linkside.
I have an Addo Tour with Pia, 18 who is staying in Pretoria for a few months; Her mother Birgitt and brother, Benedict 16.
Sunday 6th.. Kariega Airport Transfer for Mosaic.
Ally makes us a wonderful Chicken and Rice with Tomato. Brownies; Ice cream; Melktert and custard. Yummy.
Monday morning. I swim for the first time in ages. Just manage 1200m. I have a single booking for half day Addo with Maeva (Welcome in Tahiti) who is a social worker in Quebec; Canada. The park is looking as dry as ever. No rains expected.
Tuesday... Running 7km with Chris; Mike; Liesl and Stefany.
Addo with Joline; Gertjan and Andre. In the Nissan Qashqai. Combi in the garage for the window.
Joline is working a Nurses Internship at Elim which is a Moravian Church controlled community.
Wikipedia reads as follows:
Elim is a village on the Agulhas Plain in the Western Cape of South Africa. It was established in 1824 by German missionaries as a Moravian mission station. When selecting the location, the missionaries placed a high priority on the proximity of water and on terrain that was suitable for planting vines so that wine for communion could be produced. As well as preaching the Gospel, the missionaries taught the villagers a variety of trades and skills. Elim's thatchers continue to be renowned for their craftsmanship.
The village is picturesque and has changed little over the years. It is filled with whitewashed cottages, fruit trees and fynbos. All the roads in the village lead to the thatch roofed church. The community, still mainly Moravian, consists of farmers, farm workers and artisans.
Elim is becoming known for the export of fynbos, and as an emerging area in the production of wine.[2]
Joline explained to me that while alcohol is not sold in Elim; it is consumed. And that she is working a lot with disabled children who are schooled until age 18. After that they should be placed back in their homes although this also has its issues.It is also claimed that Elim is a really safe community and that violent crime is rare.
I also learned that property is not owned by the residents but rather they have permanent occupancy but may not trade their properties as they are owned by the church. I do not have confirmation of this observation.
Wednesday 9th... start the morning with a 1500m swim with Megan who is now back from a holiday in St Francis.
Meet at the PE Harbour where the Aida \aura has docked. I have had a long correspondence with Julia and Sonja who have invited four passengers to join us. They are all on a four month round the world cruise.
Today we have some of the best sightings ever. Two of Lions. One on a Zebra Kill with a herd of buffalo challenging the Lions.\ Then we find a group of three sub adults. Tom, Dick and Harry. They also have a kill. Other sightings included a pair of mating tortoises.
Today we have some amazing sightings: Ellies galore -- swimming; wrestling; babies and big males. We see Lions at Peasland and again in Kragga Kamma. And best of all for Dico we have plenty of Zebra in both parks.
Saturday morning. I leave for the Bluewaterbay 15k at 5am. This gives me time to register; warm up and get to the start in the front line. I meet up with Andrea who agrees that we will run together. The races starts at 6am and there is an immediate little hill which the warm up helps me get through. Down Tippers and around Amsterdam Hoek. We pass Kenny and Marilyn at about 5km and Andrea has her mind set on a good time. She checks her watch regularly and we pass the 6km mark in good time. Up and around into Bluewaterbay suburb and the short sharp climbs takes us to 10kay and Andrea wants to know how I am feeling. Well I am feeling pretty much like we are running too fast but really I am enjoying the morning. There is a slight West wind but we need this to cool us down in the heat of the morning sun.
With 4kay to go we Stop for a coke. Andrea has a water backpack which she uses to drink. I grab the sachets on offer and try to keep myself cool. Andrea says we are averaging 5.40 a kay but the last kay was 5.50. No wonder, we stopped for coke! The distance from the bridge to the turn up hill seems to go on for ever. We shuffle our way up Tippers. No stopping. At the top we see the 1kay to go marker. This last kay seems to be a very long kay and everytime that we should be running into the finish there is another turn. Finally -- the final down hill. We are running as hard as we can. Andrea says we have finished in 85 minutes (Official results 1.24.57) which is about 5.35min / kay. We are delighted and feeling accomplishment. My phone tells me that I have burned 780 calories. And Stepped over 22 000 steps.
Andrea meets up with her family. I join the Achilleans for a cold drink and then head back home for a breakfast of Crispy Bacon; Two fried eggs; Grilled tomato and toast with some of my special coffee. Its a beautiful day. Love Life.
2019 We ran 1.24.57
2018 I ran 1.40
2017 I ran 1.27
2016 I ran 1.35
2015 I ran 1.25.07
2014 I did not run.
2013 This was the year I had heart trouble. After feeling pain in my chest and left arm. Stopped the race and walked back to the start. On the following Monday; Mike Dean and Jacques Du Toit put a stent into my vein to allow blood to flow smoothly again.
2012 I ran 1.29
2011 I ran 1.29.51
Sunday 13th.
I have an Assignment from Mosaic Tourism. Sarah. Sally and friends for Addo. ...
Barbara and Ally drive to CT. Ally is in the Lydia Res HK. She must be in Res earlier than others to greet and sort out the new arrivals. This is incredible for us as it seems just the other day that we were taking Ally to university for the first time and were greeted by these HK students.
Barbara the Pet Sitter stays over. Carmen and mother Rosie stay as my first Addo and house guests.
Monday 14th. Barbara is in CT with Nicky. Ally starts at University today with preparations for the new intake.
I start the day with a 1500m swim with Megan.
I have an Addo day with Carmen, Rosie from Germany; and Will & Poppie . 38 Brighton Dr.
This evening back to Cell Group with Claudine and Cronje. Bobby, Rob, Chris.
Tuesday. Running with Chris; Stefany and Liesl... End up running with Kate.
I have a day off and a list of things to do. Send Matric certificate to Ally; Bank Statements; New helmet for my bike; Visit Mosaic; Visit Ocean Bay; Visit Pam at NMBT; Traffic department to plead for a fine. Was reduced from R500 to R200. Visit Laptop Land where my Dell computer is in for repairs; Visit PPECB; Start the process for our Greek Holiday in June / July; Book doctor appointment for Friday and vehicle service for Friday;
Wednesday 16th.... Swimming I leave early as Megan does not join me. So I am first in the pool and swim uninterrupted 2000m. This takes me an hour. A bit of rain in the night.
I fetch Lynn Joliffe (Derrick takes Paul to Hospital -- he has been ill for some time now). We walk the Sacramento trail. Stop for tea at the restaurant afterwards.
Barbara has a bird cage made up and installed in the garden.
We do the full tour of the city, NMU, Stadium, St Georges Park and K Kamma about 4 - 5 hours.
I receive a message about the 10k helpers run and Kelly and I decide to do the event. We start at 6pm and the route is up Constance Road all the way up and over to the top of Lovemore Heights where the water tower is. This is a 4km hill which needs a huge amount of determination and hard work.
I start off with Liz and then Kelly and then move on up towards Evie. At the top of the hill I pass Evie and then it is hard work all the way down the hill to the Rail Line. Here we make a left and then another sharp left up the short hill and to the back of the rail line crossing. I see that some people make a mistake and continue on straight skipping out about a kay. We get onto Circular drive and then right into the suburb with just 3kays to go we work hard to keep up the pace. Then we can almost see the end but it is still over one kay to go. Working hard. Trying to maintain a pace.
Finally we cross 17th ave and into the shopping center and back to the finish line. 56 minutes?
Last year 1.02
2017 57min
A good workout. I drop Kelly at her home and enjoy a good supper of Chicken with Fried cabbage with carrots.
It is not often that I run twice in one day but this afternoons was a bit of a spontaneous decision to run.
Friday 18th. Combi in for service and I have a biannual appointment with Mike Dean. I start a website for Peter Giddy Guided Tours. And spend the day playing old time rock and roll.
Saturday. Up and ready for another go at the Lovemore Heights Hill 10kay. I meet up with a few Achilleans and Andrea. Plus some of the runners who took part on Thursday evening. Andrea and I run together start to finish. She waits for me on the hill going up to Lovemore Heights and then we run as hard as we can for the next 6km. On Thursday afternoon the sun was hot and there was an east wind. Today the weather is a lot cooler and the wind comes from the west so going up the hill we have the wind ahead of us. Strangely, although the wind is strong, I am not aware of it at all while running.
This is not a League Event so there are few Achilleans there.
I have an Airport to Lalibela Transfer for Mark Heck this Afternoon. Pick up 10 passengers from the Queen Elizabeth who have flown from CT to PE and take them to Lalibela for a two night safari.
Monday... Swim.
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| Katharina introduced to me by Katarina from earlier this week. And Michael and Kerstin At Addo .. Domkrag lookout. |
Katharina; Michael and Kerstin for Addo.
Tuesday -- Running. First attempt to submit PDP application failed.
Wednesday....Swimming . Alan and Eta for Addo
Thursday.. Running Target Kloof. Second failed attempt at submitting my PDP application.
Friday 25th... Swim. Finally a successful submission of my PDP. And Kelly birthday function at Flava Restaurant.
Saturday 26th
I run the Kabega Park School 15kay. I start with Evie and Kelly who were at the party the previous evening. Evie stays with me and we finish in 84min.... (Previous results. 2017 = 83 minutes).
Some of the Results.
Margie Saunders 66 min
Percy Dalton 75 min
Peter Pholman 78 min
Rob Button 79 min
Garreth Jacobson and Paul Johnson 82min
Me = 84 Min
Yvette (Evie) 85 min
Ken Barwood 89Min
Tremaine 89Min
Kelly 90 min
It had rained in the night so some people were probably put off running. I was so glad that they were there to keep me company at the start. We started in the rain ..... This did not make any difference and we really enjoyed the event this morning.
I had to rush from the run back home to pack and get ready for an Addo Tour with Abbey and Morgan.... I made it to their hotel with just a minute to spare.
Monday 28th .... Swim 1500m with Megan who swms 2000m. Combi back to the garage - Rattling when on dirt roads.
Tuesday 29th... Running with Chris, Steff, Liesl, Mike and Jenna. We do the route around Linkside and Grey which gives me around 8km.
Wednesday... Hiking with Robin and Wednesday walkers. I pick up Robin and we meet at Kini Bay for a beach walk of about 10k. There are 25 walkers on the hike today. Robin; Dave (Rambo); David (Landrover); Peter x 2; Errol and Mo; Keith (Motor Bike) and Julian; Russell (BnB Locum -- Geralds Gift) and Chris; Hazel and Lea who I know from Running; Steve (Motor Bike) and Lynne who was also a Tourist Guide until about 10 years ago; Flo; Bev (Teacher); Eugene and Maria; Margaret (Lipstick) and Margriet; Paul and daughter Heather; Martie and Lydia who arrived late and had to catch up.
Thursday 31st January. Running Target Kloof to 11th Ave with Andrea; Kelly; Michael; Chris; Lindi; Amanda; Ronel; Joanne; Stefany; Adele; Adrienne hurt herself; Susan,,, About 8km
Barbara leaves for CT and onwards to Canada.
I have an Addo Tour... It is drizzling and not great sightings -- Tessa and Fabrizio from Lungile.
Month End meeting at Alan with Peter and Frank.
Chinese for supper; wash the car; Buy supplies for tomorrow Addo; Barbara Minnie staying to mind the dogs. Toothache.... actually a bit of a lousy day.
