There were no hire cars available for West Falkland so we merely dipped a toe in: a couple of nights in Port Howard where the cross island ferry berthed. Scenic walks, war memorabilia and the best cafe in the islands – we loved it!

The Concordia Bay ferry between the islands of  East and West Falkland was the height of civilization for all its small size. It had free WiFi (very rare in the Falklands), free coffee and even a book swop!

The 1 ½ hour trip across Falkland Sound (so named in 1690 and from where the name expanded) passed quickly. We left the flat landscape of the east behind on a sunny day that created sparkling waves where fleeting black and white Commerson’s dolphins played until finally we slipped between the narrow headlands that led into Port Howard Bay.

The scattered, rather dapper green and white buildings of Port Howard farm dotted the edge of the bay, with a large and active shearing shed just behind the jetty. It is the oldest and largest sheep farm on West Falkland.

In 1982, about 1000 Argentinian troops were stationed there, the officers using the school house as their headquarters. The inhabitants were allowed to carry on as normal – some of the children even played football with the conscripts (Argentina was actually World Cup holders at the time).

There were a few aerial attacks and dog fights overhead but the base was largely unscathed and ended up surrendering without a fight on 15th June 1982.

On arrival, we lingered to watch the dolphins before treading our way up the adjacent hill to the Maria Motel. This was once the cook house for the farm and has recently opened as a motel with huge airy windows giving blissful views over the bay and settlement.

Accommodation is a very reasonable £95 a night and there is a very good cafe attached with lots of local produce on the menu and home cooking: the roast lamb was excellent but then they do have 30,000 sheep to choose from! We also ordered the sticky toffee pudding on both days, it was so scrumptious!

After lunch we followed a walk recommendation which led along the bay to the historic cemetery. Safely behind a white picket fence, amidst generations of hearty farming folk, lies the grave of Captain John Hamilton MC who was killed on June 10th, 1982, just four days before the end of the Falklands War, when a secret SAS patrol was surprised by the Argentinians – he had told his wife that it was the army tradition that soldiers should be buried where they fell.

Across the bay is the farm of Bold Cove, where Captain John Strong of the Welfare made the first recorded landing in the islands in 1690.

The path then crossed the road with a short sharp climb to the ridge line running east to west above it. Our feet kicked up old machine gun bullets as we followed a dusty sheep track eastwards along the fence –  it is impossible to avoid the war for very long.

Below us, the farm huddled amidst a crazy pattern of small fields with vibrant gorse banks – one of the more successful introductions to the islands in terms of providing shelter. It also adds a welcome splash of colour to the landscape and has a glorious coconut smell which lingers in the warmer airs.

We passed another memorial, this one to the Alacrity and strangely far from the sea as it is in memory of a ship which sank an Argentinian vessel on the 10/11th May 1982. The Alacrity survived the war, the Argentinian boat lies just off Swan Island in the Sound.

Further wanderings on our second day revealed another source of war memorabilia in the little Nissan hut museum besides Port Howard Lodge, a farm manager’s house built in 1952 and reached by a pleasant stroll along the inlet. It is rather hemmed in by trees but is the traditional accommodation option with 7 rooms on a full board basis and a ghillie on hand for trout fishing.

The private museum is free to enter; the displays are in a rather dusty state but include a parachute and ejector seats (from both sides but all British!) as well as various guns, sleeping bags and other odds and ends. A shrapnel scarred sign on the wall states Puerto Yapeyu – the Argentinian name for Port Howard. Outside there are artillery guns and part of an aircraft wing.

The lodge can organise various tours, including battlefield visits, but sadly none when we were there – these include the wreckage of the helicopters and planes which were shot down over the farm. Trips to Gladstone Bay where there  is a small Gentoo penguin colony are also popular and there is even a nine green / eighteen tee golf course on Clippy Hill.

There are a couple of longer walks in the area which are covered in the Self Guided Walks booklet for Port Howard issued by the Falkland Islands tourist board.

Mount Maria is an obvious 658 m mountain rising above the farm and is a 4 hour 12 km return walk on rough moorland. The other option is Castle Rocks which is a similar time and distance but rather easier – the track to this distinctively shaped pile of rocks leaves just before the Nature area. Both offer excellent views on a good day.

However, the weather was rather iffy so we settled for the Neil Clark Nature Area which is 2 km to the south west of the settlement.  A fenced off area of the land is supposed to be free of animals so nature can return. There was no obvious difference that I could see, although there was a nice lagoon with a couple of benches at the bottom of the hill from where we got a birds eye view of the Concordia in the middle of the narrows.

We dropped down onto the coast a bit beyond the nature reserve where the remnants of an old track briefly hugged the water, turning to walk back along the beach. It was a pleasant amble with plenty of geese for company: upland geese in close knit family groups with fluffy goslings, or the rather squatter Falkland steamer ducks. The kelp geese have snowy white males and brown females – none were particularly bothered by our presence.

We found ruins of a mill of some sort, sea smoothed glass and millions of glossy black mussels festooning the rocks – apparently they are safe to eat here – and thankfully reached the motel just in time for tea and before a violent shower.

The Skirmish at Many Branch Point

Our final day and unusually in the Falklands the land and water were still. The stars in the night had shone with unobstructed brilliance leaving ice on the puddles. We decided to venture onto the Bold Cove Farm side where the skirmish occurred which claimed the life of Captain Hamilton on 10th June 1982.

He and a signaller were ensconced in a rocky observation post on the ridge running north above the farm called Many Branch Point when they were discovered by a four man Argentinian patrol. The two men decided to fight it out but whilst providing covering fire for his corporal, Hamilton was killed.

The commander of Port Howard, Colonel Juan Ramon Mabragana, later said that Hamilton was ‘the most courageous man I have ever seen‘ and recommended that he should be decorated. He actually received the Military Cross posthumously, although he probably earned it too on previous raids into South Georgia and then Pebble Island where a hit and run raid destroyed Argentinian planes on the ground.

The Argentinians buried him with full military honours (though they couldn’t find a British flag!) and today he is one of only two casualties who still lie in their original position.

It took us 2 hours to hike up to the ridge where he fell and find the memorial cairn. The hideout was not so obvious although there was one obvious contender amongst the huge jumbled rocks along the ridge.

The view was superb anyway, with both farms in full view and the rolling mountains all around us; the long inlet of Bold Cove lay on the far side of the ridge, to the other the Howard Farm Inlet. We backtracked to the homestead, pausing to pull some weeds from Hamilton’s grave in passing, and ended with a very good Sunday lunch at the cafe – the sticky toffee pudding went down a treat once again!

Through the big windows we could see the ferry arriving so wandered down, passing the old shearing sheds en route where barn owls roost. A large metal pot stood beside the bay: it was once used to boil penguins and seals for their oil.

It was lucky that we had gone down when we saw the ferry arriving as after a lightning quick turnaround, we left 55 minutes early!

We had a beautiful run out through the Narrows after which it became rather grey and the sky and the sea merged into one. Captain Hamilton’s ridge dropped away in the distance and his shade was left in peace once more.

.NOTES

There are two accommodation options as covered above; the Maria Motel (speak to Kylie on +500 57008) and the Port Howard Lodge.

The ferry schedule is here. A foot passenger is approx £12.50 one way, a car £30 – but none of the rental agencies in Stanley will allow their cars to go to West Falkland. There is free parking at the ferry on the East Falkland side. Don’t miss the Gentoo penguin colony about 200 m. from the car park.

For permission to walk or drive off-road give the Port Howard Farm managers a ring in advance – Miles Lee on +500 51474 or Critta Lee on +500 54096. Email: phfarm@horizon.co.fk. I could not actually get hold of them but Kylie at the motel OK’d us – I think she might be part of the same family! Camping is free and basically where you like – the nature reserve by the lagoon is a top spot or the field above the inlet, approaching the old cemetery.

Bold Cove Farm can be reached on +500 42008 if you want to visit the Captain Hamilton memorial on Many Point Ridge.