vickygoestravelling

my journey to health and well being via exotic destinations

Tag Archives: Louise Cattell


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Mana moments with Stretch & the besties

View from our tent showing the very low level of the Zambezi, normally flowing freely here

After months of planning, we gather in York Lodge. Taking inspiration from a bus we drove past in Harare, I have named the new service, Vicky’s Logistics – as it really has been quite an operation! The dream team consisting of John and Hil, Fi and Richard and our beloved Rick set off from Charles Prince, with a hitch-hiker on board, none other than Nick Murray, owner of Vundu Camp and advisor on Attenborough’s episode on the wild dogs.

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Heaven is a place called Mana

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Getting ready to hunt

This must be my 9th visit to Mana and I never tire of it. Growing up in Tanganyika (yes, that’s what it was called when I was little!), one of my happiest memories is going to Mikumi game park with my Dad, and camping in ancient tents on rickety old canvas beds, with a long drop, canvas basin and no shower! Dad and I would drive around the park, getting up at the crack of dawn and he would make a fire and cook eggs, bacon and fried bread. Heaven. Continue reading →


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The highs and lows of 2021

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In a year where there has been little travel and many health issues I am challenged where best to post and how to write this blog! For most of us it has been a year of great uncertainties and lows, with a few highs. On the whole we don’t share our lows as we maintain our oh-so-very-British stiff upper lip. So here goes – my year in review. Continue reading →


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Remembering Louise in Moofushi, Maldives

Storm clouds gather

7 December 2020

Louise would have been 31 today. Almost ten years since she died. It is simultaneously like yesterday and an aeon ago. This morning – 3 am to be precise due to jetlag – I flipped though her Facebook photos and her joie de vivre, sense of naughtiness and good humour shone out to me. Of course she had her moments – we all do – and I remember when she was about 14 or 15 regularly waiting on the stairs listening for the late night bus to rumble past in the hope that she would be on it…and at some point she would tumble through the front door and I would pretend to be asleep. Continue reading →


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A Champery Christmas & New Year in the mountains

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Enjoying the glorious weather with cousin Diego Oyarzun Reyes, Dents Blanches in teh background

Christmas was Louise’s favourite time of year and, after my mother died, all four of us would decamp to the mountains to ski and enjoy ourselves. My main job – after cooking – has always been to ‘do’ the stocking for my three dependents…then in the early hours Santa delivers them to the foot of the respective beds. Continue reading →

Three years clear!

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Reposting this from my Healthy Living with Cancer blog….all part of the journey

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22239_245584604708_511244708_3137715_6127093_nThis is always a difficult time of year for me. Firstly, 7 December is our daughter Louise’s birthday. She would have been 27 last week, but instead she is forever a glorious 21 – young and beautiful. We celebrated her life with some close friends at the Bench last week and later in the Steele’s where we held her wake.

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On bereavement & grief – thanks Julian Barnes for expressing it so beautifully

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Christmas Day, Louise about 12/13

Returning to London after more than three and half years away has been an emotional time. Our newly renovated house (not quite finished) is haunted by the absence of Louise, whose laughter, colour and noise filled every room like that cliched ray of sunshine. Even though the house is configured differently, it still feels like home, our happy home, that we shared as a perfect family of four. Continue reading →


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The Singapore chapter closes, but a fresh page beckons

 

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Enjoying Singapore’s national dish – Chilli crab

Here I am sitting among boxes as I wait for the packers to remove our final belongings as we prepare to leave Singapore. It’s been an experience, mostly wonderful. We came here as refugees – from the emotions surrounding the loss of our daughter Louise and the wish to mourn in a private and fulfilling way, by adventuring and ringing the changes. The deep sense of grieving never goes away and, as I have said many times, time is NOT a healer; but it is possible to fill your mind and your heart with happy experiences that take the raw edge off that insistent nagging realisation that every day you wake up is another without her. Continue reading →