Walking and walking..... and walking

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Mon 30 Dec 2013 03:49

Fri, Sat & Sun – 27th, 28th & 29th Dec

 

The day after Boiling Lake was decreed a rest day, so Rob took us on the gentle walk he had taken with ‘Il Sogno’ and ‘Sarahlane’ to the two pools up behind the town the previous day.  Right next door to each other, one pool is a hot sulphur pool and the other a mere yard away is a normal cold pool fed of course by different streams.  And it was perfectly located as a short muscle stretching exercise.  In the event Fiona, Iain and Sarah dipped into what Rob termed "puddles" believing this was the perfect cure for the aches and pains.  This was followed by a nice lazy afternoon, a drink ashore with various English speaking boats, and lots of French cheese (legacy of all our trips to French islands various) and wine for supper with Ruffian and Il Sogno, who were about to leave heading north for Antigua and boat repairs.

 

Ruffian and Sarah had agreed another walk the following day to the Middleham Falls which would involve catching the bus to Roseau 28 miles away, then another bus to Laurat and hoping to spot the dismount spot for the falls.  Saturday dawned, as ever, rainy and Fiona's legs were so seized she preferred to sit this one out, leaving Sarah to entertain the ever enthusiastic Iain.

 

So we set off in Thug (Ruffian's slightly soggy dinghy) and spent three quarters of an hour waiting for the mini bus to fill up before it could leave - and fill up it did, 18 people.  The driver kindly dropped us near the next departure point - as all buses are small mini-buses privately run there is less regulation on routes, departure and pick up points.  The next driver was so intent on chatting up the young girl in the front seat next to him, he would not have stopped for us unless we had already seen the start of the hike for the falls and could call out.

 

We were disappointed to discover what was billed as a 3 hour walk was only 45 minutes each way, but we were able to add on the extra walk to the Stinking Hole which is full of Antillian Cave Bats, luckily we could only hear them squeaking as a quick search on Google showed me they are my worst nightmare on the bat beauty stakes.  And the Hole was a small, but smelly crack in the ground;  all in all fairly underwhelming.

 

So we retraced our steps back to the Falls although we failed to recognise the proper path and made a diversion straight down a rock face first.  The falls were quite like nothing else I have ever experienced:  they fall 80 metres straight down making, obviously, a huge noise, but also creating about a 25 mile hour wind on the surface of the 20' pool at the bottom, which in its turn forms short sharp waves on the surface.  Just as we arrived a noisy tourist group plus guide was leaving, so we had this magical place to ourselves.  Another scramble down the rocks and we ventured in to the very cold deep pool, with weirdly lots of orange clawed crabs hanging from the surrounding rocks.  The swimming was quite a challenge and the spray was agony on the eyes - Iain did manage to get right underneath the fall and was surprised to find there was just a blank wall behind the water rather than the expected cave.  We got out to thaw out and have lunch on a rocky outcrop by the falls, and were treated to constant rainbows through the falls as the sun finally ventured out.

 

We were lucky enough to hitch a lift back down the hill once we reached the road with a lovely couple from Colorado, and then a further bus back to Portsmouth.   But on our return, with slightly sinking heart, I heard that Fiona had found another walk we could do the next day.  Why don't I just recognise I am not as young and fit as Ruffian and take a day off?

 

This time Rob would join us certainly for the first part of the walk to a suspension bridge behind the town.  Another 0615 alarm to waken as ever to pouring rain, but by 0715 we had set out in the dinghies and were walking through town joined by Nicholas Hector, who was off to one of his 3 security jobs having handed over guarding the fishing dock (and our dinghies) to a colleague.  He is a lovely gentle man and filled us in on the shenanigans of Geest giving up the banana export agreement with Dominica and thereby causing serious hardships.

 

After about half an hour we reached the path leading to the dipping suspension bridge which was incredibly slippery.  Iain bounced across first, followed by Rob and then Fiona, who is not a fan of heights and particularly bridges, attempted to cross but had to admit defeat.  So Rob re-crossed and they continued up the lane to the hydro-electric plant, encountering a bull tethered by a rope on one side of the road, but standing on the other...... And a scorpion!  They then went back to fill up Ruffian's water containers with the help of Albert who helpfully pointed out a trolley they could use.  Albert also recounted why his lower leg was missing:  he had chopped it off with a machete while hacking back bracken last year!

 

Sarah and Iain carried on with the walk which degenerated into a scramble up slopes too steep to have steps cut into them, ie hands and knees;  almost controlled downhill dashes from sapling to sapling where Sarah had her first tumble; more uphill climbs and then, worse, downhill in rain where the strange orange rock immediately becomes porous clay-like slime where the choice is to skid at speed, or attempt to slow down in the grassy verges where the sharp grasses slice your ankles.  Sarah had another fall and roll here, Iain had two more spectacular up-endings.  We met a horse-riding group out enjoying the views - we of course never lifted our eyes from the ground, but did hear the elusive Dominican Parrot - and managed some serious grapefruit scrumpying.  This was probably my least favourite walk I have done with Ruffian, as it only afforded two glimpses of the Portsmouth anchorage, and you rarely felt in control of your footing;  but it was more, good exercise in great company, what more can a person ask for?

 

We actually managed to squeeze in a few boat jobs in the afternoon, and to top off the day we were invited to drinks with ‘Brisa’  (OCC) who are heading off south tomorrow, and then Fiona cooked us supper.