Nevis by bike
Stream
Darrell Jackson and Sarah Barnes
Thu 13 Mar 2014 17:01
17:11.11N 62:37.57W A short motor/sail from Cockleshell Bay (Sarah on the helm again!) took us across "The Channel" to Nevis to pick up one of the mooring buoys that we had used on our way north in December. Or so we thought! We soon picked out the blue hulled yacht that was on a permanent private mooring that marked the end of the line of public moorings, but we were having difficulty in seeing the public moorings. A sail along the expected line for over a mile still revealed no white and blue buoys and no obvious yachts moored on them. Sailing back up to the blue hulled yacht we went over events over Christmas in case we had been imagining that we had been on a mooring and we slowly began to accept that the moorings that we had definitely used, in the 10 weeks since we were here, had been removed! No problem, we anchored in the shallow water where the moorings had been and later discovered that, in the three or four years since the moorings were laid, they had never been inspected or serviced and so it had been decided to remove them before an unfortunate yacht found itself drifting slowly north towards St Kitts, a journey which some of the buoys had already started before their removal. A quick trip ashore and a walk to the very pretty Oualie Beach found us talking to Winston. We had decided to hire bikes for a tour of the island the following day and wanted to book them ready for an early start. Winston runs Nevis Windsurfing and Mountain Bike Centre and what a nice guy he is. He was born in Birmingham with a Nevisian mother and a Kittian father, lived in London for 11 years and then moved with his parents back out to the Caribbean. He immediately preferred Nevis to St Kitts (as we do) and set up his business. He used to ride the Caribbean downhill mountain bike circuit (how many of you knew such a thing existed?) and was the Caribbean Downhill Champion. (Anguilla and Anegada don't have any downhill mountain bikers for some reason - check their geography!) He is a very down to earth man with a great sense of humour and we got on well from first meeting. He even shares Darrell's discomfort when in flat areas, much preferring hills and mountains. He is intent on giving something back to the island and he brought windsurfing to Nevis, organises the annual cross channel swim and the triathlon and is a key man in the Nevis biking scene; a busy man! Oualie Beach is a small bay with the Classic Caribbean silver sand, a watersports centre and a small hotel which charges very reasonable prices for its drinks and meals. We both felt relaxed and comfortable as soon as we tied the dinghy on the jetty and were glad we had decided to stay in this area for the next few days to explore the island more fully than our Christmas Day taxi tour with Rastafarian "Yeh Man" Dave. So Monday morning we were up early for our ride around Nevis. We dinghied the mile down to Oualie beach before 9am as the temperature was moving up toward 30 degrees. Darrell had organised hybrid bikes, which were well maintained and had decent seats. Sarah was a bit anxious about this excursion, as she hadn't been on her bike since the diagnoses of her "very nasty virus" last May. But seeing as we always go in at the deep end she just got on with it. We were to follow the main road around the island for most of the journey and although it doesn't have a superb surface it is a good deal better than most of the roads we cycle on in Northumberland! We set off towards Charlestown, the capital of Nevis, and were making good progress despite being overtaken by some Germans who had also hired bikes at the same time as us. Although we soon passed them as they stopped at the 'view point' at the top of the first proper incline. We never saw them again. We nearly blinked and missed Charlestown. Soon after half way up the long drag out of Charlestown we turned off the main road to head for the Botanical Gardens. Then the cycling got interesting: more climbing on concrete roads (very common in the Caribbean). Things were going quite well, until we went around a corner and were faced by what appeared to be a vertical bit of road, which we later found out the local cyclists call 'the wall'. In fact Winston had a hearty laugh when he found out we had gone this way! Due to all the gravel/rubble at the side of the road we decided it would be more prudent to walk up, not easy to do let alone with a bike. Once we got to the top we could cycle along the track past some very impressive houses and to the sounds of tennis balls being hit, until we reached the Botanical Gardens. The girl at the entrance was amazed that we had cycled and was shocked when she realised which way we had come. She found a nice shady spot for the bikes before welcoming us formally to the gardens. The gardens are in the grounds of a former plantation house, in the area of Gingerland. This is the most fertile part of Nevis. The gardens were created by an American called Dr Joseph Murray, but are now owned by the local Douglas family. It is 8 acres containing plants from all over the world, including orchids, cactuses, palms and vines. It is well set out with glorious views framed by trees and vines. It also has a mini replica of the Kew Garden greenhouses, which has a sculpture that could have been in an Indiana Jones film. There is an Indonesian feel due to sculptures dotted around the garden. There is a series of ponds and water features that give a serene and cooling atmosphere. In the centre is the original house, where we had a delicious Thai meal, including genuine Thai lemonade with sugar syrup to sweeten to your own taste, on the veranda overlooking the sea. All at a very reasonable price. We had an interesting chat to two of the gardeners who were "resting" in the shade of an "autograph tree". They were very knowledgable about the trees and plants, but also Nevis history, and the history of Britain and general colonial history. Then back on the bikes to cycle on well maintained back roads until we finally met up with the main road to continue our circumnavigation of the island. Thankfully, the difficult climbing completed we had a good downhill run to the eastern coast, then a gentle rolling road round the rest of the ride back to Oualie Beach, well before our dusk deadline. Both of us had had a great day and were pleased with the extra bounce in our step! The only slight disappointment had been the lack of cake. As we relaxed with a drink, we got talking to an American staying in the hotel with his family of four young lads, who complained about the short walk to the museum dedicated to, "that famous English sailor, what was his name? Oh yep Byron." And this is after he had been round the museum! We are looking forward to finding out about him, although we think he may have been confused and meant Admiral Horatio Nelson! (who incidentally married Fanny Nisbett on the island) There was a party going on around one of the tables on the beach which had a dozen or so American students around it celebrating the end of three days of exams. They were studying at the Medical school on the island and it was interesting to see two of the boys desperately trying to tune the television in the bar into the channel that was broadcasting the Arsenal v Bayern Munich game as they were both Soccer fans! Still replete from our lunchtime meal, we had toast and Marmite for our "evening meal" and were in bed early after a hot shower, ready for an early start in the morning for our "rain forest trail" walk, gluttons for punishment, but at least it didn't involve sitting on our sore bums. |