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Published: February 18th 2006
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Carib Petrolyphs, Old Road
One of the few physical reminders of pre-colonial settlement Wednesday 01 February Today we set out to explore the interior of the island, and cycled down to Basseterre, and left the bikes at the shop (as per under instruction, otherwise the bikes go walkies). Next job was to catch a bus from the small bus station by the waterfront. After getting a bit scorched yesterday, a steamy walk in the rainforest seemed like a good option.
We found lots of buses, and needed to ask for the right one. Buses aren’t numbered - they either go up the Atlantic side of the island or the Caribbean. Buses are cheap: it was $EC2.50 for the fare, about 55p.
{for reference 1 $EC = 22p, and the rate is 2.68 $EC = 1 $US }
We got off at Old Road, the stop* for Romney Manor, we heard from the bloke running the bike shop that it was a starting point for a walk up into the rainforest. Old Road looks pretty poor, we walked up the road signed for Carib Batik and paused at the petrolgyphs left by the native Indians. They had been massacred in 1629 by a combined British and French force who
found their existence inconvenient to their plans for further expansion on the island.
*a bus stop works as "Stop, Driver!"... Bit like a taxi really, only cheaper.
We followed a narrow road up the hill, past the Batik centre at Romney Manor and up through the fields. The humidity and heat slowed us down - well we couldn’t be a**ed getting up at 6am like sensible people would. But taking the hill slowly is always a good trick - even though I’d looked as if I had been rained on, long before any precipitative matter came into contact with me. Some cars passed us but gave up, and returned down the hill. We carried on, into the forest, past where the road became a rough track. Further on, the track lost its surface and past open pasture before petering out. We emerged into misty drizzle and a cool breeze blowing in from the Atlantic. What a difference 1500 ft (450m) or so makes! Below, it was bright any sunny, up here wet, muddy, drizzly and misty - a bit like Yorkshire on a humid summer’s day on the tops!
The pastures had a few cows in, and
Ficus Tree
In the rainforest, on the way up to Phillip's Level. were as far as we could go. Any way through was either overgrown or been covered by a hurricane.
We descended down the hills again, and called in at the Batik Centre. Despite the taxi loads of cruise passengers passing through, prices were pretty reasonable there. On the way out, Mike B of “Banana Tours” offered us a free ice cold water and a rum and lemonade “on the house” - Cheers to Mike B! (possibly subsidised by wealthy US clientele, but hey, we’re worth it). Mike B was impressed that we managed to stagger up the hills armed without a map.
In fact maps are pretty rare on St. Kitts. Yes, there is the standard St. Kitts tourist map, but I have it on good authority that detailed maps are pretty hard to come by. Later on, we heard from a bloke working as a consultant on the island’s development (sustainable development was not a high priority on the island, he noted ruefully), that there were indeed Ordnance Survey maps of St. Kitts. Dating from the 1970s, with many roads missing. In a drawer, hidden in an office of the Ministry. So, plenty of opportunities for the
Phillip's Level
Muddy track at the top Vogon constructor fleet, then (more on them later).
Serendipity was with us that day. On the way down the hill the manger of the Batik Cente passed us in his car and offered us a lift to Basseterre. Which was nice. Turned out he was from Morley (SW of Leeds) and had lived on St. Kitts for 30 years. He told us that Old Road has strong Leeds connections - nearly every family has a relative living in Leeds. Old Road is also the site of the first British settlement and colonisation of St Kitts and then the Caribbean had all started at Romney Manor. We were going to learn more about the bit of history on visiting the museum.
We picked up the bikes back in Basseterre, and made our way back up to Bird Rock, calling in at the bakery, which did us proud.
Thursday 02 February We took the opportunity of using the free hotel bus over to the next beach, Frigate Bay. It was very commercialised and there was lots of pressure to buy. I succumbed and got a couple of CDs. Swimming was good though, and it was amusing
to see a rasta man give a pep talk on healthy living to some decidedly unhealthy looking cockneys.
Friday 03 February In the morning we went to town to stock up. The was plenty of goodies to be bought at the market such as breadfruit which is a bit like potato when cooked up and star fruit - smart in a fruit salad with some citrus and bananas and mangoes. Most of the stuff on sale in the supermarket is imported from the US and Canada.
In the afternoon we went snorkelling which was a new experience for us. We got our mask and flippers issued, and I was chuffed to get a mask with 25%!m(MISSING)agnification, so no problem being short sighted!. We belted off on the diveboat down the isolated SE peninsular to the southern tip of the island. The Californians running the trip pointed out that much of the peninsular had been sold off for development. So what was pristine looking slopes (albeit chewed up by imported goats a bit), will soon be covered by luxury villas and roads. It looked a bit unfeasible given the thin looking soil, very steep
slopes and the exposure to the hurricanes. But then I’m just looking at it from outside.
Anyway, back to the sea. The waters were a beautiful turquoise and clear even though we were in Shitten Bay. It had got such a name, the Californians told us, from the slave ships emptying the sh*te from the lower decks as they arrived. These days the only thing to watch out for was fire coral, so were instructed to keep our feet well off. We floated around and there was an amazing display of tropical fish (Sergant Major, Ballahoo, Trumpeter, I think) round the rocks and around us. I found the snorkel mask a bit of a hassle. And, yes, you guessed it - Kasia soon designated her plastic flippers unnecessary. A second bay, White House Bay, saw different fish. Our third bay icluded an old shipwreck; we saw the 16th century cannons still sitting on the sand in the water. Nearby, a large tug was upturned with a big propeller on view. There is something about salt water: I seemed to be spitting out a lot, due to my lack of technique, and that precipitated a need to relinquish one decimalised
"Pagoda" looking over the sea, Bird Rock
As I haven't the equipment for spectacular sea life shots, here is a nice sunset sort of picture instead. unit of the British currency back on the island!
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