Monday
Dear Elsie,
We are packing in the activities. We once watched a video describing some of the highlights to be seen on Saint Helena Island and we are aiming to get through the main ones. Yesterday, after I posted the blog, we had a little rest and then set off to try get to High Knoll Fort. This is a massive fort I think I mentioned before is visible from our Airbnb. Here it is…
It was built in 1798 and is a massive structure. Our trip here took us towards St Pauls through a narrow road with lush vegetation on either side. Julian has been doing an excellent job driving. We have learned to wave at everybody, driving slowly and giving way to cars coming up the hill. We are grateful when we are the ones going uphill and cars have to yield to us. This usually means they pull over, allow us past and both occupants wave at each other. It’s quite a slow way of life. The High Knoll Fort was very quiet. We were the only ones there. If we were in South Africa, visiting such a place we would have felt nervous, but this Saint Helena and there is no crime, no unemployment, no beggars, no car guards, no paid parking.
This fortification is a bit overgrown on the inside….
Julian got onto the boundary wall, egging me on to join him, but I wasn’t about to endanger myself, so I just watched him wander along the precipitous wall, admiring his courage & eventually hoping he would get down soon. He was giving me the heebie jeebies.
The views from the top were amazing.
This is the high school on Saint Helena – there was a cricket match on the go.
After the High Knoll Fort, we went to the Boer Cemetery. A sombre place. Here are some of the Boer POW outside the above fort. Many of them died and are buried on the side of the hill….
We returned to our digs along a different route, happy to find a rare restaurant open on a Sunday evening. Rosie’s place provided a beet and pear salad for 5pounds, coke zero for 1.60 each and a cheesecake for 4pounds. With the sun soon to set, we wasted no time returning to the car and hitting one of the most sheer roads on the island. It is Ladder Hill Road. Think of a single lane Chapman’s Peak Drive, with cars going down (which we were) stopping hopefully at a lay-bye kind of place to allow cars coming up to go past. Sheer cliff on the right and hard rock wall on the left. Quite the experience.
And so ended a fulfilling Sunday.
Today dawned and we were up early, intent on walking to the Heart-shaped waterfall. This was a lovely lush walk, mainly under a canopy of trees with ancient walls built along scenic tracks inbetween.
We arrived at the waterfall to to find it trickling, with the rainy season not yet underway. I can imagine that visiting after heavy rain would be a different and more challenging experience.
There is a viewing platform with a little box. Inside was a book for us to write our names and a stamp with ink pad for us to stamp the book. I took advantage and stamped the waterfall brochure. The heart shape is visible from a higher road.
From there we went to Jamestown for coffee at the wharf. We spoke to a few tourists from the ship anchored off shore. It is the Honduras and it has come from Antarctica. It’s going from here to Cape Verde and then onto Europe, a voyage of 5 weeks, but, the gentleman grumbled, it could be shorter!
We hung around Jamestown until things opened (we had been up at 6am and got to the town at about 8am). The library would only open at 9.30am and the museum at 10am. Meantime, we spoke to the foreman overseeing the Jacob’s Ladder repairs and he tells us they are ‘finishing up’ and it should open before we leave.
Another historic sign…there are loads of these kind of snippets of history all over town and inside the churches.
A visit to the craft shop, tourism centre and the library got us to 10am when we visited the museum. There the curator told us the sad news that Lindsay Grattan Cooper had passed away a few years ago. The lady knew her well and mentioned she was involved in the heritage society. We knew this from her book. We noticed her book for sale in the craft shop and a signed copy is in the library. She certainly has made an impression and painted a colourful picture of this unique island.
We bumped into Jane, who we met at the church yesterday. We have discovered she is 77 – what an adventurous lady – coming on her own for 2 full weeks to Saint Helena to try track down some of her late husband’s ancestors. We should meet up with her sometime this week if I can book a boat tour. We had coffee at the Market, sitting at Jane’s table and then set off towards home again. This time, I directed Julian up the Side Path Rd, through Two Gun Saddle. That road is much much better than the nameless ‘wrong’ way I took us on arrival. It actually allows two way traffic and even has a line painted in the middle, a road detail we take for granted but which is missing on most Saint Helena Roads.
There was one last stop before we called it a day for sightseeing. Passing our Airbnb, we parked at Napoleon’s Tomb and walked the 500m down a grassy track surrounded by beautiful plants.
Our visit complete, we came home for a restful afternoon. Now we know about Side Path Rd we may venture down to Jamestown for dinner later. That will be a story for tomorrow.
Psalm 94:18
When I said “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.
We are only here for a moment – the best is yet to come.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂