Saint Helena Island Day 5
Thursday
Dear Elsie
We have absolutely sucked the marrow out of today & I’ll get to the highlight of today in just a bit, but first, we have been going through a leaflet on some of the walks in Saint Helena and so yesterday evening we went to the Sampson’s and Saddle batteries on Rupert’s Hill. Ruperts is famous for a number of things, mainly the slave graves which are scattered throughout the area below the hill on which we walked. We had driven down to the grave sight. It’s really a part of Saint Helena history with which the locals do not want to be associated. On our return, we parked and headed off up the trail.
There are canons all over this island.
And the views are quite spectacular. This is Rupert’s valley..
That was yesterday evening. Today, we woke early and headed off for a place mid-island called Blue Hill. It also has an area called Fairyland which we had heard was a good place to visit. Reading Remote, Lindsay the author regularly recalled one part of the island being in fine weather while another would not. This morning we found that to be true, arriving at Blue Hill in mist.
It was an easy walk down flax lined paths.
Soon we came to below the cloud and the scenery was quite something – we understood while it was called fairyland. It looked like something out of a picture book. Beautiful mountains and rolling hills, fat cows and not another soul in sight. Too glorious.
We returned to town via the ever-feared Ladder Hill road. Julian is driving like a local now and so we managed it with ease, although it was easier as there were cars ahead and we just followed them and pulled over as they did. It’s narrow in places, with sharp bends and only one car can go through at a time. Going down there’s a sheer cliff face on the right and a low wall with a drop on the left. We thought we would go down super slowly, but soon found that when there are no cars coming up, you go down as fast as you can before one comes up. Cars descending yield to cars coming up, hence the dash.
Back in Jamestown we had breakfast at the local market cafe and then went to the Tourism office to ask the opening hours for Longwood. They are open Monday to Friday from 11am to 1pm. We also asked if/when Jacob’s Ladder would open. We mentioned the foreman said it could be before we leave on Saturday. We were sternly told that we mustn’t take what the workers say too seriously. The tourism manager said they (the workers) don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes and there may be other safety things that need to be signed off. To that end, it will open in the next couple of weeks. We left disappointed that we won’t have the chance to climb Jacob’s Ladder after all.
Meanwhile outside the tourism office a group of tourists had gathered and a historic tour of lower Jamestown was underway. We joined it and off we went finding out about the different social strata of the town over the years. Different building were pointed out and using our imagination we were shown how the wharf had changed. It was very informative. As we passed back through the town, something caught my eye – the netting around Jacob’s Ladder had been lifted. It was open!!!
We quickly finished the tour, had a cool drink and piece of coffee cake at the market cafe and then hot footed it back to the start of the ladder. Hot-footed is not an exaggeration! It was hot. We debated going up it later, but we were concerned it may be closed again, so off we set! It took us 12 minutes to get to the middle. And another 17minutes to get the rest of the way. 29 minutes to the top! It was exhausting! We were hot. We had a sit down and some water at the top & then started back down. I’m so glad we got to do that.
Here are the photos! Julian on his way. Just look at that blue sky.
12 very hot minutes later. We had already stopped once.
Yay!!! We made it…
We came home and have collapsed on our beds to recover. Tomorrow will have to be our visit to Lockwood.
We are certainly winding down our week on Saint Helena Island. People have been very friendly and it’s been a memorable experience to be sure, but I will be glad to get back to the regular world. This place is too remote for me. The biggest issue is the internet. They have this massive Fibre cable that has arrived at Rupert’s Bay, but they haven’t got the infrastructure yet to get it to the rest of the island. I don’t know when that is going to happen. Meantime, internet is hugely expensive and really cuts them off from the outside world. I haven’t enjoyed not being able to properly be in touch with my family back home.
Also medically, there is limited health care here. There’s the hospital which will attend to any minor issues and emergencies but if anything gets too complicated or life threatening, you need to be medivacced out which can be done in 12 hours. They are really strict about insurance. We all need to be insured for a huge amount of travel insurance. Hopefully, over the next 48 hours, we won’t need their services.
Tonight we are meeting Jane for dinner. She is a lovely lady we met first in Johannesburg at the departure gate, then in church on Sunday. We did the boat trip with her yesterday and the walking tour today. Jane on the boat. She’s 77 and got lots of courage to do a trip like this solo.
Psalm 95:1
Come let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
The best is yet to come – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂