Friday
Dear Elsie
Today was our last proper sight-seeing day on the island. We are winding down after an interesting week – it’s been amazing visiting this out-of-the-way place.
For today, we started off around 7am with a drive to Jamestown and the plan to walk to Munden’s Fort.
We had a great view of James Bay, the wharf, the ladder and the town.
The ladder is being enjoyed by anyone fit enough to go up. A couple of our fellow tourists had also heard it wouldn’t open before we all left and so on Wednesday while it was still closed, they took a chance and rushed up it just after 4pm, meeting a friend at the top. But, as you can see from the photo, you are very visible from far away when on the ladder & someone called the police! Yes they did! And so this couple were enjoying refreshments at the top when the coppers arrived to investigate their climbing the ladder while it was still closed. They asked if they were given permission by anyone, to which they said no. They asked if there was anyone else coming up with them – another no and then they simply wanted to know if they were okay or if there were any injuries. Negative to all, the police asked their times and then said they had both seen Jacob’s Ladder and the Saint Helena police.
A sign is busy being put up at the bottom of the ladder….apparently said Lord paid a whopping GBP300000 (three hundred thousand) for its repair – that’s GPB429 per stair!
The other sign is smaller and captures more important details…
But I digress. Initially our walk this morning took us along a path with a lot of expensive fencing protecting us from rockfalls. They have been a problem over centuries and had become more worrisome over the last few decades. Millions of pounds was spent on fencing and protective layers of chickenwire to prevent rockfalls.
Our walk took us further than anticipated as Julian suggested we keep walking, so we entered an area that had once been safe and walkable but now has extensive signs of rockfalls and no protection above. While Julian was enjoying it as a highlight, I was tiptoeing behind him, gingerly hoping for no rocks to hear us and start pounding down the mountainside.
Views were spectacular. We looked right over Rupert’s Bay. Apparently this is where the cargo ships docked bring material for the airport.
Munden’s Fort was a great place to mooch about. Looks like a ruin in Italy…
On our return, we went to the St Helena cafe for coffee and cake and then hung around until it was time for our 10am appointment at Briar’s Pavilion. This is where Napoleon lived after arriving on the island. He was here for a couple of months from October to December 1815. It literally was one room for him and his entourage.
Inside…
View…
Apparently, Napoleon met here, a French speaking slave named Toby who he could speak to.
Toby lived in a hut which will soon be restored.
Napoleon was then moved to Longwood, a sizeable suburb on Saint Helena and now made famous by Longwood House. This was our last sight-seeing visit. No inside photography allowed, but but it was interesting to see where Napoleon lived and died.
While leaving, we met a lady who has been a nurse at the local hospital for the last 6 months. It was interesting to hear her perspective of the hospital administration and the general health of the people on the island.
And so now, here we are. The eve of returning to our normal world. It has been a dichotomy for me. A place of peace and safety with little to no crime, where you can walk freely with no worries of being mugged. But on the other hand, the price for this is a lack of extensive health care, very little connection with the outside world and no way of leaving from one week to the next. The cost of the airfare is astronomical considering the distance covered. Locals have their ways and the way it’s done is the way it’s done. Change doesn’t come easy or rapidly, but it has come. There is a functioning airport after all and there is talk of fibre, so possible more Western things will reach this unusual, sometimes backward, place.
It’s been a treat. Tomorrow, I hope to possibly post a blog from the airport or maybe only after we arrive back in Johannesburg late tomorrow night.
Psalm 95:3
The Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂