St Helena Island Adventures Continues

What a weekend! Certainly one for the scrap book.
It started with our usual after work drink at Donny’s on the seafront. Henry was competing in the Island National Youth Games, representing our ‘District’ (Longwood) in the volleyball. On the previous week the swimming competitions had taken place and Deanna had won a Gold medal in the 200 metres ‘Freestyle’. Henry was keen to get a medal for the District so there was a hard fought battle for the 3rd and 4th place. Longwood triumphed and Henry’s team won the Bronze in deciding match. It was close though and all the participants did really well. We ordered dinner from ‘Get Carters’ in the Mule Yard. The husband and wife team (David and Mercia) hold down full-time jobs in SHG and St Helena Bank and open their private business at the weekend – Usually a themed night on Friday – Mexican this week and pizza on Saturday.
It was really busy, but we ordered dinner and sat at the Mule Yard bar enjoying the local band – The Big Easy – who played some fantastic music well into the evening.
We drove home after a great unplanned evening happy and looking forward to a busy Saturday!
Andy and David (Deanna’s dad) were paired up for the Texas Scramble golf competition starting at midday, so we headed off into ‘Town’ early to pick up a few bits. Andy went off to play golf and I took Henry to the newly opened Barbers – Leroy based at the Business Park Ladder Hill, so another drive across the Island! Henry really rates Leroy and once again, was very pleased with his hair cut.
The afternoon was leisurely, a few household chores completed, when Andy returned from the golf earlier than expected. Families had been invited to join the golfers at the club house for the Presentation and a Curry! The food was good and the drinks flowed! We sat outside with friends – ex-pat and Saint alike, chatting and catching up with the latest news over several glasses of something…
Henry was off into ‘Town’ with friend Louis and they waited for the bus to arrive. In typical Saint fashion, the bus didn’t stop and was 15 minutes early! Luckily another friend was already on the bus and spotted them. Persuading the driver that there were passengers at the bus stop, the bus stopped and reversed back up the road to collect them.
We stayed at the Golf Club for another hour or so, walking back (literally across the road!) home. We had arranged to set off early on Sunday morning to complete another Post Box walk – This time Lot’s Wife’s Ponds at Sandy Bay.

7 of us set out for Sandy Bay – The Wooseys (David, Hazel and Deanna) The Standens (Andy, Helen and Henry) and our fellow Piccolo resident Andy Crowe. The trip to Sandy Bay is a long and very windy road as you drop quickly from a considerable height down to sea-level. On arrival at the parking place, several other intrepid walkers had already arrived and with a few late-comers, the walking party totalled 21. We set off heading up towards Lot’s Wife, initially a steady climb along narrow paths, originally cut into the rock face by donkeys, who transported lime from one area of the Island to another. I am not a donkey and my feet are a bit bigger than hooves. Much of the path is fine as long as you don’t look down! You really are on the edge most of the way. There is a particularly tricky part called Lorna’s Leap – consisting of a very narrow ledge – most of the way where you have to traverse across facing the rock face, whilst holding on for grim death and jumping the final part! It wouldn’t be quite so bad if the final leap is onto a large flat area, but of course it’s not! You leap to another narrow cliff path, whilst praying!
Having got the whole party across, we began the decent down to the Ponds. The kids even participated in a bit of sand surfing down a large dune. It’s hard to grasp the incredible changing terrain here. One minute cliff and volcanic rock, then sand dunes and white sand too, then lush green vegetation.

As we reach the Post Box marker, I spot the rope! I am not sure I was prepared to abseil down the cliff in order to reach the Ponds, but having come this far, it would have been silly not to. The worst part is turning backwards and lowering yourself down with just a rope for company – Andy was waiting at the first ‘staging post’ where you have to let go of one rope and swap to another, traverse around a rock on the cliff edge, before being able to grab the next rope for the final decent to the rocks below. There was a huge sense of relief and achievement when my feet finally made it to the bottom! Once everyone had made it down, some people swam in the Ponds, others took in the fantastic scenery, made even more spectacular by the huge waves that intermittently crashed over the natural breakwater. We stayed for an hour or so, eating lunch next to the massive Ponds. My foot had started to play up during the abseil and I wanted to set off earlier rather than later as I knew I would be quite slow – down is way more painful than up when you have a fracture!
Firstly, the ascent on the rope was fairly nerve-racking, but I managed to haul myself up, leaving just Lorna’s Leap and a lot of steep down slopes to negotiate. In the end, setting off early was a good plan – we were never caught up by those who set off after us, but the other party who got in front of us early on, made it to the cars an hour ahead of me! Still as everyone says, it wasn’t a race and I made it safely and in one piece. A great sense of achievement.
Back to work tomorrow, so an early night was needed, but what a fantastic way to spend the 1st of December 2013 – my first HOT winter ever.