Great Off Road Riding

As usual we left out late but it ended up as one of the best outings that I have been on with “Fun and Thrills" despite the fact that some of us had done the route before.

On Sunday 25th November 2010, some 25 riders drove to Bowden Wharf in St. Thomas which is now under the control of the Coast Guard, so in order to enter and leave the vehicles there we had to solicit the permission of the the commanding officer . This was done via a soldier who was in charge at the base but there was no problem.

As usual, as soon as the bikes were unloaded, the impatient ones including myself and Charles could not wait for the laggards to get ready so off we went up the ultra steep hill which leads to Old Pera….an unspoilt beach area on the cusp of the Holland Bay Nature Reserve. This nature reserve is the home and breeding ground for crocodiles, and other endangered species and the ponds are a key layover spot for birds migrating from the northern cold during the spring and late summer.

From Old Pera we rode along cane intervals belonging to Duckenfield sugar factory. This was an excellent off road ride with unpaved roads and large portholes full of mud.

As It turned out, us early riders had taken the wrong route as Maurice who is an extremely fast rider was sent to chase us down. When he did catch up with us he said He had been riding at full speed for 1/2 hour before he caught us. The hilarity of the situation is that he was sent with a message that we should turn back to join the A team which had chosen a less steep and more rugged route and were waiting for us at some intersection! Naturally there was an instant rebellion as we certainly were not about to turn back so Maurice defected and stayed with us, so we ended up with two distinct sets of riders, ours being the B team.

Although we stopped and waited for them frequently, they never caught up with us. There were two spills....... nothing serious, and none that I witnessed, but I understand that Sharon who was with our group did fall as did Michael Williams of the A team.

The ride was just great and when we got to the intersection which we could either take to Duckenfield or go straight to the beach at Rocky Point, we had an intensive debate as some of us wanted a little longer ride while others wanted to go straight to the beach. The "beachites" won and I wasn't too sorry for as usual it was inviting, calm, serene, warm and beautiful . And guess what, the sand flies which had feasted on us on the last ride there, were missing in action so we had a really great swim. Of course Barry did create some excitement at one point jumping suddenly and claiming he had been bitten by a crab. While I dismissed it as just a Barry trick, when I returned for a dip just before our departure, I saw a lot of crabs and a fisherman shouted to me to be careful as they bite. My apologies for disbelieving Barry!

We had conch soup with sea puss and it was absolutely delicious. Those of us who ordered chicken and festival were fine while there seems to have been a shortage of fish which is what the vast majority wanted.

All seemed well fed in the end however and I enjoyed a game of dominoes on the beach with Fatman as my partner against Michael Chuck and a gentleman from the area. Chris also joined Chuck to try and beat us, but they didn't. In fact I got a rare "heinkin" bow.

As some of us took an long ago took an oath never to ride after eating (niggeritis and all that) Charles the drive organizer in chief, arranged for some drivers to go in the support vehicle back to Bowden Wharf and bring back some vehicles. By the time we got back a fit ones had ridden off and Tara went straight back to Kingston with Lisa Chen and her friends who came out with us for the first time and had a whale of a time.

When we got to Bowden Wharf the riders had not yet reached but we had a wonderful time swimming and diving there. The only problem there is the strong smell of fuel for this a a coast guard station and I guess as lot of fuel gets spilled in the water.

My only regret is that we did not get to see the dolphin. I hope he is ok and has not been killed by the fuel in the water. A soldier told me that he comes up to feed when he is ready so I hope that is really true.

On the way back we stopped in Yallahs for a repeat of the delicious chicken foot soup we had found there on our return journey from Reach Falls, but unfortunately either we bought from the wrong person or the standard had fallen for this soup was not as good. But what the heck, it filled a gap and brought an excellent day of fun and camaraderie to a great end.

For more photographs, see; http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=299898&id=763366822