F&T ride to Pennants , Clarendon

Ash Wednesday was a memorable day for quite a few fun and thrillers. Poor Richard had a terrible fall on the train line in May Pen and hurt himself badly. Alrick says he also fell in Old Harbour and hurt himself. Naomi told me she blacked out on reaching May Pen and Charles and Michael had some sibling rivalry which led Charles to take a minibus home thus missing the lovely breakfast etc.

On the other hand, I had a wonderful day, not least of all because the stewed pork was so delicious that I did not bother to try anything else that Solay's mom had been so nice to prepare.

I found the ride to May Pen quite easy as it was all flat and when one of the champion riders, Kevin, passed me at Sandy Bay, I kept up with him for the rest of the way. Just about there Howie zipped past us and about five minutes later, Barry, and I never saw them again until we got to Pennants.

Of course, despite the fact that I contradicted Juju about the number of hills we would encounter from May Pen to Pennants, I was not about to ride any further than May Pen. Since my mother was from Chapelton and I have been there numerous times, I had been telling her there was only one major hill. The one I was thinkingly of was the one coming into Chaptelon proper. I don't know how I could have forgotten about the killer hill named Sourspop hill. Luckily I was driving!

I got to Pennants about 11 am after leaving home at 5.15am, and on arrival, headed straight for the kitchen.

The tired riders arrived one by one up to 12.30 pm. On the way to the river later, Michael and I stopped to see young Grab (Mother Williams' youngest brother) who lives at the bottom of the hill. I have not seen him for about 40 years and although he said he was 79 years old, he looked 50 despite having lost a leg to diabetes.

We drove down through his property to what is the warmest river I have ever swum in. It was not as scenic, deep or nice at the one at Cudjoe Hill, but I enjoyed it anyway. I thought it was the Rio Minho, but I understand it is a tributary named Thomas river.

Got back to town about 5.30 pm after another fine day of riding and camaraderie with my fellow riders from F&T, MTR.

F&T Wins Again.

Charles Simpson aka Charles the 1st, made an excellent choice. He had been insisting for almost a year now that we arrange and outing to Mountain River Cave, which is at Cudjoe Hill and which he had read about, but the powers that be had not been accommodating. Anyway, last Tuesday he finally got Charles 2nd, myself and Chuck to go with him to the location to make arrangements . So Sunday 5th March was the big day. And what a lovely day it was.

We of the A team, had decided to ride out early so we could get as much in before the sun started blazing, so departure from Charles 2nd's house was set for 5am. As usual they were late. I had ridden to Michelle's home at 5.15am so we could get to Dunrobin Avenue by 5.16am and meet the others. Chuck was there at the appointed time but the other members of the A team were missing until 5.30am.

A view of the plains below

It was a lovely ride on the flat Mandella highway and since Chris, the driver was in a fast driving mood, I decided to try and keep up with him to see how much I had improved. My original record was 9 km per hour but on Sunday, as I kept up with him, he said he was clocking 20 km per hour. 

Keep up the good work Joan!

We had a few stops here and there, the main one being by Jose Marti school where Pat brought out some goodies including a delicious piece of potato pudding which I enjoyed with much relish, happy in the thought that I would not put on an ounce, since the ride would consume it all.

All the way to the entrance of Dovecot, the road was flat and the ride easy. After that the gentle grades kept growing all the way to Guanabo Vale. On the way there, we were passed by David driving Howie's vehicle. He was on his way to get Grace who lives just above Dovecot. She joined the ride just outside of Kitson Town.

It was quite challenging up to Guanabo Vale but as it was a cool morning, no one complained. We stopped and hung around just by the Police station and just as we were ready to resume the ride, up rode Maurice RB. (RB means ride back for if were he alone, he would ride back to Kingston after all our fun jaunts!

The cave is grilled to prevent theft/vandalism

We got to Cudjoe Hill just before 9am after most of us conquered what had been aptly described as a "Bitch hill".

The view of the St. Catherine plains as you rode up the steep incline, was breathtaking. As steep as the hill appeared however, everyone but Fatman, Chuck and Charles the 2d, conquered it totally. Grace did get off to rest a little bit but got right on. Of course, she had the benefit of "fresh legs"!

The B team arrived about half an hour later, then we were joined by those who drove down, Desiree, Chris Dalrimple, Lisa, Barry and Karen.

Just as we gathered, a fudge man passed by and I think the tired troopers bought out his entire stock. 

The breakfast that followed was absolutely wonderful. (I had a blow up with the guide, see (Of yoga, Blackness and the Maroons) and the only reason why I did not write a formal complaint to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, was because she was instrumental in cooking that delicious meal!)

After breakfast we headed down a steep incline to the river. So treacherous was the pathway that the Jamaica Defence Force had installed iron railings to assist hikers.

Taino markings outside the cave

Most of us went up to the cave...about a mile hike along a well fruited area, but the cave itself but it was not at all impressive. What was really wonderful and very impressive was the swimming area by the waterfall. I am now re-assessing my impression that Big Dunn in Portland, is the best river swimming area that I have ever experienced, but that another matter.

Getting to it was not for the fainthearted as we had to climb down large, treacherous rocks to get there and both Michael and Howie demonstrated that gentlemen still exist, as they stayed by the rocks to help the women down .

What was great about the swimming area was the moss in the river bed which was easy on the feet and the fact that it had both deep and shallow areas so one could dive off the rocks and the non-swimmers need not have worried.

Theresa did create some excitement however by trying to drown herself, for after asking if a section was deep and told it was, she jumped in and when she couldn't stand up, started to yell in panic. She was pulled to safety by a young lady (I think it was Sparkes) who was sitting on the rock while Theresa continued to scream and carry on.

The water was also very buoyant which made floating easy, so I was able to just lie quietly and mediate away whatever residual anger had remained after cursing off the guide!

The waterfall had an area behind it where you could actually climb up and get behind the falls. After observing a local gentleman doing it, David succeeded in getting up there. The rocks surrounding the falls seem designed for rock climbing and Chuck tried his skills at it but did not succeed while a local lady did it without any difficulty.

Everybody seemed to have had a ball and when it was time to return, Chuck decided to follow dog which was supposed to know the way back and nearly ended up in LLudias
Vale!

We did not walk back up the steep rocks as those who came down later had discovered that if you had walked a little further down, it was much easier.

When it was time to return, most of the riders decided to join Maurice RB since it was all downhill to St. Johns road. Since I am allergic to riding after eating, I travelled back with David and Grace.

Kudos to Charles the 1st and Charles the 2nd for a wonderful location and excellent coordination.

For more photos, see my  fb post "Mountain River Cave etc"