A Really Great Day

Yesterday was another wonderful day lyming with the Fun and Thrills family as we finally went on the frequently postponed ride to Robins bay which Charles 1st had been proposing for months. (as a good St. Mary man).

I rode out of my home at 5.30 am, assuming I would meet up with other riders at Stony hill, but by the time I reached the intersection of Allerdyce road and Shortwood roads, I saw Pat and Charles 1st. 

Unfortunately in an attempt to hail me up, Pat lost balance and had a slight spill, but only got a small elbow cut  although her bicycle suffered some trauma, but compliments of the experienced "mechanics" who ride with the group, she was soon sorted out.

All went well with me continuing my recent trend of riding non-stop to Stony Hill square but I was unable to catch up Charles 1st and Sheriff flew past me on Long lane, making me the third rider to arrive at the square. Poor Barry who has suffered an elbow damage and has been unable to ride, had wanted to swap that leg with me as he was reduced to driving a support vehicle but badly wanted a little ride,  but I had to inform him  "no way" as keeping my record intact on that stretch was very important.

 Incidentally  Jamie is now in my bad books as I  had asked Chully to load my mountain bike and bring it along to Stony hill where he lives with his grandma Elaine, as he had said he wanted to ride with us.  But would the boy wake up? So we ended up having to transport an unnecessary bicycle. 

Never again.

At Stony hill square we were joined by most of the other riders from both group one and two, and it was an uneventful ride to Castleton, our regular lyming stop, where most people can't wait guzzle down the delicious janga soup and boiled corn.

There Pat presented us with a huge batch of delicious energy cookies which she had made by herself  and I think she needs to patent it as it is not only very delicious but indeed really energy giving too, for when I  got to Robins's Bay I felt like I could have ridden another 40 miles!

At Castleton when we were ready to depart, the Ayatollah declared that we had to wait for Desiree who woke up late and was driving to meet us there. Some rebellious souls rode away but a number of us stayed behind to wait for her. However, when she arrived and we attempted to charge her for having overslept, she disabused us, revealing that she told the Ayatollah that she was not coming as she was late, but he insisted that we had all agreed to wait for her! 

Poor Howie had the shock of his life after Desiree arrived and we prepared to leave, for he was confronted with a puncture which caused  him  to arrive dead last at Robin's Bay.

On the other hand, Grace had been so energized by Pat's biscuits and maybe because she was abandoned by David who had been riding with her, she passed the turn off to Robin's bay and attempted to ride to Port Maria.  Fortunately a rasta man saw her going astray, jumped into his car, chased her down and brought her back to the fold.

Would you believe that shortly after we arrived we were joined by extraordinary riders Johann and Marcus who had ridden together, leaving Kingston at 9 am and proudly telling us they only made one stop and that was a pee stop for Marcus who declared that  he had a small bladder from he was a child! (He volunteered the info publicly). Incidentally, Lisa, who Howie just taught to ride, made a small go of it also on this trip too.

We were also joined by a number of other persons who drove down, among them Stefan and daughters and our visitors from Canada Aunt Gladys, David, Donnie and Diana.

While there, Chris (driver) found some dominoes and summoned me as his great partner to play against Chuck and Neville. We did not disappoint and dropped a six love on them.  Unfortunately, I was so into the domino game that I missed the best part of the breakfast, the mackrel run dung as horror of horrors,  when I went to get some food, only a little gravy was left. Fortunately, Chuck is turning out to be the Robinson Crusoe of the group in terms of showing us how he can live off the land, for not only is he our resident bird shooter/fried bird supplier, but yesterday Karen brought a huge container full of delicious fried fish, enough for everyone. 

When I asked her for one specifically caught by Chuck, his son Marlon informed me indignantly that his father had been the great fisherman who had caught all the fish! So delicious was the fish that I had to apologize to the entire Chuck family for having given the head of the household a 6 love. lol.

After breakfast, Howie, Maurice, (ride back) Michael, Kim , Bernadette, Johann, Marcus, Conrad, all members of the A team, for some inexplicable reason, wanted to do an off road ride into the bushes  to do God knows what, while we the civilized ones went to the beach.

Kim with her beautiful baby Riley, Donovan and his family and a few others headed for Strawberry fields which is really nice and structured, but I don't like the beach there as it has a terrible current and when you float there,  you end  up in all sorts of rocks and strange places. So we rode east to where they once had a nice beach with some bamboo huts and a bamboo fence. We had some difficultly finding it as the last hurricane had blown away everything, but after asking around, the Ayatollah found the right place and in fact they were in  the processes of rebuilding while we were there.

The beach was absolutely wonderful, the water so cool, clear and full of energy. We spent about an  hour there just interacting , swimming and sharing jokes, before I had to beg a lift with the first car going  back to town as I had to make connection with friends at 4 pm. Thanks to the competent driver Carol (Betty White's cousin) I arrived home is good time and boy that  jerk/barbecue pork we had for dinner made it  one of the greatest days of my life.

The only thing that spoiled the wonderful day, was the absence of our dear friend Jordan Hanlan who had not only been a reliable support driver for the group but also such a pleasant and always smiling friend to all of us. She lost her life in an auto accident earlier this month and was buried on the 14th. R.I.P Jordan, we missed you but we know you were with us in spirit.

Another Wonderful Weekend

This National heroes weekend was and absolute blast. On Saturday and Monday we went riding and swimming at Bob Marley beach in Bull Bay. Actually Simpson had wanted to ride to Hellshire on Monday as he lives near Bob Marley beach and complains that when we go there, he barely gets a little ride. But we shouted him  down and suggested that he ride to Kingston to meet us. He did and never met us until he had ridden to the top of Mountain View avenue, so I suspect he will never complain about the length of the ride again lest he be given the same option.
Anyway now that we have discovered Bob Marley, Hellshire is just too crowded and polluted for us! Besides riding to Bull bay is much more fun than riding in the blazing sun on the long, flat stretch to Hellshire   As usual the crazies rode back, but I and I not into dat.

Beautiful Bob Marley beach

Anyway it was great fun both days and the rasta men cooked some nice ital food. Saturday they shorted us a bit with the food but today we got more than enough. Barry created the excitement today when he lost his $50,000 tested, designer sun glasses. We spent a good while searching for it but  no luck. When a $5,000 reward was announced, a professional spear fisherman came with his snorkeling equipment and found it within 20 minutes.

Sunday was the real clincher though as we journeyed to Accompong Town in St. Elizabeth to reconnect with out ancestors. 

While some 50 of us traveled in a JUTC bus, another 25 or so went in a mini bus. Our driver was absolutely competent, pleasant and his music was fantastic as we were entertained by a wide selection of oldies to all the way.

On the way down we stopped at Jucci in Clarendon where Charles had pre-ordered breakfast. The camaraderie in the bus was great and it was smooth sailing until we almost reached Accompong where we encountered some really narrow roads which our big bus had some difficulty with. Desiree created some excitement as she looked over the deep inclines and got out of her seat thinking, I guess, that the bus might catapult down the side of the road. I was sitting on the hill side of the bus and did not see what was creating the problem, but on the return journey, I sat on that side and really didn't see any area that was particularly treacherous , but as they say, different strokes for different folks.

This  beautiful painting of Nanny of the Maroons is in the assembly hall.

When  we got to Accompong, they were ready for us and we got an interesting 10 minute presentation from the colonel, on the history and traditions of the Maroons. They are really well  set for tourism as there is an interesting museum there and an a number of explanatory plaques and statues.

The view from that plateau too is absolutely awesome and I can't recall ever seeing so many little, verdant, warm hills surrounding any one town anywhere else.

We set off for the hike to Cudjoe's grave site after our guide sprinkled white rum and wiped his face with some. (Cudjoe is the leader who led the western Maroons to victory in the fight against the British) .

Unfortunately it started to rain  as we set out and the soil there is extremely muddy so our hike, (despite the trail being shorter and less difficult than the Cuna Cuna trail of the Eastern Maroons) became quite treacherous . I slid and fell at least four times, I hear some lady got so stuck in the mud she had to be pulled out by others, then they rescued her shoes! 

Others less fit were bawling and complaining all the way but I think it was because they were ill prepared for the hike, most not even carrying the basic insect repellent although it was well known that we were going to the Cockpit country, but then that's why they are known as MTR for most never even carried water when they first tried to hike down to the bottom of Lovers leap some time ago!

The champion hiker was of course Penny who though about 7 months pregnant, declared at one point "isn't  this fun" and even offered to carry Verleta's bag as she observed that she was struggling! Stephan carried one child and the guide the other. That family is patterned off the Robinson Crusoe clan.

Crusoe himself with passenger! (A Terry Ann Miller photo)

I  thought it was great walking in the rain but we never got a chance to go to Cudjoe's burial site which is up a hill among the rocks, because of the rain and most people never made it to the "peace cave" which is the site where the British signed the peace treaty with the Maroons, giving them the land and self government as they just could not defeat them. And one could see clearly why the white man got what the duck got for there is no way they could have survived in those hills as the Maroons had the strategic advantage of being above them at all times and having many caves to hide in and ambush the enemy.

The way back was quite easy and when we returned they played the drums for us and did some traditional dances (after doing another ritual of pouring white rum on the floor and wiping their faces with it.) The food was absolutely wonderful too..... stewed pork, curried goat, run dung, fried chicken, rice and peas and lots of ground provisions.

 Part of the plan was to go back to  the Maggoty water fall and swim. From we were going past it however, I declared I was not swimming since it was the rainy season  and the river looked really  muddy. It seems everyone else had that thought for when it was said that it was too late for us to stop there, no one protested. Some of us wanted to hike down the hill anyway but were over ruled by the Ayatollah. Howie, Richard  Sharon and myself did start out on foot anyway but before we had covered two miles we were caught up by the buses and had to board.

The drive back was great, rum punch flowing from Bernadette's stash and I had already had my fill of Vodka and coconut water with Howie, Fatman etc. The absolutely wonderful selection of oldies that our driver brought along was competing with the loud chatting and laughter and a few snores but that made the journey even more interesting.

Can't wait for the next hike.