No matter how many times we ride to
Reggae Falls, I can never be tired or disappointed with the outing, for it just get better each time.
This Easter Sunday was my fifth trip to those scenic cascading falls and the ride seemed so easy this time I had to wonder if had really come off my bicycle and pushed over the first hill outside of
Seaforth town, the first couple of times we rode there.
Despite the obvious drought as reflected in the brown hills towering over
Hillside Valley, in the valley itself, it was quite lush and I guess because I was not over stressed on this ride, I noticed the huge
Serge Island Milk factory just above the falls, for the first time.
What made this ride especially pleasant was the fact that it drizzled during the entire journey from we passed the turn off to
Stony Gut, so we had no blaring sun to deal with at all.
However, once we got tot he falls the sun kept appearing intermittently, allowing us to frolic in the cool water without any discomfort.
Shawn and I entered
the Johnson river from a different path this time for when we went to the usual entrance we saw that some kind of sand mining must have been taking place as sand was piled u all over the place. So we followed the dirt path which headed west and entered the river much higher up. That's definitely a better entrance anyway as you have far less river to wade through.
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The Stella Maris posse
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This trip was not just the usual crowd from
Fun and thrills, but also the
Chuck's who along with
Charles Simpson provided the delicious meal of
curried goat, barbecue chicken and franks with an assortment of salads including delicious breadfruit salad, brought guests from
Stella Maris, mostly the members of their famous steel ban
d Stewart brought along a couple of yoga instructors and
Charlene had her group of photographers.
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| The "washer people" of Reggae Falls |
The scene of the day was a demonstration in
effective clothes washing in the river by
Charles the 1st, Fatman and Rose.....and the winner was
Fatman.
It was a
cool gathering and as the
white rum and vodka flowed, the comedy hour began with each contributing their favourite jokes. I agree with
Barry that the
Logic joke is unbeatable.
Of course there had to be
dominoes and after
boy scouting graduate
Chuck set up a canvas covering, the table and dominoes came out. Unfortunately, although many of us have folding chairs, we forgot to bring them, so it was
stand up and play.
Anyway I got my usual quota of
6 love (just one this time!) and even took on some local fellows who thought we looked like a walkover.
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| Chuck the scout |
Chuck ordered some
east indian mangoes and a lady brought 2 dozen, red juicy ones which we grabbed up at $100 each.
Fatman dsved into one of the juiciest looking ones immediately and when he reached halfway,
he saw two fat worms begging for mercy. He tried another, same picture.
I took mine home and relaxed to enjoy them,
same problem just different worms. I therefore decided to eat the other one after dark!
It was a great day all round of
fun, antics, liquor and great food but as they say, all good things must come to an end.
Only
Mark and Shawn rode back from the river while
Chully, Charles and Chuck jumped on their bikes at different sections after clearing the hill leading from
Hillside valley.
Each time we head to
Reggae falls, I have wondered what the monument to honour
Paul Bogle at
Stony Gut looks like, as we always see the sign pointing the way. So I convinced
Chris (the driver) to detour from following two cyclists to take a look at it. It is about
5 miles from the main road and the road going there is
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| The bare monument dedicated to National hero Paul Bogle |
extremely well paved and you get a beautiful view of the seashore in the eastern section as you ascend.
The monument itself is quite attractive, however there are no signs or any type of information once you arrive there and the place looks bare and desolate. The only sign we saw was a "
no trespassing" one and it is covered with weeds, typical of how we treat important monuments in this our fair land.
Anyway, while I am sure the courageous members of the
A team who took on a
two day cross the island ride are
nice and sore from riding by now, I am certainly well refreshed after a wonderful day with like minded fun lovers who made the far more pleasant trek to one of the most beautiful places in the island,
Reggae Falls in the Johnson River.
