Early morning. Philip Yon stands at the Wellington House front door. Today, he may go fishing.
On Main Street, our neighbour's dog and cat wait for something to happen.
Okay, so I like cats!
In first light, the church and nearby trees are haunt to delightful Fairy Terns, which swoop and hover. On the island, they’re called Fairy Tarns.
Now's my chance to climb Jacob's Ladder.
Bar isolation and history, Jamestown's most famous attraction is Jacob's Ladder (which you may have noticed in my September 13 posting). It was built in the 19th Century to supply the fort at the top of Ladder Hill. The 183 metre or 600 foot stairway is a 699 step climb. The record is five minutes and eleven seconds.
Yesterday, skipping DOWN the Ladder was a schoolboy.
Ensuring no one's around to laugh or, worse, sympathize, and pausing only, of course, for 'photo opportunities,’ I ascend. When praying that, surely, I'm at least three-quarters there, I'm appalled to find it's only halfway.
Halfway and this is the view looking down.
Halfway and the incline is becoming steeper.
To be honest - perhaps it's the thin air - I lose track of time. I think I'm at the top in about sixteen minutes (with stops!).
Coming down is an assault on the knees. Later, a Saint demonstrates the traditional method, first used by British soldiers to quickly get to town. Not for me.
There's an old island proverb: “You break your heart going up and your neck coming down.”
___________________
The RMS will soon return and I haven't tasted St. Helena coffee. Secluded in these hills is said to be some of the finest - and certainly among the most expensive - coffee in the world. When I checked before the trip, the price was $89 (U.S.) a pound or 0.45 kg.
The bean, medium roasted, has - say those who know - 'a high lively acidity, with good balance and body. The coffee has a superb fragrant bouquet with no off flavours and pleasant floral fruity hints of citrus and caramel strongly hinting of its Yemeni origins.'
Bizarrely, about to leave, I still haven’t sipped it. No place in Jamestown currently offers a cup of St. Helena coffee. Subject to Canadian customs, I will report to you on my return home.
Bizarrely, about to leave, I still haven’t sipped it. No place in Jamestown currently offers a cup of St. Helena coffee. Subject to Canadian customs, I will report to you on my return home.
____________________
Late afternoon. Bruce and Brenda carouse outside the pub next to the shoe shop, part of the Solomon empire.
I virtuously take a walk on the cliffs just outside town. This is looking past the rockfall netting to the wharf steps where I - and roughly Napoleon - landed.
The stretch of coast Napoleon would have seen as his ship anchored.
Hikers return to town. You can see the Ladder on the opposite side of the valley.
A view with castle and church that, but for cars, hasn't changed all that much.
Beyond the evening fisherman, nothing but water until South America.
