No Fixed Abode: Cycling into a hurricane, twice.

Fri 13 May 2016 - St Lucia village

Embarking on a tour of the village in the sunshine, we borrowed the cycles from our host, Elfie. These were quite unusual bikes in that they didn’t have any brake levers on the handlebars and with no gears either. The brakes operated by pedalling backwards and luckily St Lucia village is a fairly flat place as Yvonne discovered during the trip out how much she pedals backwards when free wheeling. Something she discovered on several occasions when coming to a dead stop.

Leaving the house we eased ourselves into a downhill freewheel to the Main beach and cycled along the wet sands passing several other beaches along the stretch of wind blown sands trying to avoid the foaming waves from the Indian Ocean as they caught us out on several occasions capturing us unawares. It was a hard slog cycling on the sand and when we finally ended up at the Estuary mouth we caught our breath whilst admiring the exquisite sea views. We looked for the boardwalk which would complete the circuit into the main village and back to the house. Unfortunately we didn’t spot it amongst the huge sand dunes and we decided to cycle back along the same beaches. As we positioned ourselves around we suddenly appreciated the full force of the wind and now we were battling hard against a strong headwind, dodging the crashing surf, skidding around and being shredded by the windblown sand. It was all too much for these wobbling jelly legs and we both ended up dismounting and pushing the bikes along the beach with Glenn on a mission to get off the beach asap.

Spotting a glistening car in the distance, we headed up and over the sand dunes to come across one of the beach car parks and managed to cycle back uphill along the road with some gritty determination from both of us. Arriving back at the house, windswept and covered in sand we slumped outside to enjoy the warm sun and an early beer.

By 3.30p we were bored and decided to get back out on the cycles and investigate the village in the opposite direction. Noticeably the route through the village and down to the Estuary was downhill with very little pedalling, a fact which didn’t pass by Yvonne with her reminding Glenn we’d not be too long out otherwise we’d be cycling uphill in the dark where hippos freely roamed the streets.

Cycling to the Estuary mouth we spotted the boardwalk from this end and cycled along noticing the large yellow warning signs for crocodiles which increased the rate of cycling and Yvonne’s heart. The boardwalk ended in the car park we’d discovered in the morning, if only we’d turned left instead of right we’d have spotted it. Therefore our return journey was exactly the same road route we had made this morning, again into the headwind, blasted with sand and standing up to get uphill. Waiting for Yvonne at the road junction back to the house, Yvonne managed to gasp to Glenn he could continue to the village shop on his own and get whatever he wanted for dinner tonight. Glenn cycled off and Yvonne enjoyed the luxury of a freewheel for 600m back to the house.

Glenn arrived with a handsome looking steak and with Yvonne still recuperating in the lounge, he cooked a splendid evening supper.