On Feb. 3 the Terns and the Takks got up early and took a dinghy in to the shore at Salt Pond, from where we walked nearly to Coral Bay, and then got a ride to the trailhead for L’Esperance up on the Centerline Road.   The Terns and the Takks had separated in an effort to maximize our chances of being successful at hitch-hiking, but the Sunday morning traffic was too light for that strategy to work for either couple.  When Hunter and Devi, who were far ahead of us, of course, passed a house with a parked taxi, Hunter stopped to inquire about  the possibility of commissioning a ride to the trailhead.  The owner was just about to head off to church, but said that his son could take us as soon as he had finished his shower.  By the time we caught up, the young man was ready.  Pleasant man with an accent that took some getting used to.  We learned that he worked for the Police Force in Cruz Bay, which made his morning beverage somewhat surprising.  (See the photo Barb snapped in the taxi, below.)

While looking up the spelling of “L’Esperance”, I learned some interesting facts about the trail.  Until the 1780’s the Centerline Road (formerly called Konge Vey) did not connect Coral Bay to Cruz Bay because of a deep fissure at the saddle where Reef Bay Trail is now located.  During the 1780’s work began on a bridge over the fissure.  Until that time, the L’Esperance Road was the only way to get from the fissure down to the estates of L’Esperance, Sieben and Mollendahl, and also provided a means for the plantations along the route to ship their products via ox carts to Reef Bay where they could be loaded onto sailing vessels for export.  After the construction of the bridge, the road was still used as it was the only road to the estates, and it remained passable by four-wheel vehicles until the 1950’s, when it started to grow over.  The road was bulldozed at the behest of private landowners in the 1970’s, and remained in good condition until 1995, when Hurricane Marilyn closed it off with fallen trees.  Through the efforts of Trail Bandits and local hikers, the trail was cleared again and made passable all the way to Reef Bay.

Indeed, we took that trail down to Reef Bay, where we had lunch at the old sugar mill site.  We learned from the placards that the mill had had two incarnations; the first powered by a horse-drawn press during slave days, and the second, after the abolition of slavery, powered by a steam engine.  After lunch and a short break, we walked up to the “petroglyph trail” and continued to Great Lameshur, where we were lucky enough to catch a ride back to Salt Pond.   Over seven miles of walking, all told.   Not bad for an arthritic cripple!   That night we hiked up to Concordia Resort, where we had pizza and watched the first half of the super bowl, leaving too early to catch the boredom of the 35-minute delay in the game and the excitement of the nearly-successful comeback of San Francisco.

Next day, Feb. 4, the Terns moved to Cruz Bay to do some shopping and laundry. We stayed in Salt Pond, and once again had a successful gathering of conch — two per person.  Barb prepared a  mess of “cracked conch”, which violated all of our vows of eschewing fried foods but tasted ever so good.