Circumnavigating the Island by car

We decided to go and explore the island in our hired car. The morning was dry and sunny so we decided to head for the interior, in case the clouds that seem to sit on the mountains arrived. Even though it is the main road it is quite tricky following the routes as there are not a lot of signs ……we were very pleased to have Google maps. The road was pretty narrow with loads of cars out, it twists its way up at quite a gradient. The houses are built right up to the road with a lot of houses having a bar or shop underneath. So lots of cars stopped on the road which you have to make your way around especially with the concrete drains on either side of the road, a necessity for all the rain I assume. It was a very interesting drive, the homes are all built on skinny concrete pillars that look quite precarious, with loads of verandahs and staircases, all brightly painted. You can see the plants just love growing in this tropical rainforest environment, so the gardens are a riot of colours. I wish I had taken more photos of them, but it was not easy to stop along the way.

View back to the sea

Cocoa Tree

Our first destination was a volcanic crater lake in the centre of the island, in a forest reserve. Of course everything was closed but some locals told us to walk around the gate as it was not a long walk, which we did. The overriding impression is just the dense lush bush.

Grand Etang Lake, a 12 thousand year old extinct volcanic crater lake, 1740 ft above sea level

Then we went over to the east coast and made our way up north looking for some petroglyphs. Their signage being pretty non existent, we had to back track, finally by pure coincidence we stopped to ask where they were, and we had arrived at the exact spot. Thank goodness this very charming (if a little high) young man showed them to us. They were on a huge rock down a steep bank and on the other side of the stream. We would never have spotted them. He offered to take Rowan to them, i only had flip flops on, not possible for a very steep descent. They were amazing simplistic faces and geometric patterns, believed to be carved as early as AD 700. Rowan’s chap assured him they were before 1952! There are quite a lot of rock carvings around Grenada and the rest of the Caribbean, and always near water. Rowan was joined by a bunch of school kids who were so polite, calling him Sir and returning his coins he gave them as they said they could not use English money.

Rowan’s high guide!

We then headed up to the Northern tip of the island, Sauteurs, the tragic place where the slaves jumped to their death from the cliffs above the sea, rather than be taken prisoners again. It was a black volcanic beach with loads of the colourful local fishing boats on it. In the town we saw a young woman hitching so we decided to give her a lift. They are all so well spoken, many have a very old fashioned polite manner and she was one of them. Fascinating as it turned out she works in a call centre for Santander Bank, in this tiny little town. I think the bank has struck a winner as she is so polite and eloquent perfect for a call centre, just hope they pay them ok, but it must be an amazing boost to their economy. She said the bank had 3 call centres in 3 towns on the island.

We had explained we wanted to stop at sites along the way and when we saw another sign for a petroglyph on the beach we decided to have a look. She knew nothing about them and opted to stay in the car rather than walk in the sand. Again we had to ask and finally found them at the far end of the beach, in the rocks next to the sea.

She was heading to a town called Gouyave (the town that never sleeps apparently!), back down the east coast. She said this week end was the town’s annual fishing festival, but sadly because of Covid 19 it has been cancelled, however she said people were still gathering to party. We decided to stop and have a look around too, but beside a few people propping up the bars, there was nothing going on so we decided to head back down home. Leaving the town we spotted another woman hitching so gave her a lift, I think she may have been to a party, but we were very grateful she was wearing a mask, as she had a terrible cough, and we rather regretted picking her up! Especially when we were not sure of the directions and she made us take a right along the road that became very potholed and no longer tarmac, but she assured us, I did verify it on Google maps she was quite right it was a short cut, not sure how short by the time we had to crawl along it. She finally asked to be dropped at the side of the road and we could see we were getting back close to St Georges.

A great day out, but we were very happy to get into our swimming gear and jump into the sea, and able to sit down wet at the Sunday BBQ with live music. A lovely way to end the day. Fun to see a lot of people at the restaurant too.