Pigeon Island

Pigeon Island is the distinctive headland forming the northernmost flank of Rodney Bay, it consists of two distinct steep hills joined by a broad saddle. At one time it was a separate island but is now joined to the main island by a long flat peninsular which is walled across the base.

The left hand hill in the above photo is the site of Fort Rodney, and the right hand and higher hill is the lookout towards Martinique and the dastardly French 25 miles away.

When we asked one of the marina security guys about walking to Pigeon Island he just laughed, he told us to get the bus into Gros Islet and ask the bus driver if he would take us from there. As you can probably figure out the bus doesn't actually go to Pigeon Island. Buses on St Lucia are basically people carriers with green number plates and a yellow sticker in the windscreen, (if the number plate is blue it's a taxi). You simply flag one down at the side of the road when you see one and if it's going in the right direction, bobs your uncle. There always seems to be room for one more inside, we have so far not been treated to the wooden plank that is sometimes used to squeeze an extra body in! The relevant bus is the1A Castries to Gros Islet.

It's probably fair to say that Gros Islet is the less salubrious end of town, and on reaching the terminus at the market square our helpful cabbie took Lynne and I on a fascinating detour down some very bumpy and deeply rutted tracks to eventually emerge on the small bit of tarmac that borders the Sandals resort. We were dropped off outside the wall of the National landmark the whole trip costing us the grand total of $10EC or about £ 2.50.

We quickly paid our entrance fees and hid under the eaves of the building as a tropical downpour made life a bit wet, these things are over fairly quickly in the tropics and 15 minutes later it had not just stopped it was difficult to tell it had ever happened!

Pigeon Island is St Lucia's only National trust monument. It has a fascinating history of piracy and military  occupation. A famous French pirate named Francois Le Clerc was known as Jambe de Bois    ( wooden leg ) he gives his name to the islands restaurant, of which more later.......

We began to explore the grounds which are full of ruins all of which are itemised in our handy guidebook. Paths wander all over the place and the map in the guidebook is pretty essential.

This would be a great place to have a picnic, however the cultivated lawns soon give way to wilder country and the numerous paths all seem to descend towards the coast.

There is alternative access here if you are lucky enough to own a boat. The Jambe de Bois is just a bit further on in the above photo.

We climbed on still feeling fairly fit and climbed up towards Fort Rodney.

Unfortunately another brief downpour gave Lynne a bit of a moment on the steep climb and she wasn't keen to accompany me to the lookout.

I assured her it would soon be dry as a bone but as you can see from the above photo the last section is quite steep.

We hung around a bit as the rain squall clouds vanished to the west and admired the rusting cannons on the Fort parapets, this was proper Pirates of the Caribean stuff!

I was determined to reach the summit of the Lookout regardless of the fact that flip-flops are not really suitable footwear for mountaineering even on this small scale.

The views from the top more than made up for any anxiety however. Martinique was clearly visible in the distance and several yachts were making the windy passage.

Soon I descended to rejoin Lynne stopping to admire the Gun Slide.

 

This was a precipitous drop down about 600 feet to a secluded bay where in the days of yore the hardy British sailors would haul up cannon from a frigate anchored in the small inlet below. A double round of grog apparently usually got the job done. 

The views over Rodney Bay were superb and once I was reunited with Lynne we quickly descended as it was becoming uncomfortably hot to have a refreshing beverage in the beachside Jambe Le Bois.

This is a brilliant little bar, restaurant, art gallery, library....

The views out beyond the balcony are truly lovely with the typical azure water and white sand beaches that you would expect from a Caribean beach bar.

The vegetation provides cooling shade.

As we enjoyed a cool Piton beer the smells of food were making us very hungry and we didn't need much persuading to order a couple of lamb curries which turned out to be delicious.

After lunch we wandered on finding hermit crabs on the pathways through the trees.

We decided to walk back to the Marina, which turned out to be fairly straightforward when fuelled with lamb curry!

 

We also got to take a close look at Gros Islet which had some brilliant buildings.

One of which we determined to come back too as it seemed so welcoming if a little run down!

It was a fascinating day out. Sometimes it's just nice to be a tourist. We also had the last laugh with the security guy.............it is quite feasible to walk to Pigeon Island.