Everything in barbados is just too easy. The sun, though strong, is accompanied by a cool breeze; Our hotel ( butterfly beach, highly recommend) has plenty of beautifully located shady sun loungers meaning no risk of sunburn, the bus stop is directly outside the hotel. So there really is nothing to get at all bothered about - not even a mosquito. So we go with it, we read, we sleep, we enjoy the calm.
Sunday night though over dinner at Cafe Luna in Miami Beach ( gorgeous food but reserve ahead) we decided we needed to do something. We had to move more. So Monday morning 8am we boarded the locals bus to Speightstown ( 2 Barbadian $ = 70p) along with all of the commuters off to their various jobs around the island. The locals are all immaculately turned out wearing primary colours and big lovely smiles. There's a lot more hand shaking and back slapping than you see on the 8.01 Northern Line from Totteridge & Whetstone. About an hour into the journey we are back on the coast road , and we exit at a place called Holetown in search of breakfast. Small, cute but full of American style mall's we find a spot for food, but then start a walk in search of a private bay to swim in. We didn't have to walk far before the perfect spot presented itself, and we spent a happy 30 minutes floating near a man made reef looking for signs of turtles. The Ocean here is a lot kinder than the much more aggressive Indian Ocean, I'm still bearing the scar from when the Indian spat me out in Sri Lanka a mere 9 months ago.
We then make a foolish decision to walk to Speightstown on the basis that it doesn't look that far on the map....7 miles later it's fair to say we have fully explored the North West coastline. We saw many fancy resorts ( the Fairmont appears to be exclusively for rich US pensioners - avoid!), some incredible looking villas ( my favourite had pineapple railings to prevent people like me from getting in) and lots of lots of truly magnificent beaches. I still can't get over how quiet they all were - and this is peak season.
As a consequence of our mammoth trek, we arrived into Speightstown looking a lot less refreshed than we'd have liked. Fortunately we were heading to a relaxed laid back place I'd heard about called The Fisherman's Pub, which served Bajan specialities down by the water. We arrived to the warmest welcome and settled into a shady spot overlooking the sea. Fish cakes, macaroni pie and salad were ordered , along with a bottle of Banks beer all for the bargain price of £4. Our host came over to chat and to welcome us to Barbados and to thank us for coming to his place. Clement was a delight, I told him that I was going to write about him so he posed for me and told us how business had been for the last few years. Tough he told us, especially while the UK had been struggling. So he said he decided to smarten himself up and put on a bow tie to make himself feel better. Things have been picking up ever since. So far he's my highlight of barbados, a beautiful soul.
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