21 January 2011
Jacob's ladder was constructed in 1829 as an inclined plane to haul manure and send goods down. Now it is a tourist attraction and on completion of the climb you receive a certificate. Always up for a challenge I had to do it but it was a lot harder that I had anticipated. Each step is eleven inches deep and there are 699 of them. I could only take twenty steps at a time, pausing to rest before going another twenty. The last few and I was on my hands and knees. David completed the climb in 20 minutes, I took thirty. I was almost too tired to appreciate the wonderful views. With legs like jelly we came all the way back down in a third of the time that it took to go up. Oh dear me though, did I suffer, for the next morning I could barely walk......
St. Helena Hospitality...
In the evening the St Helena Yacht Club held a barbeque in their premises on the quay. By now the majority of the fleet had arrived. Eowyn, Basia, Brown Eyed Girl and Jeannius trickling in throughout the day. Wild Tigris and A Lady's 72hour time limit was up and at dusk they headed out to sea. This was imposed in order that everyone should have the availability of a mooring as they are quite limited for visiting yachts. The yacht club might have to think of increasing them in the future however for last year yachts stopping by doubled in number. We were told it was because they are now opting for the southern route in preference to the Red Sea route. We had chicken, sausages, an amazing array of salads and wahoo steaks donated by Brown Eyed Girl. They had just landed a enormous two metre specimen on the way in to the anchorage. It had been supposed to be a 'bring your own' but everything was provided and cooked for us by the yacht club members. Beverly from Tucanon gave a vote of thanks and presented them with a WARC burgee. It was one of the best barbeques that we have had on this rally.
Susan Mackay