Tuesday 17th October
Oistins & Silver Sands
We want to go to Bathsheba today but we miss the bus by a few minutes, so we take the one for martin s bay. According to the map it is not very far and we might be able to walk there. We cross country this time, the island is quite flat so the road are not so steep, just as well really the drivers are obviously training for the Barbados Grand Prix. The scenery is completely different today, we are crossing farmland most of the way, plains surrounded by rounded hills. It is very pretty even in the rain. The Atlantic side of the island is more deserted and wild. The villages are only a handful of houses gathered together, with one house officiating as the pub. In the bigger one a tiny church sits on the main street. The views to the sea are wild and grey. Admittedly the weather has deteriorated and the waves are impressive. We reach Martin’s bay and the last thing we want to do is get off and walk. For one, the road just stop dead, the rain is lashing down and there isn’t even a pub there. So we pay our $2 each to the puzzled driver and we carry on back to Bridgetown. We are there by midday and manage to find the public library, the Jewish cemetery and the cathedral. But it is still raining so we decide to take the bus to Oistins. It might be dry there on the south coast. We have a quick lunch on the beach, after having a look at the fishermen catch. Obviously too late in the day, it is not very busy, and not many fishes to gawp at but we see some enormous lobsters.
Chatting to the guys playing cards under the awnings, they suggest we go to silver sand...nice wild deserted beach but the weather is really rotten. We watch the rain clouds gather for a while and then it pours down. We are drenched and there is not even a place open for a drink. It is getting late, but a bus comes along soon enough. It is a quiet one this one playing soft music, with one of the passenger at the back singing along mournfully.
