this week we have been mostly by the sea....

view from house by day

now you may have guessed but this blog is written and constructed by me, Tim, although i do consult Maz before pressing the 'publish' button in the top right hand corner of the 'compose page', my surmising that you would know it's me is via the use of the terms 'we' and 'us' instead of 'I' and 'me', if you've not noticed then thank you, if you have please bear with us as we seek to provide you with an update on our continuing journey.

this last week we have enjoyed some wonderful time in a beach house on the eastern side of Barbados at a long stretch of beach called 'Cattlewash', yes indeed in the old days the local farmers did bring their cattle down from the hills which surround this stunning area, known locally as Scotland, (and one can see why with the landscape mirroring our most northern part of the British Isle, however not so the weather, which has continued to be hot and sunny, or the lack of wee midges but we digress) and wash them in the waves which pound this side of the island. 

view from house by moonlight

Cattlewash and it's neighbour, Bathsheba, still has a feel of a tropic paradise with golden sands and coconut palms meeting the clear blue sea, however the currents and rip tides that abound make it very hard or even dangerous to swim let for a few pools which are created around the strange 'beefburger' shaped rocks which lye along the shoreline.

that said we have ventured out with our snorkels to explore and we've been amazed at the plethora of sea life which inhabit these micro worlds, brightly coloured small fish are captured for a few hours in the pools at low tide which makes great viewing through our plastic covered eyes. we've also enjoyed watching three or four sea turtles playing in the evening surf, it really has been a blessed place to stay.

our food experiences have also been enhanced when a local lady came to make us dinner from some produce we had acquired from a street vendor at the top of the hill here in Cattlewash, that night we ate fishcakes and pumpkin fritters, breadfruit mash with a simple salad and gravy, the food was both fresh, spicy and filling but still lacked the variety we experienced in Grenada. 

view from bedroom with maz exercising 

we have walked along the wide stretches of beach but I've (Tim) been suffering from a recurrence of an achilles tendon issue which has dogged me for a few years, so mostly we have been sitting and reading in the glorious sunshine with views across the beach to the sea, however I've been impressed with Maz' determination to continue with her daily exercises, she really is a-maz-ing.

the moon has been almost full all week and as it rises from the east we have enjoyed some beautiful seascapes under the moonlight sky's and with the lack of mosquitoes we have slept with our doors open to the stunning sound of the waves and awoken not a little wet from the mist which blows from their tops.

maz has been enjoying the easy writing style of Laura Hildebrand, the second book by that author of the trip, after we both read the compelling 'unbroken' whilst in Grenada, Maz has galloped her way through the older and perhaps more famous story of 'Seabiscuit', it's about a race horse if you didn't get the pun!

stunning rocks inspired a line in the poem

i however have finished a simple and not too in depth account of the years that led up to the revolution in Grenada, written by an ex-prisoner Joseph Ewart Layne called 'we move tonight, the making of the Grenada revolution', it was good to gain some recent historical background on the country we had just visited, however my mind has really been opened by the two other books that captured my reading time.

the first, 'the old ways: a journey on foot' by Robert Macfarlane has encouraged me to think about the paths that we have taken during our lives, both with God as our guide and others via family circumstance, work or holidays and during the reading of that book it led me to another which i seem to remember was a BBC radio 4  book of the week way back in the late 1990's, 'stargazing' is the story of a young lighthouse keeper and recounts peter hill's summer experiences in 1973 as he found temporary work on three lighthouses off the coast of Scotland.

evening walk turtle spotting

both have been interesting to read as we sit listening to the crashing waves that pound the shore and they have both inspired me to write a short poem, only my second ever, and using a rhythm described in stargazing, so for your pleasure i have produced it below, it may need some tweaking but here goes.

'Sea'

'the sea like fire is friend and foe,
it's wave crest tops white a glow,
roar unending both day and night,
and fine mist ashore it doth bestow,

dangers lurk in waters clear,
sailors and bathers do both fear,
with rips and currently that give a fright,
a wide berth yourselves should steer,

it's depths a plenty do abound,
the many creatures that can be found,
on open fire cooked for our delight,
their sumptuous flavours do astound, 

its power and might can be seen,
formations in rocks from where its been,
boulders torn as if from a fight,
and pebbles all smoothed and clean,

deep blue sea meets light blue sky,
that is if the day breaks dry,
should the day be dull the grey fills the sight,
in any sky white seagulls swoop and cry,

don't be tempted by sea or play with fire,
both help for man but can be dire,
treat with contempt they sure will bite,
you could end up on the funeral pyre!'

we hope you enjoyed it, we now move on to Bridgetown for a week before flying back to England next Thursday.