It was an early start to the day with a 7am flight from Geneva to London on BA. Thankfully Vanessa didn’t complain and was super kind enough to drop me at the airport rather than us doing some convoluted thing with the car so she could get it later.
The Geneva side of things was uneventful and I was soon in London with a 4 hour transit until my next flight. Off to the lounge where I grabbed a little food, a drink and then settled in to read my book and check out some of the gopro footage from our adventure race the weekend before.
And then the 8 hour BA flight to Barbados started. I was not and am still not a fan of BA long haul flights. The plane was old and dirty and felt like it was mostly being held together with duct tape. Thankfully the cabin crew were nicer than I remembered and I was also really lucky to be sat next to a nice couple heading out for their 50th wedding anniversary in Barbados. She shared some chocolate with me, the dessert from the meal that they were not going to eat and also some UK sweats (which I am always happy to eat).
While walking to the terminal from the plane the couple who were sitting in front of me chatted to me for a bit and suggested a “local tip” as he was from there originally. I then had to fill in the landing information card, I was not aware that this was needed and apparently I could have done this in advance online, lesson learned, I need to plan a little better or at least leave more gap between trips so that I can plan better. It was really an easy thing to fill in, just annoying to take more time at the airport than needed. I then bumped into someone who had recognised me from the Geneva flight earlier that day, it is a small world and maybe I stand out just a little in it.
I then collected my car and headed to the hotel to check in. The car I got was rather new and also a small car with automatic gearbox it was ok to drive around the island. It seems that it doesn’t matter who you book your car with, there is one local company that actually provides the cars from all the major companies. So check out ANSA Rentals Welcome to ANSA Rentals / ANSA Rentals (Barbados) as they are who will get the car from anyway. You also need a local driving permit to drive on the island. The rental company provides this, but you have to pay in cash (10 Barbados dollars).
I was staying at the Time Out hotel found on hotels.com. The hotel is a bit dated and they were playing terrible music in the hotel restaurant far too loud which later put me off going there to eat. But I checked in fine and then thought I would try and make the most of the remaining daylight hours to try and see some of the island.
I headed out in the car to see if I could find this local tip and also to get some cash from an ATM. I chose an ATM from google that was en route. The roads and drivers on Barbados are quite different to what I was use to. They were not always in the best condition, not very wide, but at least the other drivers were pretty friendly (always giving space, allowing you to turn in from side roads). Now, some of the island is very poor it seams and I was a little concerned when I came to the village where my map said the ATM was. But, weather my concerns were founded or not, it turned out that the ATM that I was headed to was in the municipal compound of the village, along with the police station, courthouse, post office and the bank. Nothing to worry about.
I drove on looking for Pothouse Spring as this was were I was pointed. It seems that it is a local find for a reason, because even thought it was on my map, I could not find a way in to it anywhere and so gave up and just drove around a little more. It was at this time that I stumbled upon some outdoor warehouses storing barrels of rum. I would later discover that there was a whole distillery there.
Back to the hotel to go get some food. Now as I said, the hotel restaurant was not appealing at all so I headed over to the street vendors just down the street (Daddy’s Resturant). I thought I was going to have a quiet drink and a feed and that would be it. But this loud, semi aggressive hype guy, got me sitting with some Scottish lads who I chatted with for a while and after a really good jerk chicken with peppered chips we managed to escape the stall and head out for some more drinks.
These boys were in Barbados to perform at the Barbados Celtic Festival | Music & food festival in the Caribbean and they were a good laugh. We drank plenty of rum at a local bar until the bar shut and then wandered back to the hotel to call it a night. I later found that I would have enjoyed their music, the bands website is https://gleadhraich.com/
In the morning, I was up nice and early, it also helped that the sun is up around 6am as well. So I checked out and loaded up the car for some more exploring before I had to return the car and get my next flight.
I first headed off to the Morgan Lewis Windmill. A still working sugar windmill on the island. But of course, when I got there it was too early and it was still closed. So then I went around to the Baltic Windmill which is a ruin of a sugar windmill. On the way here I bumped into a helpful and chatty “local guide” who of course wanted money for telling me what I had already found on my map. But I didn’t want any trouble from him or his friends who were also sitting under the tree at the side of the road so I gave some money, he stayed friendly and I was on my way again.
After a few photos of the old windmill I headed around to Cove bay. It was said by the local guide to be stunning and he mentioned something about turtles there as well. Of course I didn’t find any turtles there but I did take a couple of interesting photos there.
Next up I headed to Animal Flower Cave http://www.animalflowercave.com/, again this was closed as I was too early, but this one I wanted to go into so I decided I would go see something else and then come back. So off to the Harrison’s Point Lighthouse. This is an abandoned sight with buildings that have fallen down around it, but the lighthouse still stands, and you can go up it if you like. I went most of the way to the top, but the metal flooring at the top was very rusted with lots of holes so I decided not to go the final bits to the top. A shame as the view would have been great, but best not to kill myself alone on the first day.
Now I headed back to Animal Flower Cave and was admitted. It was overpriced for what it is but you can see that they are at least reinvesting some of that money into the sight. Anyway, I went down into the cave with my guide and he did some name dropping which meant nothing to me. It was also the wrong season for the natural pools in the cave to be naturally full so they were pumping water into the swimming section of the cave. It was still a spectacular cave and worth gong into.
After the cave I wanted down to the coast line and found the spot where the classic photo for the Caribbean postcards was taken and took a shot for myself.
A little further down the coast I found this little beach that was really nice and secluded with a good parking and easy access. I sat here for a bit and enjoyed the beach before I headed back across the island to go to the Foursquare Distillery. There is only a little bit of information here but it is free and open to wander around. After looking around the distillery I took the tasting of the rum and bought a bottle to take with me on my journey.
I went down to one last beach where I had a nice punch in a coconut and also found myself some mahi mahi tacos. While I was sat here I called the family to speak to the kids and to remind Vanessa that I was not having any fun without her on my trip ????.
This was all the time I had on the island so it was back to the airport to catch my little plane onto the next island on my trip (St Lucia).
