Saturday 7 March 2009

Beautiful Guadeloupe

Just to assure you that there is more to this beautiful island than striking, here are some pictures from our day out last Wednesday, driving across La Traversee through the mountainous Basse-Terre then up round the west coast before returning home.

We stopped off at la Cascade aux Ecrevisses and had a great time bathing in the freeeeeezing cold river! (Didn't see any ecrevisses - shrimps though!)
After a picnic lunch we carried on to Pointe Noire and looked out westNever can resist a few coconut trees!Then we headed north to Deshaies and admired the pretty bay there

I think this boat's name is I can't hear...the mind boggles!




Bertie's sister Nadia and her daughter and friend were kind enough to take Mum and Evs in their car and it was very funny driving behind their erratic stop-starting as they enabled Evs to take lots of photos at random points in the journey. We were slightly concerned when we saw cameras shoved out of both windows but happily no casulties.

Nadia's car struggles up hills whilst ours had worn brakes (since replied, hurrah!) so we screeched our way down them. I suggested to Bertie we tie them together but he didn't seem to think that this was such a good idea...

This was the first day of major rain since the Londoners arrived - typical! But it cleared in the afternoon and all in all was a lovely day.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

She means since REPAIRED so dont worry about the brakes on the car!
Hevs you should put in a pronunciation guide to for 'Deshaies' so that people wont get caught out like me!

Anonymous said...

Re the boat name. Perhaps it was used on one fo those lakes where they shout 'Come in Number 6@ (or whatever) and the occupants at the time didnot or pretended not to hear as they paddled/rowed their way to a distant shore.
Does mean that Deshaies is not pronounced 'des' (as in Des Lynam) 'haies' (as in hay)?
Your suggestion re the cars seems a very unexpected one to come from a female member of the family...!
Lovely views indeed

Anonymous said...

it turns out it is pronounced
'Day - Ay' ! A bit like Anstruther in Fife being Ainster I'm sure you can think of others.
I also meant to say that neither of the cameras out of the windows was mine as I was sitting in the middle
I was aghast at evie but she had the strap round her wrist

Anonymous said...

Can I put this trip on our wish list for things to do when it is our turn to visit you at Easter!? I have been reading in a guidebook on Guadeloupe about Basse-Terre being very hilly (and not 'bas' at all!). According to the writer it can take about 2 hours to cross the island from east (La Traversee) to west (towards the capital). Not because the distance is very large, but because the roads are so steep and windy. True?

Anonymous said...

I wa surprised to find La Traversee was two way and plenty of white line markings - not too bad at all
we were thinking 'Anonymous' was a certain husband father and grandfather at home in London!!!

evie winter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hevs said...

We most certainly have this trip on our list for easter - if all goes well and there are no strikes and barricades etc etc, we plan to see the entire island! It really doesnt take that long! Though you wouldnt believe it to hear the girls moaning how long the car journey is (after 20 minutes...!)
The roads are indeed steep and windy (terrifying for me!) but 2 hours is probably an overstatement - unless the traffic is bad!