Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - March 2022

MARCH 2022 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 24
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ALL PHOTOS: CHRIS DOYLE
A SAILOR’S HIKES
Carriacou:
Anse La Roche to High North
by Chris Doyle
This is a perfect sailor’s hike: you start right on the beach with
the pelicans and up you go. It takes about an hour to an hour and
half each way.
I had hiked up to High North a couple of times before, both from
the east, where you gain elevation by road. Graham and Susanne
from The Pearl decided to try it with me from Anse La Roche.
Both a road of sorts and a path can take you several hundred feet
above the beach to the rather rough road that runs round
Carriacou. The shorter and better option is the path. If you go to
the back of Tim Garraway’s excellent beach barbecue set-up on the
beach’s south side, it starts right there — you should find it okay.
It is not hard to follow, just keep going uphill. There is one point
where you hit a kind of T junction and turn left uphill. You want
to remember this turn for when you come back down again. When
you reach the road you will notice the path you are on is marked
with a red painted rock: also useful for the return trip.
At the road you turn left and keep walking till the official trail is
posted on your right.
From here you are on a beautifully marked and maintained
hiking trail all the way. It is mainly in the woods but there are a
few open areas where you get views, especially at the beginning.
Quite a few trees are marked, as well as a wildlife pond, and a
largish stone animal enclosure that makes you wonder why was
anyone keeping animals way up this hill. A lot of care has gone
into this trail with many plantings of new trees along the way,
which are labeled. Much of this work is due to the Kido Foundation
in Carriacou (https://www.sustainablevision.org/kido-foundation.
html) and they have done an excellent job.
The hike is long and uphill, but we took it at a fairly gentle pace.
It is steep enough sometimes that I was astonished and impressed
when a fit young man jogged up past us on his way to the top,
having come from Prospect. At the top you walk out into the views,
Above: My hiking companions take a rest
stop at the High North National Park sign.
Below: Taking in the view of PSV,
Petite Martinique and Carriacou’s
windward side reef.
Bottom: After the hike we availed ourselves
of restorative Mudslides at Tim’s beach bar.
both east over Petite Martinique and west over the whole of Hillsborough Bay, with Mabouya, Sandy Island, and
Jack-a-Dan laid out below you. The best view is on a rock just a few feet south of the summit.
We wondered what happened to our jogger and found that there was a loop trail that came down a bit more to
the west with many distant views to the coast and sea, so we went back that way. This trail was not quite as well
maintained as the main one and we wandered off it a couple of times, but easily found out way back.
If you want a perfect end to a morning hike, book in for lunch at Tim Garraway’s beach barbecue
(www.facebook.com/tim.garrway.7) for your return.