Lemon Valley

St Helena is a strange place.  They have Anglican church special days as public holidays.  (Today was Whit Monday)  I am not used to this.  So, I checked the calendar to see whether I had heard right, and there was no indication that it was a UK public holiday, so.... silly Hazel trots off down the road to work.  It was eerie how quiet everything was - no cars or people in the street.  But it was only when I got to the Consulate, and Ronnie gave me a pitying smile (he was the only one on duty that day) that I realised that it really was a public holiday.  So I trundled back up the hill, and decided to tackle a mountain of ironing that was piling up.

I had ironed a few shirts when the phone rang, and Nick Thorpe invited us to "come and play" for the afternoon at Lemon Valley.  I did not wait for a second invitation.  All 5 Becketts took off to join the Thorpes'.

We boarded a small ferry at the Jamestown wharf, and then had to transfer to an even smaller little boat inorder to be able to reach the landing platform.

Lemon valley is a popular picnic spot.

 A big cave where we sat and ate our lunch.

 Distinct layers of clay, and volcanic ash can be seen.


  Small rocks form a sort of "beach".

 The agile and energetic ones moved from the cave and climbed over the big rocks to a spot where they could get into the sea to swim.

Hannah was handed from one person to the next.  Luckily, she enjoys company.  Here she is with Danny.

When the rain started, she sheltered under an umbrella with Lolly's mom.

Looking out from the landing at our mode of transport back to Jamestown.  I could not help feeling a little isolated.

All in all, it was a most enjoyable day.