Excerpted from the book, Tour
Jamaica, by Margaret Morris
Kingston
is one of the few cities in the world where
you can go from sea-level to mountain peak
in less than an hour. The mountains rise
to 7000 feet from the coastal plain in less
than 10 miles. A gradient almost without
parallel anywhere else in the world. There
are five optional ways to scale the heights:
1.
JACKS HILL
From Hope Road, turn on to East Kings
House Road and R on to Barbican Road and
then L at the Texaco gas station up Jacks
Hill Road. A winding 20 minutes drive takes
you to a junction by FOXY'S
EARTH CENTRE and wazzu a fire
hydrant painted in Rasta colours. Foxy's,
operated by SENSE
ADVENTURES
is an environmental learning centre with
a snack bar featuring Red Stripe, Rum Punch,
Blue Mountain Coffee, and local pastries.
Downhill on Peters Rock Road brings you
to MAYA LODGE,
headquarters of Sense Adventures. Environment-friendly
Maya offers comfortable timber cabins and
campsites on a forested hillside surrounded
by 5 streams, an excellent restaurant and
bar, clean washrooms, outdoor barbeque,
eco-tourism information kits including topo
maps, a small library and interesting guides
like organic farmer Willie Graham and young
Sir Clifford Bogle. Sense Adventures offers
customized eco tours planned by Peter Bentley,
a Jamaican who knows the island like the
back of his hand. Both Bentley and his partner
Ann Adams are involved in community based
environmental efforts like Project Grow
(reforestation) and the creation of the
Jack Hill s volunteer fire corps to combat
the annual scourge of hillside fires.
Jacks
Hill's active and responsible Community
Council has attracted grants from U.S. AID,
C.I.D.A., and the new Environ-mental Foundation
of Jamaica for self-help and environmental
projects. Current President of the Jacks
Hill Council is Douglas Aiken, owner of
IVOR's. From Foxy s corner follow the signs
to Ivor great house, a small, very elegant
guest house set in an old-fashioned garden
and situated on a ridge with a 360 degree
view encompassing the Blue Mountains, Kingston,
the Hellshire Hills and the plains of St
Catherine and Clarendon. Ivor's small restaurant
spills onto a terrace shaded by a mango
tree and thoughtfully provided with an antique
brass telescope for making the most of view.
This is the perfect place for sundowner
drinks. Meal reservations must be made in
advance. Hostess Helen Aiken describes the
cuisine as International with a Jamaican
flavour , and interprets the dress code
of Casual elegance as jackets and ties not
necessary.
You
can return to the city via Skyline Drive,
a panoramic but unpredictable route that
drops you out on the Gordon Town road. Turn
L for more mountains or R for the busy suburb
of Papine, near the University of the West
Indies.
2.
NEWCASTLE AND HOLYWELL
The
road follows the HOPE
RIVER valley passing L behind
a high wall the celebrated BLUE
MOUNTAIN INN to a junction at
The Cooperage. The name is literal: there
was once a workshop here that produced barrels
for the export of rum. The coopers, rowdy
Irish labourers, were quartered a few miles
up the hill at a place that came to be known
as IRISH TOWN.
Turn L along the narrow road that winds
along the hillside above the Mammee River.
Across the gorge you can see the imposing
backsides of mansions along Skyline Drive.
In the valley you may glimpse a small Disneyworld
castle that used to be the Little Glyndebourne
Theatre. Built by the late opera singer
Roma Presano and her architect son the open
ampitheatre has a magnificent setting and
fine acoustics but was seldom used.
One
of the many fine houses along this road
is Bellencita, the last home of National
Hero, the Rt. Excellent Sir Alexander Bustamante
and is still occupied by his widow Lady
B. Their idyll began when Ms. Gladys Longbridge
applied for a job as one of Busta s secretaries
and quickly became his most valuable political
aide. Lady B. remains a power in the Jamaica
Labour Party. Bamboo Lodge, now a private
home and hidden from the road was settled
in 1730 as Cottage Farm and may have been
the first coffee plantation on the island.
The great house subsequently became a naval
recuperation station. Admiral Lord Nelson,
then a 20 year old officer on the grig HMS
Badger came here suffering from fever and
dysentery and was nursed by Couba Cornwallis,
a beautiful quadroon, noted healer and herbalist
and mistress of then Governor, the Earl
of Cornwallis.
IRISH
TOWN, a sprinkling of homes and
a bar or two is barely discernible. Turn
L up an unpredictable road to STRAWBERRY
HILL where Island Records impresario
Chris Blackwell has created an unique small
hotel. Timber frame cottages set on pillars
encircling the hill, restaurant and pub
crowning the small plateau, a grotto swimming
pool and extravagant gardens were well underway
as we went to press. Blackwell, whose planter
family went from riches to rags, recouped
the family fortunes in a big way as an insightful
music promoter who discovered and marketed
Bob Marley.
CRAIGHTON
is a 45 acre coffee farm owned by the Ueshima
Company of Japan. High quality Blue Mountain
coffee is prized in Japan where it is blended
with lowland beans to improve the flavour.
About 90% of Jamaica s annual coffee production
is exported to Japan. Craighton Hall, built
in 1805 has been meticulously restored.
It was once a favourite haunt of Governors
Sir John Peter Grant (circa 1866) and Sir
Henry Blake (circa 1880). Tours of the house
and farm can be arranged. Among the portraits
on view is one of the late chairman of Ueshima
Company, Tadao Ueshima, a benevolent magnate
who was particularly fond of Jamaica, reggae,
and Blue Mountain coffee. MOUNT
EDGE CAFE, about 4 miles past
Irish Town, clings to the hillside R of
the road. It has a great view, good food
and drink and a very entertaining host called
Michael D. Fox who can also arrange river
hiking, and mountain bike rentals. Other
options include: Bed and Breakfast, herbal
remedies, and a monthly Full Moon Frolic
featuring drinks, drumming and buffet dinner
prepared by Fox himself.
NEWCASTLE,
almost 4,000 feet up is only 13 miles but
all of ¾ of an hour from the city a
steep, narrow and tortuous climb. If your
driver wants to admire the scenery without
plunging into it, it is best to select a
safe lay-by, park, and get out. The air
is fragrant and the banksides beautiful
with trees, ferns, ground orchids, delicate
wildflowers, and a profusion of ginger lilies.
Your first glimpse of Newcastle is likely
to be the white tombstones of a military
graveyard. The military camp which clambers
up the hillside from 3,500 to 4,500 feet
was established in 1841 by Major General
Sir William Gomm shortly after he had quelled
a Christmas riot in Kingston which, records
say, was caused by the determination of
the people to celebrate with music and drumming
which at the time was against the law .
It was hoped that the troops which were
ravaged by Yellow Fever would regain their
health in the cool hills.
Newcastle
is now a Jamaica Defence Force rest station
and training camp where the motto No obstacle
too difficult, no task too great is inculcated.
The main road bisects the parade ground
on Major General Sir William Gomm square,
so you are liable to meet anything from
a company in full dress uniform getting
its picture taken to raw recruits drilling
like clockwork soldiers. A recent concession
to tourism is Gomm s souvenir and Coffee
Shop. Crests of regiments previously stationed
here adorn the high retaining wall. Above
here are several sturdy cottages which can
be rented, at extremely modest rates from
the JDF, and a store where you can purchase
supplies.
The
GAP CAFE
4,200 feet above sea level is equidistant
from the city and BUFF BAY, 21 miles in
both directions. It is noted for pastries
and excellent Blue Mountain Coffee and has
fine views down the valley and across to
HOLYWELL.
The house, set in a small garden was built
in the 1930s, originally as a way station
for buggy traffic bound for the north coast.
The late Sir Donald Sangster, a former Prime
Minister of Jamaica used to stay here when
planning his budget speeches and Ian Fleming
is said to have written the first James
Bond book here. Just across from the Cafe
is the start of the Fairy Glade hiking trail
to ST. CATHRINE'S
PEAK and the JDF
camp at Newcastle.
HOLYWELL
NATIONAL PARK
is a forest reserve where you are
cautioned to Take nothing but photographs,
leave nothing but footprints. The Blue Mountain/John
Crow Mountain National Park project maintains
a ranger station here (flying a Jamaican
Flag) where you can get information. This
is an extensive park, always cool and frequently
shrouded in mists. A wide variety of vegetation
includes some rare species. There are picnic
sites, barbeques, and some log cabins which
can be rented. Hiking trails originating
here include the Shelter trail to the north-east,
north to MOODIES
GAP, north-west to the WAG
WATER VALLEY, and south-west
to the Mammee River.
3.
DOWN THE VALLEY TO BUFF BAY
Just
beyond Holywell, heading north is HARDWAR
GAP and the other side of the
mountain: 17 winding scenic miles down to
BUFF BAY.
At SECTION
a road leads R to SILVER
HILL GAP, CLYDESDALE NATIONAL PARK, PINE
GROVE and
MAVIS BANK.
A
few miles further down the Buff Bay route,
SPRING HILL
is the start of the Blue Mountain Downhill
Bicycle Tour you never have to pedal! The
all-inclusive tour includes brunch, an introduction
to rural Jamaica, lunch, and a swim at a
hidden waterfall.
The
Buff Bay River valley is coffee country:
there are a few large farms and hundreds
of small plots. Unfortunately, the drive
to increase coffee production and foreign
exchange earnings has led to considerable
deforestation, erosion, and contamination
of water sources all aided and abetted by
the Coffee Industry Development Company,
a government agency. Even forest reserves
have been sacrificed to coffee. The coffee
farmers here all belong to the Portland
Blue Mountain Coffee Co-operative Society
which advances crop loans and purchases
the coffee for resale to the government.
The road winds against the hill, the Buff
Bay river far below in the valley. You will
meet very little traffic. Even in this remote
district there is the usual large quota
of churches, including a Quaker mission
at GREENHILL.
The road crosses the river at SILVER
HILL above MULLET
HALL, and there are mountainous
boulders in the river bed below the narrow
bridge. Between the villages of BALCARRES
and TRANQUILLITY,
there are two suspension bridges spanning
the river and an unusual three tiered waterfall
R of the road. From Tranquillity a road
corkscrews eastwards up to BANGOR
RIDGE, where there is more coffee
and banksides with wild raspberries.
This
alternative to the Junction route from Kingston
to Port Antonio is slower but fascinating.
It was first promoted by Sir Henry Blake,
Governor of Jamaica 1889-1898, the first
government official to recognize the island
s potential as a tourist destination.
4.
MAVIS BANK & BLUE MOUNTAIN PEAK
From
Papine the road follows the Hope River into
the hills. At The Cooperage, take the right
fork to GORDON
TOWN. By the Peyton Place saloon
and the Police Station turn R over the river.
The narrow road hugs the mountain providing
breathtaking views and heart-stopping moments
when minibuses come dashing round the corner
heading straight for you. Don t panic, they
usually manage to avoid collision. Just
remember to keep well to your left and use
your horn. Already the air is cool and bracing,
the multi-coloured mountains swathed in
mist, scarred by forest fires but still
partially covered with stands of Caribbean
Pine.
Five
miles from Gordon Town is WORLD'S
END home of Sangster's liqueurs.
The hillside distillery has recently been
expanded to satisfy a growing international
demand, but still retains a charming Heath
Robinsonish atmosphere. Free factory tours
are available and you can sample the liqueurs
sitting on a small paved patio, complete
with an ancient cannon and a fine view of
Newcastle. Personable sales manager Carolyn
Ritch presides in a tempting gift shop where
you can purchase liqueurs of Wild Orange,
Ortanique, Blue Mountain Coffee, Ginger,
and a coffee/orange blend called Forget
Me Not. Sangster's Coconut Rum and Gold
Rum Cream are international gold medal winners,
the latter touted locally as an aphrodisiac.
Their latest product, Conquering Lion, is
111% proof white rum the strongest in the
world.
At
a cross roads with signpost announcing GUAVA
RIDGE a
road leads uphill R towards FLAMSTEAD.
A sign at the first fork R points you to
Paraiso an idyllic private home offering
Bed & Breakfast and then to the field
headquarters of the Blue Mountain/John Crow
Mountain National Park. Here you can get
information and advice about exploring the
mountains and the names of reliable guides
trained by the Protected Areas Resource
Conservation (PARC).
Higher
up the ridge Flamstead once occupied by
Lord Nelson is now the U.W.I. rest house.
NOMDMI a mountain retreat built by
National Hero Norman Manley is now the home
of his son, former Prime Minister Michael
Manley and Glynis, his fifth wife. Manley,
still greatly in demand as a lecturer and
consultant has discovered, he says, that
There is life after politics.
Two
miles straight ahead from the Guava Ridge
signpost is the MAVIS
BANK CENTRAL
COFFEE
factory, part-owned by Keble Munn
a former Minister of Agriculture and descendant
of one of Jamaica s National Heroes, the
Rt. Excellent George William Gordon. The
factory produces genuine Blue Mountain coffee
prized by gourmets as the most aromatic
and flavourful in the world. The pulpery
is supplied by numerous coffee farmers throughout
the mountains and processes cherry ripe
coffee to green bean stage. Some of this
is sold to the Coffee Industry Board for
export. The rest is roasted, vacuum packed
and marketed under the Mavis Bank and Jablum
labels. The Jablum company includes Japanese
shareholders. One of the most important
functions at the factory is coffee tasting.
This is done by rapidly drawing coffee into
the mouth along with a gulp of air the idea
being to coat the taste buds with a fine
mist rather like an aerosol spray. Factory
tours are available by appointment.
At
the Guava Ridge junction turn L for PINE
GROVE a small hotel and coffee
farm owned by lawyer and radio talk-show
host Ronnie Thwaites and his wife Marcia,
who runs the farm and is responsible for
the lovely garden. There is a spacious,
cedar panelled restaurant (famed for Marcia
s sweet potato pudding) and the Blue Mountain
Bar facing the Peak. Unfortunately a view
which could be spectacular is marred by
the towering telephone antenna which serves
the area. On the wall is a framed advertisement
from the Daily Gleaner of April 10, 1897
asking What s the matter with Blue Mountain
Coffee . . . ? Why it's alright, only hard
to get. It's the best in the world: 5 lb
bag 6 shillings, 10 lbs bag 12 shillings
and 20 lb bags 24 shillings. Today's price
is considerably more than that. Tours to
the Peak can be arranged at Pine Grove and
may include a brief over-night stop at Abbey
Green, a cottage at the foot of the trail.
Starting the climb at 2:30am means you can
be at the summit in time for sunrise.
A
small organic farm at MIDDLEMIST
above Pine Grove produces fresh herbs
and specialty vegetables for hotels. The
farmers, Pam O'Gorman, Audrey Cooper, and
Joan Tucker are three of Jamaica s leading
musicians.
From
Pine Grove, head to
CONTENT GAP. From here a short
but fairly strenuous walk will take you
to CHARLOTTENBURGH,
a small coffee farm owned by the Bitter
family.
When
the farm was established by T. Samuel Kuckhalm
in 1781 it was noted for growing peaches,
apples and vegetables in high perfection
. In the mid 1800s the mahogany panelled
great house became the mountain retreat
of the Anglican Bishop. It is furnished
with antiques (including claw-foot baths)
and has a garden full of agapanthus lilies.
There is no access by car, so supplies are
toted in by Winsome and Warren, two donkeys.
Tours of the house, farm and garden are
available: a guide will meet you at Content
Gap and a bamboo walking stick is provided
for the trek. You will lunch in the garden
overlooking the city and meet friendly Jamaicans
like housekeeper Miss Ella, farm manager
Gladstone Morgan, hiking trail branches
left and takes you down to Gordon Town.
From
Content Gap you can continue on to ST.
PETERS and
SILVER HILL. At the Silver
Hill Gap, dwells Brother Wolfe, a mystic
shopkeeper who sells vegetables and excellent
coffee beans. The road to Clydesdale is
not enticing but the scenery lures you on.
CHESTERVALE
was formerly a government vocational training
camp. The new owners plan an eco-tourism
development.
At
CLYDESDALE NATIONAL PARK there
is a forestry plantation and small nursery.
There are two cottages that can be rented,
and hostel type accommodation in an old
coffee factory. The waterwheels and aqueduct
are still in intact.
Beyond
Clydesdale, it is a rough jeep drive or
a 2 hour hike to CINCHONA
BOTANICAL GARDEN
at an elevation of over 5,000 feet. The
garden, the air, and the views compensate
for the torture of getting there. The house
overlooks a small formal garden a variety
of trees tower above lilies, ferns, rhododendrons
and ground orchids. You can see north to
St. John's Peak, (6,332 ft), east to High
Peak (6,812 ft) and Blue Mountain Peak (7,402
ft) south to the little village of Wesphalia
and the valleys of the Yallahs, Clyde and
Green rivers and southwest to the city.
Cinchona was established in 1868 as a plantation
of Assam tea and cinchona trees, whose bark
was used to produce quinine for the treatment
of malaria fever. The project was not profitable
and the place was subsequently transformed
into an English Garden with a variety of
imported trees, flowers and vegetables including
cork, oak, rubber, eucalyptus, tree ferns,
cypress, pecan, and peach.
The
road from Clydesdale continues to
TOP MOUNTAIN, and then to
HALL'S DELIGHT
at 4000 ft., then down to 1500 feet where
you cross the YALLAHS
river and enter MAVIS
BANK. At the crossroads beside
the church you can enquire about hiking
guides, or about renting mules or a jeep.
This is the starting point for three hiking
trails including two routes to the Peak
via the PENLYNE
CASTLE.
MAVIS
BANK,
just a mile or two below the Mavis Bank
Central Coffee Factory, is more easily reached
from Guava Ridge. From here you can tackle
the mountains in St Thomas if you have access
to a spunky vehicle or better still a four
wheel drive. At the crossroads by the church
turn R and proceed towards Mahogany Vale,
passing a large Secondary Vocational School.
At the bottom of a steep valley you turn
L to ford the Yallahs river. The high footbridge
here is a good vantage point for picture
taking. The road to HAGLEY
GAP is narrow and more than usually
prone to landslides, but kept in some sort
of shape by the efforts of local residents
and the Blue Mountain/John Crow Mountain
National Park Project.
The
HAGLEY GAP
square is probably as close as you
can get, without a four-wheel drive, to
the start of the Blue Mountain Peak trail.
Accommodations en route to the peak include:
WHITFIELD HALL
(7 miles from the Peak) is a coffee farm.
The house overlooks a lawn with picnic tables
and can sleep up to 30 persons. Also available
are meals, cooking facilities, bed linen
and campsites. WILDFLOWER
LODGE, is a small hostel offering
meals. ABBEY GREEN
has two self catering cottages with cook
and helper.
You
are almost there when you get to
PORTLAND GAP, a rest stop
with a PARC Ranger Station, water, a bunkhouse
that can sleep 30, campsites and wild fuschias.
There is shelter four walls and a roof at
the Peak. The climb to the Peak reveals
extensive deforestation including the loss
of primary forest. Land has been cleared
for cultivation on precipitous slopes as
high as 5000 ft. C.I.D.Co (Coffee Industry
Development Company) and F.I.D.Co. (Forestry
Industry Development Co.), both government
agencies, were allocated former forest reserves
for planting coffee. Other culprits are
private coffee farmers, timber pirates,
charcoal burners, squatters and ganja growers.
The PARC project is hoping to reverse this
trend by education and involving local residents
in agro-forestry.
5.
INTO ST THOMAS.
The
tiny HAGLEY GAP
post office, with swirling mists and gossiping
mountain matrons is a photographer s gem.
Proceed down hill and ford the
NEGRO RIVER where villagers
may be doing their wash. You are now driving
along the side of the mountain to another
fording. In summer the banksides are littered
with fallen mangoes. The next village WOBURN
LODGE
has a picturesque little Anglican church
and has benefited from a Rotary International
program to establish self-help projects
in rural villages. After leaving Woburn
Lawn, you begin driving along a spur of
the mountains and within a mile you come
to a promontory which offers a spectacular
view. Take a minute or two to try and trace
the route you have just traversed and marvel
at your own skill and daring, then try to
plan the next move.
Turning
L at the BETHEL
GAP junction
will take you to the postcard pretty village
of CEDAR VALLEY
nestled beside the Negro River. From here
you can follow the Negro River valley via
SERGE ISLAND,
where there is a large dairy farm and milk
factory, down to the coast near MORANT
BAY. Or you can return to Bethel
Gap and turn R for WILSON'S
GAP a fine place for a picnic
with a panoramic view of the St. Thomas
coast and Palisadoes. From here the road
descends steeply to Richmond Vale where
you turn R and drive above the Negro River
Valley and then cross the Shooting River
where it joins the Yallahs at Ramble near
the start of the Yallahs pipeline. Drive
down the valley to Llandewey (you know you
re there when you pass the Wild West Tavern)
and then turn R for Cambridge Hill and then
to the coast. The vegetation is now dry
and scrubby and there are views R of Kingston
and Palisadoes. You will emerge at ELEVEN
MILE opposite
the Twice as Nice Lounge. Turn R for Kingston.
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