Ascension Island diary - January 4
Day 9 - January 4th
We decide to venture further afield for a swim today and make our way up to Travellers Hill to use the freshwater pool there. Also being 700 feet up it is a little cooler.
Travellers Hill was built as a consequence of the Falklands conflict and the need to accommodate the RAF staff who maintained Ascension as a halfway house airfield stop en-route to the newly built airfield in the Falklands.
The swimming pool actually doubles as the Emergency Water Supply, for fire engines etc. Or was it the other way round originally?
Anyhow it makes for a nice relaxing swim, and the setting and blue sky could not be better.
Plus of course it is real luxury to find a quiet, full sized pool, and no risk of bumping into someone else if one's back stroke wanders from a straight line.
So having made ourselves hungry from the swim we stop off at Two Boats village on the way back for "Wahoo and chips", Wahoo being one of the local fish.
In the afternoon, time for a wander round Georgetown itself. St. Mary's Church seems even whiter than it was on our last visit, although this is probably because of the intense afternoon light and cloudless sky.
The first stone for this was laid in 1843, but by 1845 it was reported as being only half finished, partly because of interruptions and partly because the design was constantly being changed. It was finally finished in 1861, and the story goes that the original spire was clad with beaten-out biscuit tins, but there is no visible trace of that today.
Nearby is the Exiles Club, originally this was the barracks.
The building started life in the early 1803's as a single storey structure. Last time we were here in 1997 the Exiles Club was occupying the top floor and we had at least one meal on the balcony which benefits from a gentle breeze. The top floor is currently not being used.
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Perhaps one of the biggest changes is that the island is no longer closed to visitors and is open to limited tourism. There is now The Obsidian Hotel , meanwhile the phone outside the Cable and Wireless office seems to be taking a siesta.
Finally on to Comfortless Cove for a late afternoon, cooling off swim. This could become a habit.
