On March 10, 2012 @ our regular saturday breakfast we were ordered to do the Buff Bay Valley ride by our beloved Ayatollah as the proposed date of March 25 would clash with the St. Georges College Old Boys' Breakfast. Since the FnT gang love him so much we caved in and off we went on
March 18, 2k12 in search of the Avocat Waterfalls in the community of Spring Hill - Buff Bay Valley.
Our departure time was 5:30am with our route being Hope Pastures, Papine, Irish Town, New Castle, Greenwich then from the entrance to Hollywell it was the most exhilarating downhill for what seemed like hours to our final destination.
Our good lord guided us as we had only one spill... Lorraine. She was a new rider doing her first long ride and she was accompanied by her 13yr old son Phillip. Kudos to both of them as they rode as much as they could and they enjoyed the day to the max with a grea set of people. The ride overall was an excellent one. We had the regular uphill ride to Hollywell which was familiar ground to most. Howie, myself, Samira, Orrel and Alrick made a stop @ EITS Restaurant on way to New Castle where we saw their sign advertising Peas and Mint Soup. Of course, Mr. Food (Howie) himself had to ask the proprietors what that dish entails and from the response he seemed impressed. I foresee him driving to EITS to sample that soup. I won't disclose the recipe... Go Try it!!!
Madam Joan was sooo excited when she learned from as early as Hope Road that her bike got messed up due to her chain slipping off and she had to go in the support vehicle. She was grinning like a cheshire cat I tell u. She however redeemed herself by walking from Cafe Blue to Hollywell without being passed by anyone else except Chris Kow. She was of course vocal in chastising us on our very slow riding.
The most horrifying part of the ride was the section of the road that was broken away with a 50ft drop if you made a wrong step. A track was created along the cliff face for persons to walk to the other side. The alternate route would have been a steeepp hill climb so the daring ones decided to take bicycles in hand and walk over. Theresa was scared so Thomas assisted her by taking her bike and walking infront of her while she held onto him. Now it was Orrel, myself and Samira left to go over.Yesterday was the first time I knew the great one was afraid of heights.. He started the walk and quickly made a U-Turn and rode over the hill. He joined us in no time none the less.
En route to our final destination we passed a number of waterfalls and each one was better than the last. We could have easily abandoned trying to get to Avocat and hike to one of the many we passed and it still would have been a magnificent day. I now call the Buff Bay Valley... "The Valley of Waterfalls."
Avocat Falls was amazing, hands down. We arrived @ 11:30am and quickly stripped off our valuables and delved into the coollddd water. I took a dip for abt 5-10mins while the water babies like mike, howie, charles and others frolicked and had a good time.
Now it was time for the food... Well they say, all good things come to those who wait...And waiting we did and alas good food came. We were treated to rice, chicken, fish, curried goat, boiled food all cooked over wood fire giving it that nice country taste which was served with raw vegetable. Miss Milly came through!!! Charles and Betty then provided the dessert and it was lovely... I love cake!
We left @ abt 1:30pm and Mike, Howie, Thomas, Barry and Johann all rode back to Buff Bay. Where we loaded them and drove back to KGN via the Junction.
Of course the crazy riders Maurice, Mike Smith and Clive rode back the way we came. So that sweet downhill lasting for hours was all uphill for these guys. When we got to Castleton @ about 3pm, I was told they just arrived @ Hollywell. I lift my hat to these guys. Maurice if you claim to be out of shape... What would u say abt me!!!
A special shout out to Nicole Brown for making contact with Ms. Milly to provide the food and a big thank you to the organizers for making this ride another MTR production.
As usual I propose another ride to the "Valley of Waterfalls."
