Sugar Loaf

Nov. 11, 2024

A few weeks ago we went on a postbox walk which was two in one. We began at the beginning of Flagstaff and hiked all the way to the top, past the fields of cows and sheep and the wind turbines all the way to the peak, which was the short part of the walk. We could see all the way out across the ocean to the horizon, and from here we also had a glimpse of the Barn, another long walk along a volcanic ridge.

We came down from Flagstaff and stopped at the entrance to the Sugar Loaf walk which was the start of the 12 km hike. This trail took us along desert like terrain, with many cacti and scrubby little bushes along the volcanic ridges of the island. Luckily it was mostly all down hill which was nice, even though it was very exposed to the sun and sky.

The midway point of this walk was getting to the sugar loaf, which is at the top of a hill. Here we stopped for lunch and admired the view before we continued on our way down to Banks which is where a large portion of the fortifications of the island are built. Once we arrived at Banks, we jumped in the water and went for a swim as it had been a long dusty walk in the sun - the water felt incredible!

Banks was the last big stop on our walk. We continued along the cliff face until we reached Rupert's valley which was the official end of the hike. This walk covered about 1/3 of the island and it took us about 6 hours in total. Many of the other hikers we were with had someone to pick them up once they arrived at Rupert's. But Scott and I had to go back to where we started to get the car. I was not up for walking all the way back up the Hull road (which is the road the cars drive on), so I took the ferry around to Jamestown and took a taxi home. Meanwhile Scott and the Thorpe brothers walked all the way back to where we had started which took them about an hour an a half.