Christmas Day 2020 A walk, a swim and dinner at home

Today we are anchored in English Harbour and it is a beautiful day. A beautiful day to walk the coastal path up to Shirley Heights which sits above the anchorage, but first I call my Mum in England to wish her a Happy Christmas. David and I don't have presents to open this morning – we did all our gift buying from Amazon in the summer. We have all we need.

To begin the walk we landed the dinghy on the right hand side of Galleon beach and turned right to follow the path which led us out to the headland above the rock formation known as the Pillars of Hercules and continuing around the cliffs with magnificent, inspiring views across to Montserrat. The last third of the path is an uphill scramble in the sun to the back side of Shirley Heights house so it was very welcome when we got there to be able to sit in the shade, drink some water and take in the views over English Harbour to Falmouth Harbour and beyond.

view from the top looking west

..and looking east

The restaurant at the Heights was closed today, but there were still many visitors who had come to take in the vista though they were a lot less sweaty than us having arrived in air conditioned cars.

We took the alternative, shorter and more shaded path back to Galleon beach. This begins at the bottom of the lawn and follows the ridge of the hill. At first we were walking in the sun, but soon we reached the tree line and shade. The coastal path is two miles long, the ridge path a mile and less steep. It brought us out on the road above the beach and a short walk back to our dinghy, arriving before 1 o'clock. Why was this important? The Government have closed all beaches from 1 o'clock today, and also on Boxing Day, to restrict gatherings and parties which could lead to the spread of Coronavirus.

Fortunately swimming, if not from a beach, is allowed so in the afternoon we went for a long swim in the small bay.

Our Christmas celebration meal began as the sun was setting with a bottle of champagne and a plate of prosciutti and olives, then pork with the trimmings and finally Christmas pudding and custard before retiring to watch Netflix.

All in all a rather splendid day.