The Pitons are not just a beautiful backdrop – they’re also mountains that can be climbed. By all accounts, the taller Gros Piton is actually the easier of the two, so that’s where we decided to start. First, of course, we had to get there. We could have sworn that Google was trying to send us along a footpath behind an elementary school, which didn’t seem wise and, more to the point, was blocked by a parked car. So we recalibrated and found a way that involved a circuitous route that was about three times as long via many other small and twisty roads. On the plus side, we got to drive through the village of Choiseul, the hometown of one of Susannah’s former students. And we still arrived at the trailhead early enough to avoid most of the day’s heat.

All visitors to Gros Piton are assigned a guide for their hike. Ours was Kevin, and like nearly all of his cohort, he is a resident of the local community known as Fond Gens Libre (Valley of the Free People). We calculated that in his nine years on the job, Kevin has climbed the peak approximately 3000 times (not a typo). At four hours per climb, that qualifies him as an expert for sure! He began by showing us the route on a large papier-mache model, which we share with you below because somehow we never got a good photo of the real thing (darn those twisty roads). The model gives sense of the steepness if not the scale – the life size version is a bit bigger at 2600 feet.

The trail to the top was first laid out more than 200 years ago and used by valley residents for defensive purposes. Today it is well-maintained with rock paving and wooden handrails in many locations, yet still a tough climb especially in the heat (we were each required to carry at least 1.5L of water to stay sufficiently hydrated).

Most of the route is forested but there were several stopping points with views to sea. If the day had been clearer, we might have seen St Vincent, but the horizon was quite hazy.

Halfway up we had this view of Petit Piton from the south (the opposite of our perspective in Soufrière).

Views from the top were to the inland side only but still beautiful. The summit is covered with a rocky pile of boulders, which we learned was inhabited by a colony of mongooses (mongeese?). We heard them hissing at each other in their tunnels. While we were having a snack in the shade, one of the other guides lured them out with some cracker crumbs.

On our way up, we had noted a trail side stand offering homemade tropical fruit flavored ice cream among other enticements – boy were we glad to partake when we came down! Unfortunately they were out of the sour sop, but the banana, mango, and coconut were all excellent! Also on offer (but not purchased by us) were an assortment of t-shirts with slogans for everyone, including “I made it halfway up Gros Piton” and “Gros Piton kicked my ass”.

We asked Kevin to point us to the right road for the way home and discovered that we had missed the correct turn in the morning by less than 50m. The picture below shows a ford we passed through on our way back – we are really appreciating the high clearance of our Jimny.

For the afternoon, Rowan had been eagerly waiting for another opportunity to snorkel so we headed to Anse Chastenet beach. The route there included another twisty and rough road, which we crept along as slowly as possible on the trip out. (Interestingly, on the way home after being passed by a taxi bus going twice our speed, we discovered that the ride is actually smoother when you go faster.)

Anse Chastenet is a marine reserve with an area roped off for snorkeling and diving. The land around the cove is the private property of a pricy resort but the beach is public up to the high tide line. This area had many more fish than we had seen on our earlier snorkeling foray but the coral was similar. What really makes the snorkeling special here is the clarity of the water – you can see fine details even 30m down.

Back at the Green Fig, we enjoyed another sunset dinner at their terrace restaurant while listening to some live music.