IN MY CAPACITY as an occasional tour guide and also, being a concerned resident of St Peter, I wish to publicly voice my disappointment about the fact that there are no toilet and/or other facilities at what is, without doubt, one of the most breathtaking, panoramic views imaginable – right up to East Point. I speak of no other landmark than that at Cherry Tree Hill.
As locals and visitors alike travel around this island, they are all overwhelmed by the pristine, rugged, paradisiac beauty which greets the eyes on reaching the brow of the gradient there after approaching through the rustic road under a 600-yard canopy of mahogany trees.
For many a passenger disembarking a cruise ship at eight o’clock in the morning, getting aboard a tour coach and arriving one hour or so later at Cherry Tree Hill as the first stopover point, this should be a proper “comfort stop” – not one at which one has to go into the bushes to urinate. Very often, the question anxiously posed to the tour guide is: how soon will the next stop be coming up at which one can comfortably relieve oneself?
These poor conditions render as stark the difference between the lack of facilities at Cherry Tree Hill and the excellent ones at Mr Larry Warren’s adjacent St Nicholas Abbey.
No longer are an island constable and one chemical toilet to be seen in place at Cherry Tree Hill – this at a time when the number of visitors has supposedly increased. The souvenir vendors there do a thriving business and they too, along with visiting locals, could well do with the presence of security.
Two last points need to be made. Firstly, this lookout point could well be enhanced by the positioning of paid binoculars, as at St John’s Parish Church. Secondly, traffic congestion at peak periods could be reduced by lengthening the lay-by on the northern side of the road so that three large coaches can be parked.
In making this plea, I am joined by fellow members of the St Peter Parish Independence Committee who, during the course of our August 7 Heritage Bus Tour, all committed themselves to being publicly associated with this cause.
– JULIAN ATHERLEY