I had a shorter bike ride this morning partly because it was early so the sea hadn’t receded as far as usual and the sand was still wet in most places making it ‘aaaard work (© Anthony Pulis Snr). But another reason is that yesterday Tina and I crossed the border into Georgia to visit Cumberland Island, and if it wasn’t bad enough getting up at 6am to get to the ferry in time, we then walked for about 6 miles in sweltering conditions.
Cumberland Island is Georgia’s largest barrier island. It takes 45 minutes to travel to it by ferry from St Mary’s, a pretty town full of traditional architecture and the Southern warmth as two separate strangers called out friendly greetings as we were walking over to the landings. The island is steeped in history, settled by Native Americans, Spaniards, the British, and the cotton plantation owners. Part of it is still private land but 90% is now owned by the US public. We started with a one hour long guided tour given by the ranger Rene who thanks to 26 years living on the island knew her stuff and delivered her talk with passion and mild audience participation. It finished at the ruins of the house at Dungeness.
The island is 18 miles long so the best idea is to camp. However we settled for the first ferry out at 9am and the last one back at 4:45pm. After the talk we walked along a boardwalk over the dunes to the beach. The island is a diverse mix of beach, marshes, and maritime forests. It is home to a wide range of wildlife including wild horses. We walked northwards up the largely deserted beach for a mile until we reached Sea Camp site stopping for a much needed break in the shade and lunch. A rustling in the bushes turned out to be two wild horses which carried on grazing unperturbed by our presence. After our picnic we pressed on for an hour into the forest along the Parallel Trail aiming for Stafford Beach 3 miles to the north, but we turned back just short. Retracing our steps we veered off towards Sea Camp landing stage, and after a well earned rest in rocking chairs at the ranger post, headed down the River Trail back to our morning starting point. On the River Trail we encountered two armadillos rooting in the undergrowth. The ferry trip back was spent in the shade and in a half doze. But less of the waffle the photos start on page 2 of the gallery.
