St Lucia's Cycling Time Machine

After some city slicking, I’m back with my other on-going tour, Caribbean Islands. My current location is the very fair isle of St Lucia. Rising from the ocean in a flurry of greenery the south is where it’s at for mountain biking. Behind the beach at Anse Mamin, a 500-acre estate awaits with trails to temp all levels – easy-peasy, moderate and are-you-serious! They take you uphill, downhill, and loop you through grapefruit and banana trees, ginger lilies and ferns, dense and humid. Certain turns reveal the ruins and abandoned workings of this former plantation. An education as well as a thrill ride. Throw in a dip afterwards at Anse Mamin, which boasts some of the best snorkelling on St Lucia, and this ride ticks plenty of sight-seeing boxes.

Taking it slow in San Francisco

My tour continued with a brief stop in San Fran where I played tourist by bike for a morning. October is summer in Fog Town with bluer skies and plenty of sunshine. It's a mainly flat ride along The Bay to and across the Golden Gate. In just over an hour you can be looking back at Alcatraz from Sausalito. A popular route, so hit it early and be prepared for varying speed limits and paths that segregate cyclists and pedestrians. All very organised.
My bike was rented from Bay City Bike, conveniently located a couple of blocks from Fisherman's Wharf, where there's a branch of the fabulous In-n-Out Burger, home of the superb Protein Burger where they replace the bun with lettuce.