Thursday mornings, I have my "early start" of the week. I have to teach at St. George's Prep (about a 40-minute drive) at 8:30. It's my earliest start of the week by a solid hour - plus I have to drive quite a ways, so I generally have to get up by 7:00 to get there on time.
I am usually pretty tired on Thursday morning, but I wake up really quickly on the way to St. George's because the drive is just spectacular. It generally divides into 4 parts:
1st leg - I start in Paget and drive Eastbound on Middle Road. The road is usually pretty crowded with people driving into Hamilton to work, so I generally drive like a dick and follow all of the other bikes that pass cars by the dozen. While the view isn't necessarily the greatest, it certainly wakes you up.
2nd leg - Once I pass the roundabout where you can either head into town or head out through Devonshire towards the East End, I'm driving along South Shore Road. It's a really nice drive. There are lots of palm trees, some golf courses, a nice church, Palm Grove Gardens (where I stayed for a couple weeks), and head over Knapton Hill, where there is just a SPECTACULAR view of the Southern coast of the island.
3rd leg - From Knapton Hill, I drive on Harrington Sound Road, which is great because you can see a bunch of boats when you first turn onto it. Then I drive through a bunch of curves, which is always nice on a bike. After Harrington Sound, I drive over the causeway, which I daresay is the best view on the island. The causeway is the bridge that connects the main island to the airport and St. George's, and you can see all the way out to the ocean on the south, and up the bay on the north. It's really easy to see the Grotto Bay Beach and pier, where I went kayaking the other day. It's also really neat to drive past the airport and see a bunch of different planes on the runway. There is also a really nice straight stretch of road (the longest on the island, I'd venture to guess) where you can really just relax and take in the scenery, which is just beautiful.
4th leg - Driving into St. Georges is just great. St. George's is this really cool little town on the East End. There are all kinds of little shops, a great little beach, and generally lots of tourists, beacuse St. George's is one of two cruise ship ports on the island (the other being the Royal Naval Dockyard on the opposite side of the island). You can always see the tourists walking around or driving on the bikes they rent from Oleander Cycles (you can spot them coming a mile away because of their red bikes and small, white helmets).
It's a really great drive, and it certainly wakes me up at 7:40 in the morning.
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