After butchering the Sika deer recently, the first to cook is one of the lap. I seasoned with mountain spices from Georgia, black pepper and lots of rosemary, all rubbed on with some lard. Rest for a few hours and bake at 140˚C for 2 hours.
Unlike lamb lap that I cook often, venison lap’s ligaments do not soften, even though the meat is already juicy soft. Nice flavour dark red meat, no gamey flavour.
Our yearly enjoyment, a whole organic ham, a portion a week starting in Spring and finish by Autumn. Beautiful deep red meat with pinkish fat, sweet nutty flavour and not too salty.
Nearby hunter informed that he has shot Sika deer and have been aged for 3 weeks, ready to purchase, we bought the whole 20kg animal, for 60 Euro. Very cheap if you buy it whole, when butchered, it will be around Euro 15 per kilo.
Spent an hour to cut up into portions we like, 38 portions for 2, with bones and though tendons for soup, really good value.
In the same oven, bake halved Brussel sprouts, seasoned with salt, pepper and 5 spices powders for a few hours (to soften).
Daffodils are in full bloom here and there in the land, March blooming cherry trees are having a great show, wild sloe trees in the hedge are having load of delicate white flowers. Spring is beautiful and invigorating.
So nice to come back to see the first lot of veg seeds growing well in propagators in the green house.
Cherry tree and pear trees are bearing lots of beautiful flowers, so are peach trees inside green house.
After adding a transparent lid on the asparagus bed to keep soil warmer, the first spear is already up for harvest!
This is our last stop in this tour, and the only place where we will be able to swim with turtles, at Plage Malendure. We booked a house up on the hill near the beach so that we can walk down to the beach, a smart move as this is a popular place with lots of cars parked along the road.
And yes, the beach is calm, in no time we are snorkeling
with turtles. I like very much the feeling of swimming along them, they
move gracefully and never in a hurry, make you feel peaceful.
The
other famous tourist site is Pigeon islands where the water is the
clearest in all of Guadeloupe and with coral near the rocky shores. One
way to get there is by kayak, 15 minutes with the wind.
There are
3 areas to snorkel, with a lot of coral fish and very calm water. My
favourite spot is near the edge of the small island where there is a
sheer drop deep down to white sandy base . So many big and small fishes
swimming around calmly, equally spaced out, feel like in an aquarium.
The return kayak trip is hard, against the strong wind with waves splashing us all the time, one visit is enough!
Driving
north to see the area and to find beaches suitable for snorkeling. The
north side is drier and the trees looks different than the rich greens
in the south.
Very strong wind and no chance of renting a paddle
boat to see the mangrove area. At the end, settle on a pebble beach,
Anse Caraibes, very calm and next to rocky cliff.
Catch a fast ferry back to the left side of the main island, staying at the south tip near Vieux Fort. The Airbnb is up a very steep path, quite common in this area, to an open plan house with huge terrace, and fabulous seaview.
We tried a few trails, all in the rain forest, thick with trees around and no gaps at all sides and even can’t see the sky. It is cool for hiking but the paths are natural, lots of boulders and crisscrossing tree roots, making it hard to walk along, and with the regular downpours mean there are puddles of mud.
In one of the path, we were so fed up with walk in muddy patches and give up after before finishing the trail.
-Sentier de basin Bleu
Sentier Maison de foret
Sentier Huelmont
There is not much
promotion for Fort Delgres at the south coast of Vieux Fort. It turned
out to be a big fortification started in 17C and remodeled and enlarged
twice in later years. The design, stone work and building style is
typical french, unlike the rest of Guadeloupe.
The original aim
was to protect from English invasion, and in later years also see fierce
fighting between French army and locals who wanted independence.
We notice that Guadeloupe is windy, very pleasant as you stay dry under the hot sun. Until the ferry that brought us back to the mainland (then another ferry to the next island Les Saintes) is cancelled because of being too windy.
We were told by Airbnb owner that it has been exceptionally windy this winter, not just Guadeloupe, but the whole Caribbean region. The suggestion is to get a short flight over directly to the island where we are going next, more expensive, but much faster and the view will be great.
We stayed in Terre de Haute area, it is a small island with few flat land and some steep rounded hills. Our Airbnb is within walking distance to the best snorkelling beach Pain de Sucre.
Our routine here is hike in the morning and snorkelling in the afternoon.
We also hiked to Mare Morel and La Batterie, to enjoy the views of the island from different locations.
We snorkelled in Plage Crawen but unfortunately
failed to see turtles. So at the end, we just go to our nearest and most
calm beach, Plage Pain de Sucre, also with the best underwater scenery,
corals, big fish like Permit and Blue travali, colourful fish,
cuttlefish etc.
