Above Grenville

Grenada's history, like so much of the Caribbean, is painfully  interwoven with colonialism and slavery. Sugar was the crop which made it valuable to the colonialists, its intensive production of course made feasible by slavery. Huge swathes of the old plantations are long-abandoned, and have returned to secondary forest, in which you can pick cocoa, nutmeg and mangoes (we have feasted on ripe fallen mangoes- some bush tucker!)

They are now charming, fascinating, atmospheric jumbles of trees and scrub, the old trees and the plantation structures much in evidence including the fine old graded tracks which lace the hillsides. You will meet the melancholy remains of chunkily built plantation buildings as you walk. They are stark reminders of the human misery which underpinned this economy.  

Above Grenville: You start with a potter around Grenville's busy and engaging streets, out to where the minibuses sit. 10 mins or so up the hill, you climb out at a junction and cross a stream that is the island's biggest river, joining a lane lined by colourful cottages in their luxuriant gardens. 

You are soon on a wide, graded grassy track, typical of the former access tracks which lace the old plantation hillsides. You walk through lovely secondary forest, the old plantation nutmeg, cocoa and mango trees now fighting to compete with self-seeded trees and scrub.  

The track gradually climbs a ridge, then traverses the hillside, with wide views across the forest tops to the sea.

Coming back down, you will see the heavy ruins of the plantation  buildings. Further down, you reach a low stone bridge over our stream. A minute upstream is a perfect little bathing spot under the shady greenery.

Past a vast and huge-rooted survivor of the hurricanes of the years, the track reaches the outskirts of town. 

Have a look at TripAdvisor – there are tens of millions of reviews, so you may get good, current views on guides, places to hike and places to stay here.

For more information and photos, including detailed practical information and some warnings, see our Grenada walk page.