We passed on south through a couple more villages. Many of the settlements on the peninsula had curiously colonial hark back names. They would have been predominantly Krio cultures, the people descendants of the freed slaves. They had brought back place names from their colonial masters like York, Sussex, Aberdeen, Lumley, Waterloo, Hastings and , at the end of the peninsula, Kent.
It was to Kent we made our way. We again dropped off the main highway where it started to turn to the east but this time the village was a few kilometres away and we had to go through Bureh Town and past another gorgeous beach to reach the very tip of the peninsula. The main residential area of Kent was along a few streets at the east end of the village but the centre and focus for activity was right at the end of the road near where the coast turns right angles. We were charged for parking – the villagers here obviously a bit more savvy about tourist trade than others. And as soon as we started to explore we were accosted by various people. They were all friendly and wanted to show us their village which they believed to be the most important part of Sierra Leone.
We made our own way down to the beach at the Freetown end of the village. The sand was golden here and we got a good sweep back up to the mountains. Steering clear of the people playing ball games on the beach, we clambered around the rocky coastline and I came across a wonderful little harbour. The rocks opened up at one point and sheltered a long narrow deep cove filled with sizeable fishing boats. I stared out to sea. I was on a corner of Africa here, a place where the west coast of Africa turns into the Gulf Of Guinea. To the south of me was nothing but ocean for thousands of miles to Antarctica. Except of course that about a thousand miles south of here was Ascension Island. Sometimes I am amazed at how interconnected my travels become even though the routes to get to them are contorted by time and logistics.
When I Went To 