Walking up the slopes of Mt Pelee

The day started with a delicious breakfast made by Claire our cookery instructor host. Delicious guava juice, local fruits and amazing home made yoghurt. All the jams and condiments were home made including caramelised butter for our little peach tarts, to give it sweetness, as she doesn’t cook with sugar or gluten. Such a treat!

We set off to do a walk up a gorge that had a wonderful looking waterfall and was good for swimming. It was right up near the top of the islands on the slope of Mt Pelee. We had a great scenic drive up the east coast. We are so impressed by the local homes, it looks like very little subsistence living here. Definitely some areas are poorer but generally looks thriving. We got all the way to the entry into the park only to find it closed under Covid regulations. How these places will exist if they don’t open up soon is astonishing. It was very disappointing. Rowan found a trail up to Mount Pelee that we decided to follow and get some good exercise to walk off last night’s meal. It was wonderful walking through dense lush canopies of bush teeming with humming birds and brilliant red flowers. The path led straight up through little small holdings, and we were dripping with sweat after an hour. Rowan persuaded me to go just a little further so we could get to the crest and see both watersheds, one going to the Caribbean sea near St Pierre, and the other out to the Atlantic sea where we had just come from. Luckily we found an ancient trail sign that had some rickety steps that took us up the last steep climb to the crest.

This strange squash growing everywhere

Clouds on Mt Pelee

View down to Caribbean sea near St Pierre

View down to the Atlantic coast

Emerald Gorge with waterfall which we sadly could not get into

Caught in action allowing me to get very close!

We found a route home through the centre of the island called the Emerald valley. It was a spectacular little mountain pass taking us up and down the mountains through incredibly dense lush forest. A slightly nerve wracking drive as there was a fair amount of traffic for such a tiny road.

The road home

Back to the the Airbnb and a swim off the end of the jetty to cool us down. We did not want to put our feet down on the muddy bottom, but otherwise a very welcome swim.

I love the pattern of the mangrove roots

Tonight’s meal was another Gourmet dinner with smoked fish and pickled cucumber to start with urchin croquettes. Main course was conch with a lobster sauce and very buttery sweet potato. Finished with a home made chocolate panna cotta. All served with home made ginger rum made by her mother. Just as well we are leaving tomorrow!