Saturday 29th July
Ash around Gouyave
Back on the trail today, for once we are starting our hash from sea level. The meeting point is actually on the pebble beach in the village of Kirani just before Gouyave. I think Patrick Shademan, our driver is now fully trained. I get my seat at the front, maybe he is enthralled with my scintillating conversation?! We have Yolene, Jean, Petra and Robert , the French speaking contingent. Francine and Al are also back so it is nice to catch up with them.
The set up is actually very nice. The view over Gouyave, across the bay is fantastic. We have time to explore the near vicinity before we start, so I pop around the graveyard across the road. Not as picturesque as graveyard on the other islands. It is maintained but very functional, not necessarily a place where you want to linger. We are quite a few today, over 150. We catch up with the French contingent and a few other people. It is a really good atmosphere again. Petra and Robert are virgins so they have to go through the briefing; we are far too busy gossiping to listen to it now. Yolene and Jean have decided to run it today, so are Francine and Al. We are at the back with the newbies. The trail is not so hard today but there are a few false starts, with the runners having to trek back amongst us walkers. It is mayhem. We follow the river for a little while, before entering a deep bush going up. Going down the valley we are surrounded by those beautiful bird of paradise flowers, twice as tall as me. We finally reach a plateau with palm trees, soaring straight toward the sun. Absolutely beautiful. . Too busy admiring them and taking pictures, I manage to lose the trail… that what happen when you are not paying attention to the markers. We have kept up with a few people, at the back and soon we are back on the road and civilisation, amongst small holdings and farmland, toward the beach. Off course the runners are already there sipping their beers. The sunset is fabulous. Both Jean and Yolene take great pleasure in soaking the newbies with beer at the end of the ceremony. More socialising before we piled back up in the van at dusk. I like the trip back in the dark . The van is buzzing with excited conversations behind me and I watch the villages spring up from the darkness, with rum shops playing loud music at every corner and BBQ wafting smoke and lovely smells in the air. There is always a lot of people around. The rum shop stop gives the opportunity to mingle and socialise a bit more. Despite his chicken, Ian is starving when we get back to Prickly bay. I think he has been plotting with Yolene and Jean at the back of the van, it is pizza night at the Tikki bar, so there we are still muddy from the walk munching pizza, the second one in less than a week!