Today we take a pickup truck and head up the mountain for 21km mostly on a dirt road. We drive past hundreds of bee hives. Honey is a major business in the area. At night we have seen the bee keepers moving their hives down the valley in their hundreds. There are still lots of hives on our route upwards.
Most of the party are sitting on two benches in the back of the pickup I am fortunate to be inside on a fairly comfortable seat. For most of the way up I’m on the outside of the mountain with steep drops. Vertigo swept over me a couple of times as I looked down to the valley floor some 100 m below.
We climbed and climbed on this dirt road until we passed the top of the tree line and the landscape became more and more barren. When we arrived at the end of the track the sun beat down on us and now the effort began.
The terrain underfoot was either rocky or scree. Shortly after we set off we stopped for Matt who felt a bit queasy. It was suggested that he might have a little altitude sickness. Some water and electrolyte pills dropped into his drink seemed to do the trick.
As we went higher the scree areas seemed to increase and I began to think about the journey back down. We had been going upwards for about 90 minutes when we arrived at another place to stop. I worried more and more whether I would be able to climb down the mountain and not fall over if I continued to the top. Therefore I told Jonathan that I would wait in the shelter of a group of rocks while the rest continued to the top. Matt stayed back with me.
We waited 90 minutes for them to reach the top and scramble back down. I’m glad I didn’t go all the way as the photos I saw didn’t look much more impressive than the ones Matt and I took in our mountain alcove.
The hike back was completed without incident although it took a lot of concentration to climb down via all the rock and crumbly stones underfoot. I like most people experienced the odd slide but nothing that meant I landed on my backside.
The downhill truck journey to our hotel took longer than the way up as our driver was more cautious. We returned to our rooms after a beer and prepared for the evening drink and food.
