Misson aborted

The breakfast was excellent. With baguette, croissants, scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, salami, cake, fruit and delicious coffee specialties - a dream. Then the nightmare - my wedding ring is gone. I always put it on the bedside table at night - but for the life of me I can't remember if I did that yesterday too. Maybe it fell under the bed when I took my cell phone charger off the bedside table yesterday because it's so bright. But the cleaning lady had already been there and there was nothing under the bed. I tore everything apart, asked the previous landlord if he had found anything - nothing 😭.

We can't change it at the moment and set off for Piton de la Fournaise in beautiful sunshine.

Facts:

The 2632 m high volcano is the last active volcano on La Réunion. There are always smaller eruptions, but these are relatively harmless. Similar to the volcanoes in Hawaii, thin lava emerges and makes its way towards the sea; there are no major gas explosions. The last eruption was in July 2023. The volcano is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and offers breathtaking views.

Unfortunately, Ira is not feeling much better. But she still wants to come along and stays in the car, sleeping and reading.

From Bourg Murat we start the “Route du Volcan” and drive to the end. A mostly well-developed serpentine road that leads through a savannah landscape.

At some point the road surface changes into a gravel route with lots of potholes.

At the end a parking lot with many cars

and a mega view of the Piton, the Cartère du Formica Léo and La Chapelle de Rosemont.

The three of us get ready for the descent.

The entire tour to the crater rim is about 12 challenging km.

The boys go ahead, I follow.

First we have to descend 100 meters in altitude. Step by step (sometimes flat, sometimes high, sometimes smooth, sometimes uneven) and it never ends.

We have to walk all the way back up again, and I'm already dreading it. After what feels like an eternity, I finally reach the bottom.

We follow the white lines over fairly easy-to-walk lava surfaces and come to the Cartère du Formica Léo.

It is made of powdery, red lava rock and is said to have a diameter of 100 m. This is what Mars must look like.

This is where our paths separate. The boys want to continue and I find out how long the climb will take.

It takes me about 40 minutes to get from the point of separation to the gates of hell.

An oxygen tent would be great and a sedan chair to take me to the parking lot. Instead, there are steps and a stone path.

But I managed that too.

After applying sunscreen, the two boys follow the white lines through the Enclos Fouqué Caldera, steadily uphill to La Chapelle de Rosemont. A small lava grotto named after the volcanologist P. de Rosemont, who used the grotto as a shelter from the weather.

And the two of them don't know how to hold back. They keep going. The climb to the Dolomieu crater was very demanding.

The paths are unpaved, partly lava gravel and narrow ridges. The air is getting thin. And how stupid, actually, not having eaten anything since breakfast, having no provisions on us and the water is slowly running out. That will come back to haunt us.

While Micha is almost at the top, Schahaatz decides to turn back. 2 km from the crater rim.

Micha also turns around just before the crater; he doesn't want to let Schahaatz walk alone. The descent isn't any easier and you also have to climb the many steps out of the caldera again.

Meanwhile, the sun has almost set, the wind has reached hurricane-like gusts and the parking lot has emptied except for a few cars.

It's 5:10 p.m. and there's still no sign of the two of them. We girls waiting are starting to worry. At 5:30 p.m. Micha arrives, but where is Carsten?

I can already see myself calling the mountain rescue service, who will then rescue Schaahatz with a helicopter.

Micha has got some provisions and is running back to Schahaatz. In the meantime, I'm driving the car around the parking lot to recharge the battery, which strangely enough had discharged itself during the day. That would mean that Schaahatz would have to call the mountain rescue service and I would have to call the breakdown service. Thank God we didn't need either of them. Schahaatz makes it to the Gates of Hell with his last bit of strength, water empty and nothing to eat.

3 small bananas and a bottle of water got the turbo going again and so the two of them, with combined forces, arrived back in the parking lot at around 6:15 p.m., safe and sound, albeit with a broken body.

It is now dark and we head down the bumpy gravel route.

After a few minutes of hitting almost every pothole, I was not allowed to drive any further. After almost an hour, we finally made it back to the hotel.

We actually wanted to go to a different restaurant today, but since it's already so late and we're all exhausted and tired, we're eating here again.

Ira would have liked to come along, but everything has its time (and today wasn't hers) and thanks to the many photos, stories and the guidebook, she was almost there live.

An unforgettable day!