This morning we woke up bright and early to leave Gili T and head for Lombok. We made our way across the sea on a 30 minute local boat, and got greeted the other side by a horse drawn carriage! This took us to a small restaurant where we met all the other travellers who too decided to brave Mount Rinjani!! If only we knew how hard it was going to be then!! Everyone seemed really nice and there was a mix of English French and German. In total the group size was 11 of us and then had numerous guides and porters too! We had some breakfast in the restaurant before hopping into a van, perhaps not the comfiest or safest vehicles, but it got us to our start point 2 hours later! We left our big pack packs at their office and just packed the essentials into our smaller bags which we carried along the way, we also hired a proper jacket because we guessed it would be rather chilly at 3 thousand meters up!! And so the climb began... The first day we set off around 11am, the walk here was not too strenuous as much off it was up and down without too many steep parts! About half way we stopped for some lunch and then carried on for a further 3 hours until we reached camp at around 17:30! The last part of the climb that day was much harder and it soon became clear that we were among the strugglers of the group at the back! The camping spot was really cool though as it had amazing views of the lake in the crater of the volcano! We watched the sun go down before having some dinner and a cheeky Bintang beer before the whole group collapsed into our tents around 20:00!! The tents were rather small and pretty uncomfy but after 6 hours trekking we all managed to pass out for at least a little while! The night however was far too short as we were woken at 3am to start the 2nd day!!

It was very cold at this time in the morning but we all scrambled our of our tents in the pitch black in attempt to reach the summit! The first part of the climb was seriously difficult, we had hardly any light and the path to take was not clear! The ground was rocky in some parts then really sandy in others, making it difficult to go very fast! After an horrendous start we finally reached a flat piece of land, which we all thought meant we was close to the top! We were however not close, not close at all! And the guide told us we still had another 2 and a half hours to go! Nightmare! At this point Es and a few of the other girls decided to call it a night as they were all feeling horrendously tired and didn't have the energy to continue anymore, probably a wise decision as the next 3 hours were seriously difficult and challenging ! I (lucy) decided to push on even thought the thought of bed was very inviting, and carried on the climb with a French couple from our group and 1 guide - who I later found out was 18 and it was his first time upturn mountain too... So helpful haha! He was very encouraging though and kept telling me I could do it so I didn't give up! The whole climb was pretty awful, but the last 200m were definitely the worst! We looked so close but it was the steepest, sandiest part if the climb so far, and every step I took I'd fall back 2 more steps! It was never ending! Unfortunately I didn't make it to the summit for sunrise, but when I did finally get there all the pain was worth it because the feeling was amazing and the views were incredible! I couldn't believe I had made it 3726m up a volcano! We took a few photos and had a quick rest before having to go back to camp! Another 2/3 hours walking/running/sliding down the mountain and I made it! But the camp was empty because everyone ha already set of for the hot springs! Literally ate my breakfast and got changed in 10 minutes, after 8 hours of walking, then set off with Em, one of the guides, to go down to the lake and hotsprings! My feet were in agony, my blisters were pounding and my toes were stubbing the end of my trainers, but i so wanted to have a dip in the hot springs so powered through! When we arrived the rest of the group were already there and had just started eating lunch! So I joined them, exhausted! Me and es then jumped into the hot springs, was so nice and warm and felt great on our legs! We were obviously filthy from all the volcanic dust so this was also our chance for a bath! We chilled in there for a bit before unwillingly starting the 3 hour climb back up to camp! We were struggling! The sun had been blaring on us all day and all our energy had gone, but together we made it back up! And just in time for dinner and sunset! The night ended more relaxingly with popcorn and talking around a camp fire!

Day 3 on Mount Rinjani meant home time! Yay!! We set off about 7am to start our decent and although we were excited to be finishing we really could not be bothered for the walk! My feet were in so much pain I could not even wear my trainers, so I did half the day in a pair of socks and the other half in flip flops... Not ideal ! When we finally reached the bottom we thanked our guides and porters before getting back into those vans and heading for Sengiggi! The place we stayed for the following 2 nights! We managed to get the same hostel as all the others from our group.

Our first priority was a good meal and much needed massage.. So that's what we did- a steak and a full body massage. Later on back at the hostel we all sat around a big table making use of happy hour , which we managed to convince the owner to extend to midnight!

The next day we said our farewells to the rest of the group.We wanted an extra day to relax before heading back to Bali.We made the most of this by chilling on the beach munching on fresh mango,snake fruit and mangostine. Delicious. We also made use of our pool at the hostel during the afternoon ,before heading back to the spa to have a manicure and pedicure and a leg massage. It was rather embarrassing considering the state of our feet!