Woke up about 4.30 am though there wasn't a sound anywhere so who knows why my body picked that time of day.

Eventually went back to sleep again (I think) & woke up again about 6.30 am.

Breakfast was at 7.15 am & consisted of some pieces of bread that had been very briefly introduced to a toaster, butter & home-made marmalade plus some juice. After some additional helpings, it was filling enough to last me until lunchtime.

I packed all my wet stuff into my bag (nothing had dried much since last night, despite leaving it out!) then headed off at about 8.30 am. I'd planned to just go to Grand Place, about 3.5 hours hike away so a much shorter trip than yesterday!

Unfortunately, there was a fair bit of rain around today so I got pretty wet during the hike.

The clouds seemed to be quite high however so I still got some more amazing views. Not quite as scenic as yesterday but it's nice to be slightly cooler.

Still plenty of rivers of sweat pouring off me again but I was drinking much more along the way this time as I knew it would be a shorter trip.

Passed through several tiny towns, all quite similar to Aurere, though a bit smaller, & took a detour to Ilet Bourse Les Hauts, just to see where the path went. I'm now happy to advise that the path to that place goes pretty much nowhere & eventually peters out at a stream.

Eventually arrived in Grand Place and true to its name, it had some pretty grand views! Trying to find somewhere to stay in the pouring rain wasn't quite so grand. the place that caught my eye was one called Gite de Pavillion as it said it also had a "boutik" (boutique) and a boulangerie.

I headed there first as a "boulangerie" (which I thought meant "bakery" but actually just means "general store") sounded very exciting to my hungry stomach! But when I arrived, everything seemed to be closed. I eventually found someone who found the owners however they just confirmed that everything was closed & they didn't have any vacancies.

They were very helpful however and called the other two accommodation providers here & eventually found one that was open & had space in their dorm room. Very basic accommodation, but much better than sleeping in the rain.

Seems quite likely I'll have the entire place to myself this evening & will only be sharing with the bugs & spiders.

Unfortunately for me, the owners don't speak any English so I had to borrow a phone & use Google translate to communicate. As it was about 2 pm, I asked if it was possible to get something to eat. The very nice owner made some lovely fried rice with egg for which I was eternally grateful as I really needed something more than toast to keep me going.

I sat at the table for a while to finish writing my diary, with a toddler running around in between breastfeeding, a couple of other kids playing helicopters and the older lady looking at me & laughing occasionally through her 5 teeth.

Eventually decided to stop resting & went for a little walk around the "town", a term I use very loosely! Grand Place consists of about 6 buildings that are all very spread out across the hillside. Most of them are theoretically accommodation of some sort, though they're only open during peak season. Not sure how they survive during the off-season!

Amazingly, there's also a school plus a little clinic in each town. Not sure how they find the staff for these but I guess they do somehow!

I walked around pretty much all the "streets" (ie walking trails) of the town & even found a nice rock to free solo (extremely easy) so did a little climbing to get a better vantage point for some more photos.

I'd been itching to do some climbing as looking up at all the magnificent cliffs I've been walking past the entire trip has been driving me crazy!

Next time I come to Reunion (if there is a next time), I'm going to make sure I come in winter and will also make sure I do some climbing! I was pretty sure there wouldn't be much opportunity for climbing on this trip since there's so much rain around this time of year so didn't even bring my climbing gear to Réunion.

Even though it's so nice to go hiking without a 20kg pack, it's still a hot, sweaty business so I went back to rest at the dorm room & edit a few photos before heading down for dinner.

The BnB seems a bit strange as the rooms are about 150m away from the kitchen & dining room. This gives the rooms a bit of a view from their verandah, but it's maybe not an ideal setup for a place that rains so much! Still, it's never cold so you'll just be either hot, or hot & wet by the time you arrive for dinner.

Fortunately, it was only drizzling when I made my way down for dinner. However, about 5 minutes after I arrived, it started pouring with rain again. Hopefully, it'll stop by the time I need to go back!

For dinner, there was an entire bottle of rum on the table for me. I'm pretty sure they're not expecting me to finish the entire bottle! I think I'd probably be dead!

Dinner had the obligatory lentils (part if the staple diet here), some mystery meat that was probably pork (no one knows what "vegetarian" means here), some shredded vegetables with lemon pepper, and the crazy hot pickle the Reunions love! A very nice meal with enough food to feed about 6 people! I hope they're going to eat whatever I don't!

By the time I'd finished dinner, there was thunder, lightning & bucket loads of rain coming down so I decided to stay in the dining room a bit longer.

Eventually, it all died down & I made my way back to the dorm & went to bed about 9.30.