Woke up to the sound of roosters crowing in the distance at around 5:00 am & was just dozing after that as I didn't want to oversleep this morning. Need to get going early to fit everything in today!

Breakfast was half a French bread stick, butter, jam & some fruit juice. I'm getting used to it now so just loaded up on the butter & jam to help me make it through the day. Not the healthiest, I know, but I'll probably burn it all off today.

Said au revoir to everyone, took a few photos, & started out on my trek a little before 8:00 am, enjoying the cool air & clear blue skies which were a welcome change compared to the past few days!

Blue sky is obviously great for photos & enjoying the spectacular views but might be a bit hot later ... another reason to start early!

Off through the little town of Roche Plate ("roush plat") but then just outside the town, I somehow lost the trail. Normally the trail is so well-marked, it's nearly impossible to miss but somehow I did and ended up bush bashing my way through the forest.

I could see from Google Maps that the path was only about 150m in front of me but between me & the path there was 149m of Lantana so thick you'd need a chainsaw to get through it!

I tried a few times in different places but couldn't penetrate it & was just losing lots of time & getting filthy in the meantime so I ended up back-tracking for a bit, whereupon I found a cleared area I'd missed earlier. I followed that across & arrived at the path within about 5 minutes, wishing I'd had this bright idea about 20 minutes previously.

I continued on up the path towards the turnoff to Le Maido, the path I'm planning on taking out of the caldera today. Whereas previous days have been approximately equal amounts of up and down, today is about 98% up.

All along the path to the turnoff, I had clear blue skies and absolutely magnificent views across the whole caldera. Apart from my starting point of Dos d'Ane, I could pretty much see all the places I'd visited on this hike: Aurere was nestled against the giant mountain next to it, Grand Place glistened in the morning light and Roche Plate was high across on the right. Going straight through the middle of the scene was the Riviere des Galets (River of Pebbles), which together with its tributaries, has shaped the entire caldera.

I'm really going to miss these views, plus the peace & quiet of the mountain villages.

But I have a plane to catch this evening so can't stand here admiring the views & taking photos all day! Onwards & upwards!

Quite a few people had told me about the path up to Le Maido, warning me about how incredibly steep it was. I was starting to believe I'd basically be rock climbing 1,000m up to get out of the caldera today. As it turned out, the path was indeed steep, but not really any steeper than the other tracks I'd already done - just longer & more sustained.

No sooner had I turned onto the path leading up to Le Maido, than the first of the clouds started rolling in. After I'd completed about 25% of the path, I was entirely surrounded by white & couldn't see more than 50m in any direction for the rest of the climb.

The hike was supposed to take about 3 hours but I was pushing it a bit to make up for my lost time spent wandering in the forest so ended up doing the whole thing in about 2 hours. Although I was incredibly hot & sweaty by the time I reached the top, I was feeling pretty good, especially considering I didn't lose the path again!

Most of the time, I just hiked along by myself but every now & then, my huffing, boot thumping and pole prodding were interrupted by a runner, usually going in the opposite direction but also the odd one or two who passed me with far more strength & endurance than I could muster!

It seems quite a few people were out training for the 165km cross-Island ultra marathon.

When I finally reached the top, it was a bit of an anticlimax as there are just two wooden poles, a sign telling you where you are & which way to the car park plus a whole lot of whiteness everywhere. Maybe I'll come back another time & see what the view is supposed to look like from that point.

I paused a little to celebrate my accomplishment in my head & was passed by another hiker & his dog who asked me if I was lost (the hiker did, not the dog). I replied that I was just on my way to find the bus. He said he was going the same way so I followed him down the rocky path for 10 minutes until we reached the road.

He pointed out the bus shelter and I went down to see when the next bus would be. Unfortunately for me, there were actually no buses at all scheduled for Dimanche (Sunday). I went back to check with him about this & make sure I was reading it right.

"Yes, probably there are none today. This doesn't surprise me," he replied. "But don't worry, we will take you to St Paul and you can catch a bus from there."

I was very thankful for his kind offer & gratefully accepted As my only real backup plan involved asking someone to call an expensive taxi, which would probably cost at least 100 EUR (AUD 150) from there.

While we waited for his girlfriend to join us, I patted Lorenzo - that was the dog's name, not the hiker's. The hiker's name was Francoise & was from Brittany in France originally but had been in Réunion for 12 years. His girlfriend was from southern Spain but spoke French extremely well (or at least it sounded like it to me).

They'd brought a mattress up the night before & had slept up there so they could do Le Maido down & up as a bit of a fun practice run in the morning. Very fit people!!

A moment later, I was reminded that I was well & truly out of the peaceful caldera as 20 four-wheeler bikes came roaring past. Yeah, I didn't miss that! Lorenzo didn't either as he was quite scared by the bikes roaring past.

According to his car, it was a cool 18C at the top of the mountain but I watched the temperature increase as we drove down for 45 minutes into St Paul. It was up to 31C by the time we reached the bus terminal. Lorenzo must have been a bit tired out from his run as he rested his head on my knee quite a few times during the trip.

Francoise was playing some lovely French classics from his phone as we wound our way down the mountain & it seemed a relaxing & fitting end to my hiking trip.

I offered them some money for the trip but they refused of course so I thanked them profusely, said goodbye & headed off to figure out how to get from there to St Dennis.

After walking around a little, I found a bus stop marked "Nord" (north) & enquired of the two older guys sitting there whether this one went to St Dennis. After much discussion, most of it I couldn't understand much to their dismay (I'm pretty sure one of them said something like "How come you come here but don't speak French!"), I finally understood that they were telling me to take the 04 bus.

I walked around to the other side of the sign & could see that pretty much all 4 buses that stopped at this stop would all go to St Dennis but then I spotted one that seemed to be an express service between the airports of St Denis & St Pierre & would only make two stops between St Paul & St Denis, one of which looked like it was probably quite close to my hotel where I'd need to go to pick up my bag. Without the internet, it was hard to tell but it looked about right.

I found where to buy a ticket, laid my 5 EUR on the desk & feeling quite proud of myself, bought my ticket back to St Dennis.

The bus arrived about 15 minutes late & I was starting to wonder whether I'd somehow missed it. My only comfort was that the couple next to me, who were sitting there with their suitcases, also looked agitated. I hope they weren't late for their flight!

Conscious of how badly I smelled from sweating bucket loads all morning combined with pants & boots that hadn't been dry for 4 days, I tried to sit as far away from everyone else on the bus as I could. Probably still not far enough!

I hopped out at the Gare St Dennis (St Dennis station), purchased some lunch & asked the owner which way to the street where my hotel was. He gave me some vague directions & I started off to try & follow these. Fortunately, I spotted a sign that said: "Internet gratuit" (free internet). Thankful for the signal again, I logged on & Google Mapped my way to the hotel, which was just a 10-minute walk away ... in the opposite direction to what the guy has just told me! Thanks mate!

With signal, navigating a foreign city is so much easier and so I had no trouble finding my way back to the hotel. Thankfully, my bag was just where I'd left it & so I repacked everything, washed my face in a vain effort to reduce my stinkiness (no showers available, unfortunately) & got them to call a taxi for me.

I felt sorry for the taxi driver who immediately wound down the windows without saying a word, even though it was a hot day.

Upon arriving at the airport, I enquired at the information counter as to whether there were any showers anywhere there. She advised that there were some however they were after security & immigration so I grabbed some clean clothes out of my suitcase plus a few other essentials, checked my bag in & made my way through departures.

I found the shower easily enough, only to find that it was marked "Out if order"! You've got to be kidding me!!

After looking around and not finding another one anywhere else in the terminal, I returned to the out of order one, moved the sign to the side & tested just how "out of order" it actually was. Everything seemed to be working fine to me so I just took a shower anyway! I sat down afterwards outside the gate & looked through the 500 messages that had accumulated while I'd been out trekking & feeling pretty good about both the day & the trip in general.

At the start, I'd set out to have a "Huckleberry Finn" type of unplanned adventure and as I walked down the ramp to the plane, it's exactly what it felt like I'd had.

Sure, there had been some ups and downs (both literally & figuratively) but for the most part, it had been a hugely fun, enjoyable & rewarding experience.

I believe that hiking in magnificent mountains is something we all need to do sometimes.

Not all who wander are lost.