High Aspirations
10 June 2009 | St. Pierre, Martinique
Canal de Beauregard
June 10
Walking a narrow ledge above several hundred feet of drop at Canal de Beauregard initially caused a bit of angst, but, after a time, pancreas got fatalistic and discontinued adrenalin production, probably thinking "screw it, if he dies, he dies". The eight kilometer out and back was much easier returning as by then the rest of me didn't much care either.
Distillerie Depaz on the slopes by Mt. Pelee volcano is run by a steam engine that once powered the fountains at Chateau de Versailles. Works much better than the 6hp water wheel that ran the place before the 1902 eruption killed everyone and blackened all the old construction. Free tour cost bottles of rum and coconut punch.
Now here's the really stupid part. David, from Jackster, and I climbed to a peak en route to the caldera of Pelee, not much higher, but more than a hop and skip laterally. Hands and feet rock crawl into perpetual cloud around summit was easier than return. Fortunately second episode of dizzying height did not cause sufficient retreat of knackers (ask an Englishman) to effect breathing. Liberal administration of ibuprofen and rum now underway in hopes of avoiding bulbous, disgruntled knees. Second medicine, while ameliorative, is unaccountably not officially approved.
Car available all morning tomorrow, so expect additional exploration before decamping to Fort de France PM.
"If not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled." - P. G. Wodehouse
Jack