On Sunday 22nd March we decided it was time to climb Blue Hill itself. I was feeling a bit under the weather (ironic) we eventually left at around 10am. With Ruby’s recent injury we knew we needed to climb slowly and take our time, and that we may not reach the top at all.
It was hot, and it was a long walk. Not too steep but a long steady climb up to the summit. And finally, after three and a half hours, we reached the top!
Notice there were a few clouds forming at this point…
We started walking back down almost immediately (~2pm), keen to make sure we got back before dark. After an hour we were around half way down, and some serious clouds were forming, and a distant rumble of thunder prompted me to get a quick picture because it was amazing how quickly it had changed from hot and sunny, to cloudy and stormy.
We dropped from the top of the main ridge in case the storm blew our way, we knew that it was wise to keep low in case of lightning. We carried on, reaching the bottom of the slope, and all that really stood between us and our cottage was a small valley and then a long flat pateau. But then things took a nasty twist.
A sharp bolt of lightning way to our north seemed to emerge from a cloud that was still forming as is struck. And within seconds another bolt hit much closer to our west. The second bolt was far too close for comfort, and we knew we needed to get lower so we made a run for the nearby little valley, dropping our bags and electrical equipment along the way because they could attract a lightning strike.
We sat in the valley and waited as the storm grew and hovered over our heads. There wasn’t enough wind to blow it over so we laid in the valley listening to bolts strike to our north, west and east in quick succession, some of which were so frighteningly close that we could hear the crackling of the electricity. I will tell you now that I was pretty terrified at this point. Storms over here do not mess about. The rain had also started hammering down, the first rainfall inn the area since November! Great for the plants, terrible for us.
The rain had now soaked us and we were starting to shiver so we needed to start moving because the storm wasn’t going anywhere. But we couldn’t take the path home as we would have been the tallest things on the plateau, making us a possible target for a lightening bolt. So after half an hour we decided to crawl through the valley downstream, abandoning our bags. I was 85% sure it would lead round to the South Road which had high cliffs either side so that we could safely walk back. And there was literally no other option.
After crawling through all kinds of messy rocks and prickly bushes we found ourselves at a part of the stream which was already flowing really heavily from the rainfall so we couldn’t cross it. We had to stick to our side of the slope and climb round the rocks, which were now really quite slippy. We steadily made our way over a small hill, keeping as low as we could and found a way down to the stream, and a way to cross onto the South Road.
We staggered home, drenched, muddy and a bit shaken up. Ruby is also covered in cuts and bruises on her legs from the crawling. We had a warm meal and burnt wood in the log burner all evening to warm up. It had been scary but it felt good knowing we had found our own way out of such a sticky situation with limited options.
The following morning I returned to find our bags drenched through but in tact. We laid all of our things out in the sun to dry and luckily, there was very little damage done. Even our cameras worked again after some time to dry!
We learnt a lot of lessons from the harsh change in weather that day. Most importantly, always be prepared for the worst, no matter how unlikely it seems. Take care everyone! x
Lambey in Africa 