Climbing a volcano for sunrise!

I'd booked on the trip with Mel and Jodie from Manchester, to climb the volcano- Mount Batur, for sunrise. I slept through my alarm and ended up madly rushing around at 1.55am to meet the group at 2am!

We were taken in the car for about an hour where we stopped to have a breakfast at 3am (!) of banana pancakes. 

The night sky was incredible. I don't think I've ever seen so many stars. We were given a flash light, and with our jumpers and trousers on, as it was quite cold, we started the climb. 

It took a while before it started to get steep. It felt more like we were going for a stroll rather than climbing a volcano! After walking for a while, we climbed further. Some places were quite steep and we had to use our hands as well. 

As it was dark, the climb didn't seem as bad as you can only take it one step at a time - as that's all you can see. You could see the flashlights of the people in front like stars on the hill.

When eventually we reached the top, the sunrise was beautiful. The sky was a array of orange and red, with the silhouette of another mountain poking through the clouds. 

   Another mountain with the sunrise

Me celebrating getting up the mountain

        Me, Jodie and Mel

Just when we started to get comfortable, the guide told us that we actually weren't at the top and needed to climb up some more to get there. We waited until the sun had risen and then climbed to the top.

The climb seemed pretty hard as I was getting tired by then. Some of it was just the ash from the volcano so it was quite slippery in places.

        Climbing up to the top

The climb was definitely worth the view. From the top, you could see right in the volcanic crater. 

   The river where the volcano is

          Me at the top

       At the volcanic crater

After we'd had a second breakfast of banana sandwiches and a boiled egg (!) and were done absorbing the view, we made our way down. The sun had now fully risen in the sky- it was about 7am. 

The journey down was almost as hard as the way up. Where the ash and rocks were loose it meant it was easy to slip and slide down! I spent most of the way down sitting down! 

The slippery ash

Trying to climb down the steep bits

Some areas had gravel like small stones so my shoes were quickly filled with them. As Mount Batur is a live volcano, on the way back, we stopped at a cave and felt the wall. It was really hot! 

      At the start/ end of the climb

We were glad once we made it to the van to take us back to the hostel.