La Soufriere forms the spectacular centre of Basse Terre the western wing of the Guadeloupe butterfly. The 2 main islands of Guadeloupe are known as butterfly wings as that’s the shape they form when looked at together. It is an active volcano which last erupted in 1976. In recent years it has seen increased activity with an earthquake in 2004 which was associated with the volcano! There are many signs warning people of the increased activity and to stay away from the poisonous gases that it emits in certain areas.

Get an early start the locals told us! If we didn’t arrive early we would need to park our car so far down the volcano that the walk to and from the car was a hike in its own right! So we woke up in the dark at 6am, packed snacks and lunch, rain jackets which were also advised and lots of water.

The drive from Deshaies took about an hour and a half, we drove along the coastline that we had sailed along a few days prior, it was great to get a new perspective on the anchorages we had stayed in and to view the ones we had missed.

After navigating 950m up the windy roads to the base of the volcano, we managed to find a parking about a 10 minute walk from the start of the hike. At the start there was hot water spring pool in the heart of the tropical rainforest called Bains Jaunes. We managed to bypass the pool without the children wanting to swim and found ourselves deep in the rainforest, surrounded by fresh water streams, huge towering trees, humming birds and dense ferns and plants all around our path. It was absolutely stunning!

The well maintained path through the forest climbs approximately 150m before the forest abruptly clears and you pop out in a complete change of landscape. A treeless windblown, cold, misty clearing called Savane a Mulets (1142m) which use to be the old car park, no longer accessible due to the damage done to the road in the 2004 earthquake. Apparently there is also a magnificent view from here, but sadly due to the cloud cover we never saw any views. The weather had also dramatically changed, it was extremely windy, cold and wet. The path was now much steeper and less maintained and consisted of slippery rocks and mud. I found myself constantly looking down to plan every step with great care so that I didn’t slip and fall. The kids on the other hand were right at home and clambered up the path with ease leaving us parents behind!

Towards the end of the hike with the smell of sulphur in the air we now needed to do a bit of climbing too, which involved more than just planning our steps but also using our hands to pull ourselves up the rocks. The wind was very strong at the top section and I often found myself waiting behind a large rock for the gust to pass before climbing up the next section. Shawn had caught up with the boys by now and had to hold on tightly to Nathan so he didn’t blow away!

By the time I got to top I was very pleased to see there was a weather shelter to hide from the wind in. Shawn and the kids had been in there for a good 15 minutes already. We were drenched, cold and tired! We decided it was a perfect spot to warm up again and recharge with some food and water. I wasn’t looking forward to going back out there into the wind.

We eventually motivated ourselves to go back down. The kids were adamant the wanted to go to the exact summit pole which was at 1467m. I tried to make it there with them but the wind was way to strong for me and the mist meant we couldn’t see anything anyway.

The descent was for me a little more challenging than the accent. I found I had to concentrate a lot harder so that I didn’t slip. Also going down always turns my legs and knees to jelly. The kids raced down whilst I took it slow.

All in all the whole hike took us around 3/3.5 hours up and down. It was really beautiful, and I really felt like I had worked hard, in the morning my body can definitely feel it! My only regret is that we didn’t pick a nicer day to do it on. It would have been so nice to see the magnificent views and not to fend off the 40 knots of wind! I probably would have taken a better windbreaker to keep me dry too!

Hike to the top of an active volcano – done!!