Today we will hike down the rest of the way to the bottom of the mountain. We wake up at 5:30 AM due to all the noise and it is a bit uncomfortable, but hang out in our sleeping bags until 7:30 AM. We also want to give Jacqui the chance to get as much rest as possible. We have a quick breakfast and then pack up our stuff. By 8 AM we are on our way down the trail. And are we glad that we have broken the descent into two days. One of the porters has made Jacqui a walking stick, which comes into good use.
This is the steepest part of the trail - between Huts 2 and 1 - and we can feel it in our knees and legs. It is quite a rough trail to go down, but we make slow and steady progress. Jacqui is still feeling a bit dizzy, but she does very well and keeps up quite a good pace. As we get lower, she starts to feel better. As we began to get close to Hut 1, some clouds started to drift in - but in the end they caused us no problems.
We arrive at Hut 1 at 10:30 AM. After a short break, we re-fill our water bottles at the stream and carry on our way. The trail now gets much easier - it is not so steep and we have entered the rain forest zone. We take our time and observe the various plants and flowers. We also take the time to have a chat with one of the porters about his job - it is quite interesting. We respect what they do for very little pay.
We get to the bottom of the Guinness Trail shortly before 1 PM, where we catch a taxi back to the Mountain Lodge. Once at the Lodge, we take it easy, have lunch, re-pack some of our bags and have a quick shower. The truck has come up from Limbe to pick us up (some members of the group did not climb the mountain and they spent the time at the beach instead).
It is a one hour drive to Seme New Beach Hotel, where we arrive at 7 PM. Several of us decide to have a quick hamburger at the restaurant, rather then prepare our own meal off the truck. We then set up our tent and are in bed before 10 PM.