Day 125 Cross-Island hike

The hike is not a walk - it is a scramble
Peter and Felicity showed up at 10 as planned. They left their car at the harbor as the hike began on a road directly across from the boat. A reasonable paved street led toward to mountain. When the pavement ended, a sign pointed to a dirt road and a larger sign showed the highlights and elevation of the trail. At the end of the dirt road, there were several paths and we followed what looked like the obvious trail to a dead end. Just as we returned to the branch a young man on a motor scooter came along and directed us to the proper path. This path wound its way uphill to a stream where all evidence of a trail vanished. Because I had seen this in other island hikes I expected that the path was up the stream bed and sure enough after scrambling over rocks for a while we came to another trail. This one angled steeply up hill and was only negotiable by holding onto the numerous roots growing out of the hill side. At this point we had hike for about 30 or 40 minutes.
The next three and a half hours were a repeat of the hill side scramble. The trail was either so steep that it required pulling one's self up using the roots or it was an entanglement of branches, roots and logs that required climbing over, ducking under or both. This would have made a great Marine training exercise. It was a much greater test of fitness than any of us anticipated. Also, without knowing how long the trail was or how far we had progressed, we were not sure whether we should be persuaded to go on because it was not very far or turn back because there was a long way to go. Nevertheless, we pushed on to the end.
There were only a few places where the repetition of the scramble was broken. At the top of the mountain we were climbing, we emerged from the forest at the foot of the needle we saw at the beginning of the trail. This was a spire of volcanic rock that rose probably 50 to 100 feet. On the North side there was a chain bolted into the rock and a sign that warned of the danger of proceeding. Slipping would have been followed by a large vertical drop that would end anyone's vacation. I decided to let the risk speak for itself and declined the challenge.
Near the needle was a clearing where we had lunch. No sooner had we began munching on some left-over pizza than the beggar patrol arrived in the form of a very colorful rooster. I surmised that he was employed by some government department to keep the area clean of any dropped food. He was quite enthusiastic about his assignment and boldly approached within grabbing distance. I wondered how he would taste with a nice gravy but decided that he was probably just doing his job.
The descent was no more forgiving than the assent and there were places where sliding down the slippery path was a safer alternative than trying to walk.
The path ended again at the stream where there was a waterfall and a car park. We walked the last half mile to the ring road and caught the "Anticlockwise" bus back to the harbor.
The hike was concluded with a few very well needed and deserved beers at a waterside restaurant.
Thanks to Peter and Felicity for your company. It was very enjoyable and without it I might not have pushed on alone.