Sadly it is now time to say goodbye to Angharad who has to return to Qatar as term starts on Sunday. However we all spent some time in the jacuzzi in the morning sunshine but as we prepared to leave we could see the storm clouds gathering and sure enough on the journey inland and through the mountains the heavens opened. As we descended to the coast and the airport the rain disappeared and the sun shone again.
After dropping off Angharad we carried on to Mahebourg,the major town on the eastern seaboard, and Miranda's husband Greg's home town . It has a nice promenade overlooking the bay which was the site of France's only naval victory over the British during the Napoleonic wars. It didn't do them much good as within the year the island was captured in a sneaky land invasion round the back. As Britain was only interested in protecting it's trade routes to India they left the
French plantation owners alone and their way of life carried on; which is why it's a francophone country that drives on the left. After the abolition of slavery the British imported all the workers required for the expansion of the sugar industry from India as indentured labourers. Consequently Mosques and Hindu temples sit cheek by jowl with churches and whilst we were in Mahebourg the temple was very busy and the smell of incense wafted around us. Just offshore is a small island called Red Hanky island which made Greg want to live on his own little island.
As the mountains were still covered in rain clouds we decided to take the much longer coastal road through all the neatly planted sugar cane fields,passing old sugar mills with their characteristic small squat square chimneys and through small sleepy villages with their French colonial names from the local plantations. We stopped off to walk amongst the trees on the cliffs along this part of the coast. There is no coral reef here and although the beaches are lovely sea bathing is too dangerous so the coast is undeveloped. As we approached home the earlier rain in the mountains had caused some culverts to be blocked and we had to pass single file with the firemen desperately trying to clear the blockages.
After all that excitement a quiet dip in the pool and a nice chilled wine watching the sunset and of course the obligatory fireworks!