Having set off early this morning I was quite surprised at the number of cars overspilling the car park at the beginning of the path to the volcano. Even at 0600 there were many, too many? The sky was all but clear and the couple of hours walk to the crater was only marred by the fact that the "entrance" gate was padlocked shut; the sight of lava crazed siteseers crawling under and over was nearly as amusing as the explanation that "someone" had super glued the pad locks! Of course conspiracy theories abound but, this time, nothing was going to stop the masses from reclaiming "their" volcano.
The walk was well worth it and the fascinating natural spectacle was just that. The groaning and spitting of the cone was enticing enough and the lava spewing forth from some hellish candy floss machine had my little camera weeping.
By eleven o'clock the cloud had started to come in and the eruption started to increase in magmatude to such an extent that the candy floss was flitting around more like a swarm of crazed bum burnt butterflies. Time to evacuate - And thanks to the ONF for treating us all as rational human beings.
More photos can be found on my web site - just click on a photo.
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