Our longest day today, 26 or so kilometres. I don’t know exactly because my Strava failed to record for some reason, very disappointing. My handful of followers won’t know how hard I worked today.
We had a suitably early start, not too difficult considering how early we’d gone to bed. Breakfast at 7:30 was at a little place down the road, the same people who had delivered our dinner the night before. Not surprisingly, breakfast was spartan. We were on the trail again at 8 am. Again Simon discovered at a late hour that we were time pressured, as the last bus to our accommodation was at 4:45.
We covered about the same amount of up as we had the day before, but it seemed overall a much nicer day as it was more spread out. There was only one short section where I was at the front and it went very steeply up for a long period of time, and I was tossing up between pushing Simon over the edge or throwing myself off, just to get a bit of a break, but that was the worst bit. Luckily we made it to the top without any murder suicide and I felt much better after a nice piece of chocolate and a sit down.
The path was mostly forested and rural. Some of it was along quiet country lanes but most was through the forest, and very well maintained. At one point we came across a group of people sweeping the path on a steep rocky downhill section. Toilets were regularly located and generally well functioning. I found one composting toilet that had heated seats!
The other lifesaving feature of the trail that I’ve greatly appreciated is the vending machines. This isn’t just for snacks and cold drinks but today we found one for ice-creams and another that had hot drinks. Here is me with a hot sweet milky black tea.
It was a chilly day, with a high of ten degrees, mostly still and sunny but we did get a bit of wind and rain early in the afternoon.
I have quickly got used to the poles, and felt so bereft after I lent one to Kirsten briefly that I found a stick to use temporarily. I particularly like them for the up hill. I’ve decided I prefer my standard technique of controlled falling for the downhills.
Simon and I both did some nature spotting. I have disappointed my family at home by not finding any insects at all so far, but I did find some pitcher plants today. Simon found a snake.
Lunch was another underwhelming bento box, made by the same lady who provided last nights dinner and this mornings breakfast. So, that’s three from three.
We got to the end with 45 minutes to spare, so took advantage of the time waiting for the bus by having a substantial snack at a local cafe.
The process of catching the bus wasn’t straightforward but we made it in the end and arrived at our accommodation at 5:30, with dinner due at 6:30. The small town is situated amongst some natural hot springs, and in fact the hotel has several of its own natural spring baths. This almost made up for the lack of en suites.
Once again we had to make our beds ourselves, the traditional flat mattress directly on the floor, not very comfortable at all.
Dinner was delicious and substantial which was greatly appreciated, as was the homemade plum wine. Must buy some to take home.
