Day 3: Latte, shoe shopping and extra kms

The campsite provided a beautiful sunset and sunrise: 



And today, I found much better spots for my breaks - morning tea with a vanilla latte and online shoe shopping (I realised that my trusted trail running shoes are not going to be suitable to get me + a 15+kg backpack through the next 950km) (online shopping on top of a hill to the rescue - my new Salomon shoes will be waiting for me in Dwellingup!) and a chat with Birger. Who says doing a thru hike means roughing it?? I thought this was pretty sophisticated ??


Lunch at mount dale - long climb, nice views

I read that there have been big fires all along the track in 2005. The last bit before lunch looked like it hadnt burned in a while - grass trees were much higher
There are a few wild flowers around, but it’s probably too dry and too late in the season for lots of them. 





I missed  a turn off after taking a detour off the track to get water - and ended up walking an extra 2km until I noticed that I was back to my lunch spot. 
The fact that I just turned around, went “oh well...” and grabbed my afternoon mueslibar. I guess it shows that I?m already starting to relax ??- no temper tantrum, no tears, not even an f...bomb! 

So instead of 28km, it was probably more a 32km day. Oh well. 






Comments

  1. CorkyMarch 30, 2021 at 3:26 PM

    Oh the extra kilometres, some days it really put me a foul mood. You're doing great. I feel like I'm walking with you. Hope the new shoes work out OK.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JuliaMarch 31, 2021 at 10:17 PM

      They arrived today, Salomon trail hikers, I think it’s what you are wearing, too. Will see how things go, I have a podiatrist on speed dial 😂

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 19 and the first rain (and Birger’s bday)

Image
11 April, 26km I had the best night’s sleep- it wasn’t too cold (well, I was sleeping in my thermals and with a beanie) and I guess I was pretty hammered from walking 43 km yesterday).  I sent Birger a birthday message via the Garmin and realised that it actually looks a lot like the phone I had when we first met 😂 anyone remember the Alcatel with a bulky antenna?! As I was leaving, I noticed the sign showing the path in the other direction. Yeah, it’s going to Kalamunda...in like...555km...  It was a bit overcast as I took off and started to drizzle- and looking at the sky, I was pretty sure that it was going to be a question of when , not if I was going to get rained on.  The trail was easy this morning, and it sometimes looked like I was walking through a green tunnel - less burns, more undergrowth. I crossed over some very green farmland, saw an emu running along the path ahead of me and made pretty quick progress towards Pemberton.  I took a break at Big Brook...
Read more

Day 4: Brookton to Monadnock’s

Image
I’ve been having daily small equipment malfunctions: Day 1: ripped a hole into my $40 merino hiking superundies (and I don’t own much expensive underwear, I’m usually more the “any 3 for $11.99” kind of undie girl... anyway, TMI?!),  Day 2: realised that it?s the back pocket of my hiking pants that causes chafing under my hip belt. Not pretty, but I’ve plastered a dressing over it. Thank god for the blister pack Damian provided :-)  Day 3: hole in my sleeping mat.  Oh well, if that’s as bad as it gets, I’m going to be ok!  Pretty flat start this morning, and a bit of walking under a power line with some highway noises in the background. Given I haven’t seen anyone, it’s surprising how close I am to civilisation.  It was nice to turn back into the bush after crossing the highway.  There seems to be a bit more fauna around, I’ve been seeing more birds and had a few wallabies cross the path and there is more rustling in the undergrowth- snakes? Lizards?  ...
Read more

A big day in ever respect

Image
  16  April, 41km: Dog Pool to Woolbales  I left Dog Pool before sunrise and walked into a beautiful dawn.  The first 20km to Mt Chance, I was flying along very flat sandy paths and forest roads and arrived just after 10am. I climbed up Mt. Chance (not much of a climb - total height above sea level a whooping 159m). Great views of the grassy plains I’ve been walking through pretty much since Northcliffe. But even at the top still no phone reception- I haven’t had reception since Warren hut on Monday!  The trail crosses through a lot of what looks like (and is described as) swamp and flood plains and the fact that there are lots of board walks and little bridges tells me it may not always be this dry... at the moment, it is dry and there are swamp bottle brush dotting the bush with red pom-poms everywhere.  The afternoon was less easy walking, another 21km to the next shelter, through more grassland, but also sometimes pretty overgrown swamp that looked like...
Read more