Daily distance:16.7KM
Total distance: 563.21km
It was great being under a roof as the wind came up heavily during the night. Normally this means rain but luckely for us, not tonight. We headed out under heavy overcast skies and freezing cold with a stiff breeze blowing. Heysen humour came out right away and started taking us up the steepest hills from the doorstep. The atitude at the hut was 515m and we climbed from there to 630m in 2km. Then up and down I dont know how many hills as I lost count but for every up there was another even higher up not far away. However the veiws were simply outrageous, and at one stage we could even see the ocean.
The wind was the biggest killer today as it blew non stop and it was freezing. We would be in a valley between two hills and it would be quite warm and we'd be thinking should we remove gloves or not. Then we'd crest the hill and nearly get blow back down but instantly be frozen. It was a challenge!
At the top of one of the mountains I managed to get a message through to Dee to let her know all was OK and to warn her about the cold but could not wait for a reply as it was simply too cold. I realized we had both under estimated the distances and may have over estimated our ability. We planning I had said to her we could double-up on one of the days and get to Spalding a day early. Well we might not be that close by then unless this landscape flattens out a bit!
Spalding is the next big town and also the stop where Dee will be rejoining the trail.... yip very excited. She has arranged a pick-up for us at 16h00 on Saturday, at a junction in the road. The owner os the Barbed Wire Pub in Spalding is a Heysen Friendly person and picks-up and drops-off people along the trail, so we have a pick up we have to meet! Hopefully with our packs gettig lighter we will be able to get the mileage done.
We got to the Black Jack Shelter mid afternoon and have once again pitched our tent inside the shelter. Some dingbat made a fire inside the shelter and did not clean up. So much for 'trail ethics'! We even sneaked in a quick nap before the sun went down.
Tomorrow Caroona Creek Shelter.
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