This was a killer walk. I didn’t even ask how long it was going to be. I knew it was long. You just had to keep going and going and going. No matter how much your brain was protesting. Just keep those legs moving one after the other at all costs. Each time the environment changed you felt the progress. High bush, turned to steep misty forest, to flatter woodland, to thin tracked gorge, to farm land, gravel track, hot tarmac, then painted roads. Finally finally we saw houses. Like landing-strip lights, the wooden letter box lined road spelling hope, and the path to dinner and bedtime. But will our knees stay lubricated long enough? Will we seize up completely before we make it? :) The sight of a dairy shop on the horizon was joyous. It meant in the plateau’s hot sun that the relief of an ice cold, bubbly, juicy coca cola was on the cards. And when I finally cracked it open and poured the cold, sugary liquid-medicine into my mouth, I swear it was one of the best things I’d ever drunk… Thank god for Coca Cola.
We got to the trail end at Poads Road about 4.30pm and were pretty pooped. All we had left to do was about 7 miles of road to Levin. We’d already walked this section of road a few days before and remembered it as ‘not that bad, pretty easy’. That was fresh faced setting out in the morning though, on the way back after a hard day already it felt much, much longer! Feet were a bit wet from walking through bogs all day and starting to burn up on the hot tarmac..
We made it to town by about 7pm and to celebrate to went out to Rangoli Indian Resturant for an awesome curry :) I would definitely recommend this place, and also the imported Indian beer Haywards 5000, it’s quite a potent brew and perfect for washing down an ‘Indian Hot’ curry. For those who don’t know, over here you get the choice of how hot your curry is - Mild, Medium, Hot, Kiwi Hot, or Indian Hot. Today was definitely an Indian Hot day. Phew.
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