GWoC - 26.10.15 A mini-adventure!

Monday 26 October 2015

Our alarm went off at 07:05 and I had slept ok, but not completely soundly so could’ve been better rested. We had to meet for breakfast at 07:30 and then set off on the coach to the start of our walk.

It was very claggy this morning, with thick mist hanging in the air. We began on a very dilapidated section of the wall with some steep climbs, rocky paths and uneven steps. 

It wasn’t an easy stroll and some of the sections had some quite hairy drop aways to one or both sides. 

The mist hung around all morning but it did add to the atmosphere and provide some pretty fabulous views, even if it was in the mist. It was quite chilly today and my shorts stayed back at the hotel!

I walked with Sarah, Janine and Dean at the back but we were also joined by Denise and Becky in the morning as they weren’t enjoying the steep drops next to the path. Leroy and Mike were giving them lots of support. It was fantastic to see the team helping each other. 

4 of the group did a different walk this morning and hired porters to carry their bags. These were local women who were great, helping them every step of the way as well as carrying their bags.

The plan was to stop at a farmhouse for a hot drink but the group had naturally split into 2 due to the different speeds of walking over some of the tough terrain. The front half was led by Alan, who knew where he was going, and the second half had us and Dean, who didn't. We guessed that we should follow some pink dots and arrows painted onto the path. Wrong! When we came to a fork in the path in some farmland we turned right, following the pink dots, instead of continuing straight on. That was our mistake. We ended up on top of a ridge thinking that we must have gone wrong because we couldn't see any sign of the front of the group.

Thank goodness we had the satellite phone!

Dean tried to contact Alan on the radio but without success, so he used the satellite phone to ring Marni at 360 Expeditions to say we were lost (it was 07:00 in the UK). She rang Alan’s mobile and asked him to switch his radio on. About 10 minutes later Alan’s voice came over the radio. We realised where we’d gone wrong and retraced our steps back to the fork and took the correct path, where we met Alan coming back for us.

He lead us through farmland, passing people tending their crops, to the farmhouse where we bought a hot drink for 15YN before continuing on back to the wall, to a much better condition part.

This very friendly dog lived at the farmhouse

 The building almost in the centre of this photo is the farmhouse

 There were wall to wall views.

When we were almost back to the wall we spotted a big dog walking in the woodland a fair way away on the other side of the valley. He was really big; maybe even a wolf! We eventually got to the wall and climbed up the steps onto it and as we were looking back down onto the path that we had just walked along we saw the dog down below.

It must have seen us when we were walking on the trail and followed. Others (our intrepid leader for instance) may tell a different version, involving having to fight off a rabid wolf with his bare hands to save us!

The whole group rejoined here and we walked along the wall a bit further but here it was in much better condition.

We had a group photo taken with us wearing our red CAAT t-shirts.

Walking buddy selfie of the day: Sarah, Mike, me, Dean & Janine

By this time the mist had cleared, it was nearing dusk, and there was a beautiful warm orange tinge to the sky.

The views were magnificent, as ever.

We got off the wall at a very grand tower where there was a big statue and huge relief picture on the wall.

As the light was failing and dusk was falling we walked down the road to the hotel. As we walked down the road back to the hotel there were various signs to read. We certainly took plenty of memories! We stopped at a coffee shop just before the hotel and I had a hot chocolate and cheesecake: yum!

We had about an hour til we needed to be in the restaurant for dinner so we went back to the room and showered. The menu was the same as ever but was tasty so we were happy.

Dean struggling to brief us about the next day after being plied with rice wine!

Dean was absent from our 2 tables tonight because he was sitting with the coach drivers and porters, drinking rice wine and eating a selection of 'delicacies' they had prepared for him. He ate sheep’s eyeballs, anus and spinal cord. Yuk!! He joined us to give a briefing about the next day’s walk but he was struggling after being given 1.5 cups of rice wine to drinkk!! Perhaps eating these delicacies on already dodgy guts wasn’t the best idea, but he didn’t want to offend as it’s seen as a great honour.

A group of Americans were also dining tonight and it was one of their group’s birthday. The staff wheeled out a huge elaborately decorated birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday. The girl whose birthday it was shared the cake with us and there was more than enough to go round. It was a sponge cake covered in cream and fruit.

We walked to the paper cutter's studio in the light of an almost full moon. It was biting cold though, I guess because there was no cloud cover. I browsed the impressive paper cutting pictures but wasn't tempted to buy anything. I was pretty shattered so my bed was calling me!