We’re at mile 730 of 2195 miles, so just an hour’s walk short of one third of the way, and all’s well! Along with most of the other hikers on trail around us, 20 mile days have become standard. Spring has well and truly arrived, newly opened leaves have brought both colour and welcome shade to the woods, and we’re seeing more varieties of spring flowers every day. The weather continues to do its best to surprise us, with torrential downpours, hot sun, a couple of frosty nights, and some cool grey days which were perfect for hiking and felt very British!
Our bodies are mostly behaving pretty well as they adapt to day after day of big miles. Neil has swapped his long trousers for shorts, and as temperatures are forecast to go as high as 27 / 28 degrees Celsius early next week, I might follow suit before prickly heat rash drives me insane!
Anyway, here are some photos of highlights of the last few days, with stories behind them in the captions. Hope you enjoy them!
The porch at Woods Hole hostel. This chestnut log cabin was built in the 1880s. Staffed by volunteers, it was a lovely and peaceful place to stay, with mountains of good vegetarian food for dinner including salad grown in their garden.Near Pearisburg, with pouring rain and spring greenery making it feel very much like a rainforest! We were picked up from Pearisburg by Mike and Andrea Futrell, caving friends of Neil’s who live outside Blacksburg. They entertained us over the weekend, and it was great to get off trail for a couple of days and relax in good company.Andrea very kindly took us to an Asian supermarket so we had a change to our normal range of food! Here Neil is cooking Pad Thai noodles, into which we stirred peanut butter, hot sauce and tuna. It was really good!The Keffer Oak, estimated to be about 300 years old. Amazing to think of the changes to these mountains since it was a seedling in the 1700s.Fires near the Niday shelter. The fires were in the valley below, but the clouds of smoke rose up the valley sides and soon after this we were walking in thick smoke and starting to feel quite nervous! We were later assured that it was a controlled burn, but it then got out of hand in the strong wind, and the trail got closed to hikers after we’d gone through. We were very relieved not to miss a section of trail!Early morning on the trail, Neil doing his best to blend in with the trees Neil at the Dragon’s Tooth – the first of three scenic spots making up the Virginia “Triple Crown” Challenging path on the way down from the Dragon’s Tooth – we loved it!McAfee Knob – absolutely everyone has their photo taken here!View from Tinker Cliffs, early morning – had the place to myself until Neil arrived, much less visited than McAfee Knob but just as lovely Tinker CliffsTinker Cliffs again
Hugh Penney
Woohoo! You’re making good progress!
Eric Gilhooley
I’m really enjoying your posts Tanya. Can’t wait to follow your progress!
Stephanie quarles
If y’all enjoyed the triple crown, y’all will LOVE it when you get to the presidentials!! Love seeing these updates!