What a day in the valley, absolute beauty, stunning for
every step I took out there today. So, why almost perfect I here you ask? My
niggle, plain and simple. I ran today, in fact I ran for nearly all of the 35km
I had to run, but, just had a that funny dull pain that just stops you from
being totally comfortable, had me on a knife edge all day wondering if anything
might just put me back where I was last week.
Enough of the niggle thing it seems to be all I can think
about at the moment and I’m sick of hearing about it in my head, so you most
certainly must be? So let me start again.
The Crown Station was the start of what was a perfect day in
the Wolgan Valley, which I learnt today is the second largest valley in the
world by acreage, coming in behind, of course the Grand Canyon.
If you have never been to this part of the world I suggest
you do, if it’s not to run then just take in the pure beauty.
The day was flat, very flat. This was due to me being in the heart of the valley and had views all day of the cliffs and mountains either side that make up the valley walls. It was Australian farmland at its best; I got to see every farm animal imaginable roaming around the pastures, including a turkey the size of a Siamese wombat! Eagles soared above casting shadows over me as they flew overhead.
Vickie caught up to me as I ran down the dirt road; she
would be helping me out today as she had access. This was good for me as I
didn’t have to carry my pack which at times can be heavy. I didn’t realize how
heavy until I had my talk at the ANT Gym in Portland and the owner tried it on
and reckoned it was around 10kg. Was I really carrying that much around with
me? 4Ltrs of water makes up about 4kg which I suspect is the bulk of it, but
with a first aid, safety equipment, GPS devices, and spare cloths and of cause
food, I suppose things add up.
The weather was amazing, blue skies and a sun with some heat in it, I decided to go shirtless and feel free, I get perhaps why Anton Krupicka runs almost always with his top off. I have the beard now and a hairy chest to back the Anton thing up!
I met with some interesting people along the dirt road
today, funny, as I was passed by about five cars and spoke with about three of
them. They were all locals, friendly and supportive of my attempt and the BNT
on the whole. Interesting lives people lead around these parts. Some are 4th
generation still doing what there folks did before them and loving it.
The BNT passes through the town of Glen Alice, How it
becomes one of those I do not know?, one house, a church and a telephone box
makes up this town. The most interesting thing is that it has a phone box, for
its population of….well I’m guessing, but let’s say four, and perhaps another
10 when it’s a week day, because it also has a school?
It’s the only place on today’s route and we drove back to
stay there the night. Vickie decided to do some training herself and took off
down the track I had run for 10km. Meanwhile I got some wood together and got a
fire going. First time we have done this strangely, we always want to be often
time escapes us. We did it properly with potatoes wrapped in foil and charred some pork chops that Vickie got from some friendly pig farmers. And with the back drop of the valley I sit here typing this up hoping that I can post both todays and yesterday blogs tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment