Eggs are magnificent I have decided.
My problem for the last few days has almost certainly been a lack of eggs. Fun Gums for dinner and the odd cheese and pickle sandwich for breakfast do not fuel the body enough for this kind of thing. That is obvious Ali.....I can hear you thinking this.
After eating a massive wholesome breakfast at the "Riverside hotel" containing two poached eggs, I found I could walk again. I had a surprising amount of energy and made me realise just how bad yesterday had felt. I need to remember this when I get home and eat eggs way more.
The guide book now frequently refers to "progressive bogginess". I had thought it boggy before but today was quagmire central.
We had to ascend up a steep bank next to the forest and I felt like I was in the Amazon. I had to fight back the head high greenery, suffer the oppressive humidity, swat the flys and midges while trying to climb a ninety degree incline of quag. Two steps up, three slides back and a boot full of thick sludge.
But my eggs were working.
More level bog on top.
Then miles of forestry track again into Byrness. Very nice of the Forestry Commission to welcome us but what about a bench or a tuck shop or some tea?
We stayed at the YHA that had been bought privately by a very enterprising couple. Great to finally find someone dialling into the possibilities of walkers on the national trails.
I spend a lot of time thinking about this as I walk. Thinking about my experiences in the various B&B's, bunk houses, campsites and how I would do it differently. It doesn't take much to please us walkers, we are an appreciative bunch but we do have some unusual needs that could easily be accommodated should you know what they are. I won't go into it all now but I know how I would run my accommodation if I had a place on a national trail.
Anyway this couple had it down and were openly proud of themselves.
"We have it all, we do here" he kept on saying as he flung open the various cupboards full of goodies for our consumption " Fully licensed we are here" as he showed us his cupboard of liquor and local ales. "we do bag transport and pick up and drop off we do here". "you wash your clothes out here in this bucket, spin them in this here machine and hang them to dry here". "breakfast is in the fridge here" as he opened it up to reveal individually priced tomatoes, eggs, sausages and pieces of bread. "You just help yourself you do here and fill out this slip with how much you owe", "hundred percent occupancy we now have here".
The last part of the YHA tour took us into an extremely smelly boot room. "you put your boots in this here dry room, fill them with newspaper and put on these here flip flops".
"We have it all, we do here". "Dinner will be in an hour".
Too much information and they failed to tell us how to get back in the hostel and Mick and I found ourselves hilariously locked out twice.
Our other concern was then how to get more beer from the cupboard as this one remained locked. "You ring us three times on our mobile and then hang up and we know then that you need more beer and it doesn't cost you the call". He winked. "We have everything sorted here".
Brilliant. And dinner was great. She had made mega batches of various dishes and frozen them to be cooked individually. I had veggies and rice in a sweet Thai chilli sauce and chocolate sponge with custard for dessert. Yum.
Joining us for dinner was a family from Australia walking John O'Groats to Lands End and doing exactly my route except the other way round. They had been going 7 weeks and had been on the Pennine Way three days. And I thought I was so unique. There was also a group of runners we had met previously doing a section of the Pennine Way. In fact there was a whole host of people staying here, doing various outdoor activities and for some reason the youth hosteling association had been dumb enough to sell. This couple had the foresight to realise that they had a captive audience because there was only one other b&b in the village and absolutely nowhere to buy anything, not even a pub.
The topic of conversation over dinner turned to bog. The next section is again "progressively boggy" and a story emerged of a guy yesterday going up to his waist in it and had a mucky tide mark to prove it. His cell phone had been ruined and he was incapable of getting out without help. We talked about sucking bogs but were informed that these probably weren't of the sucking kind but they didn't sound too convinced.
I will be more careful over the bogs tomorrow.
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