Another day of covering some ground with not much to see. Don't get me wrong I know it's part of doing these long trails and whilst the scenery makes it better i am also in this for sheer pleasure of just walking. Some of the roads can hurt a bit after while and then some of the distances can become a bit much with no where to camp when the I reckon the body needs a break. It's easier in the remoter areas to set up beside a road as the traffic is near non existent after dark.
Down this way it's getting busier. So I get up fairly early and am away by 6am in the dark. Then its straight down the range onto the eastern side to follow a road reserve for about 4 kilometres before going up and over the range to the western side via Gerke Gap.
This is the last time over the Tothills as the trail now heads west to Marrabel. Apparently they have a big rodeo here every year. I was looking forward to arriving in time for a counter lunch at the hotel. I even slowed down to make sure I arrived after 11am only to find the pubs shut and is now a private residence. No other eateries in town either so the knife and fork on my map need to go. As does the bed I suppose. I then had a long slow walk out of Marrabel.
I must explain that at the moment the hiker hunger has hit. I am constantly hungry. Still have a some blubber but I have to make myself ration the food I have or I would eat it all very quickly. The prospect of adding to the eats without having to carry it all is attractive. At the moment I am carrying about a kilogram of food per day. So this 5 days I start with 5 kilos. With water that puts the pack starting weight up the top end of 18 kilos and I really don't want to go much higher with this pack. So adding a steak sandwich to the menu and still eating all the days allocated food is an attractive proposition. But not to be.
A walk down a road introduced me to Bentley the dog. The sign on the gate says "Dog Bites". The owner tells me Bentley doesn't bite he's all bark. Well he's to big for me to argue with and he barked at me all the way along the road that runs past his place and being a rural property this went on for 2 or 300 metres. Then a car came down the road and Bentley decided to chase that the other way allowing me to getaway. From there its was a lovely stroll through some crops into some bushland then up and over another range which I dont have the name of to a lovely hut called Marschalls Hut.
I had some lambs making a racket outside and they get together like a pack of naughty children and play together. Its funny but when I walk past the lambs, they won't run away till the bigger ewes do a runner. They are curious until told not to be. But I wondered what they see with me and my lump on my back and what looks like 4 legs when I swinging the sticks about.
Got to the hut early afternoon giving me time to dry out the tent fly that was wet from the night before and just sit in what sunshine I could get and air my feet out.
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