Day 22: New Travel Companions

August 17, 2024: One advantage hiking without Karolina-- was that I could start hiking a lot earlier. Karolina is not a morning person! She likes her sleep. But since she wasn't around, I could wake up, pack up, and be hiking by about 7:00am.

The trail crossed the creek on a bridge, then followed alongside the creek to a gravel road where I caught up with an older hiker who had just forded across the creek. At least I suspected he forded the creek--I didn't actually see him ford it, but I had just crossed on the bridge and hadn't seen him there. And, weirdly enough, the bridge actually wasn't located where the gravel road crossed the creek so if you were following the trail--which largely followed the road, it would be easy to miss the bridge and wind up fording the creek.

I crossed the creek over this bridge, but it's easy to miss and many hikers end up fording the creek.

Anyhow, the man appeared to be limping. I was wasn't really limping much anymore, although I was still careful with my ankle since it still felt sore, but he appeared to be in considerably more pain than I was. He also looked a little overweight which probably didn't help matters.

When I caught up, we chatted and I learned that he had suffered some sort of injury yesterday, thus explaining the limp, and that he was planning to get off the trail when he reached the next town, Bellingham, a few miles away. 

He had been section hiking the Pennine Way for years and this last part of the trail was the last section he needed to officially complete the trail, but he lived relatively close so it wasn't a big deal for him to quit the trail and come back another time to finish. Probably a good idea. No reason to injure yourself worse than necessary! 

And, he explained, he was retiring next year, so he'd have plenty of time to hike whenever he wanted to after that. Indeed. *nodding*

Maurice charges down the trail

 

I'm not precisely sure how he had injured himself. Perhaps a pulled muscle or something. I'm not even entirely sure if he knew what was wrong--just guesses and theories. It had come on suddenly the afternoon before, however, and he soon decided it was better to quit the trail and rest and come back later. But... he still needed to at least make it to the next town.

Anyhow, he introduced himself as Maurice, and we wound up walking all the way into Bellingham together. He kept insisting that I didn't have to slow down on his account--was he trying to get rid of me? Maybe, but I got the impression that he was more concerned that I was just slowing down because I was worried if he'd make it into town at all and I was just such a nice guy, I didn't want him walking alone. He just wanted to be clear that he'd be fine and would make it to town okay--just that he couldn't walk very fast.

Rainbow in the distance

 

But I didn't mind slowing down just to chat, however, since I wasn't in any rush and I was enjoying the chat. 

Along the way, the rain started to pick up, which was a bit disappointing for me since it hadn't been in the forecast when I checked it yesterday. Stupid weather forecast.... I pulled out my umbrella, though, and we continued to walk.

A couple of hours later, we finally arrived into Bellingham where we stopped in the Rocky Road Cafe for breakfast. I had originally planned to skip restaurants and other food options, but it was mostly the rain that drove me indoors. I hoped while I was eating, the rain might let up and the rest of the day's hike would be drier and easier.

We both ordered the full English breakfast and got online. Maurice's phone was having trouble charging, and he worried that he might have to replace the phone. For now, he had enough of a charge to at least get home, as he checked the bus schedules out of town.

I ordered the full English breakfast--plus a Coke!

Maurice also asked if I had met a certain hiker on the trail. He described the guy and gave me his name, but it didn't ring a bell. Maybe? Why?

"He died a few days ago on the trail."

"What?!"

I still didn't recognize the hiker's name or description, but it was a little eerie to think that a hiker recently died on the trail somewhere in my vicinity. Maurice said they think it was natural causes, but still.... Maybe if I was part of that 12,000-person strong Pennine Way Facebook group, I would have heard about the hiker death.

After finishing breakfast and checking a few things online, it was time for me to push onward. The rain, I'm happy to report, did finally stop, so at least that wasn't a problem anymore.

I stopped at the Co-op on my way out of town for a few minor items (cheese, apples and salami), then continued on out of town.

Although the rain had finally stopped, the trail was very wet and boggy. After an hour or two, I took a short rest to eat some of my newly acquired cheese when another hiker caught up with me. I didn't recognize him from earlier, but we started walking together. Not so much walking "together" per se, but rather in the same direction at roughly the same speed, so we struck up a conversation and I learned that his name was Aiden.

 

He actually had heard that I was up ahead on the trail after running into Maurice back in Bellingham.

His goal for the day was to reach Byroness tonight--a bit further than I had planned to go--but just as a staging point to finish the trail tomorrow so he could get back into his town for a dental appointment. My goals were somewhat less ambitious to say the least. The distance he'd have to hike tomorrow would be about 25 miles over some pretty rugged terrain. Certainly doable, but certainly not easy or fun! He was bound and determined to succeed with this thru-hike, however, and that meant he had to finish tomorrow. 

"Couldn't you just postpone your dental appointment," I asked, "and take your time?"

"No!" he exclaimed. I couldn't see anything particularly wrong with his teeth that would have required immediate care, but I found it somewhat amusing that the pace of his hike was being dictated by a dental appointment of all things. If stereotypes were to be believed, it was surprising that there were any dentists at all to be visited in this country!

The trail was very wet and boggy in places.

Anyhow, I enjoyed our conversation, and eventually picked up my pace to keep up with his. I let him set the pace. My ankle was still tender and if he started going so fast that it would risk injuring my ankle further, I could just slow down.

With fewer breaks and a faster pace, I knocked out the rest of my miles for the day very quickly! I had completed 17.2 miles by 5:00pm according to my GPS! And that included my walking especially slow with Maurice earlier in the morning and stopping for breakfast hoping to wait out the rain and a quick stop at the Co-op. 

My guidebook didn't have anything that suggested a good place to wild camp, but when we reached a car park with a picnic table and restrooms nearby, I wanted to camp there. The grass in the park would have been lovely, but it was much too visible. I certainly couldn't camp in the open like that, but there were some shrubs and bushes nearby with an open spot behind them, and that, I figured, I could camp in.

I found a quiet place to set up camp behind the trees and brush at the edge of the clearing.

Technically, it would be possible to see the tent a bit through the trees and leaves, but only a tiny bit would be visible and with the rainfly being gray and muted, it would probably be impossible for someone to see who happened to be walking or driving by unless they were explicitly looking for it.

Aiden had a couple of more miles to reach Byroness, so he was going to continue onward. We both took a little break at the picnic table by the restrooms, however, and he mentioned that he was a little concerned about running out of water between Byroness and the end of the trail. It was a rough 25 miles and he only had the capacity to carry a couple of liters of water and no way to treat the surface water.

"Ah-ha!" I cried out. "I can help!"

I offered him the iodine tablets that I had used earlier on the trail when the water filter I planned to use didn't work. Now I had a new filter--which was working splendidly!--and I didn't need the iodine tables anymore. Plus, if he took them, I wouldn't have to carry them. Not that they really added much weight to my pack, but technically, every ounce counted!

So Aiden took the iodine tables, but he refused the tablets that would neutralize the iodine taste afterwards. Technically, it wasn't needed to make the water safe to drink--it just helped make the water taste better--and he seemed almost guilty about taking the tablets in the first place. I tried to assure him that I really didn't need them anymore. I had a water filter and could treat all the water I wanted. Taking the tablets off me would be a good for me!

And, in the end, he took the iodine tablets, but not the tablets that would neutralize their taste. We said our goodbyes and he continued onward into the next town, and I set up my tent behind the bushes at the edge of the open lawn where the picnic table and restrooms were located.

The rest of the evening was uneventful. I read my Kindle, played some Netflix shows on my phone and just killed time until it was late enough and dark enough to finally go to sleep.

Thus ended another day on the trail.....

Bellingham from a distance

The trail went through a significant number of forests the second half of the day, but a storm appears to have knocked down a lot of the trees near the edges of the forest. Fun fact--England used to be almost entirely covered in thick forests before humans came along and cut them all down. There's not a square inch on that island that hasn't been transformed by human hands.