Another Long Walk: Day 4: Double Zero!

August 28, 2024: The torrential rains of yesterday had finally tapered off by morning, but ugly clouds continued to hang over the surrounding mountains, so I decided to linger at the hostel late in the hopes that the skies might brighten a bit. The weather forecast called for some sun, especially later in the afternoon, and trading a couple of hours of deary weather in the morning for sunnier weather in the afternoon seemed like a good tradeoff.

Checkout time for the hostel was at 10:00am, and I wound up waiting until the last minute to finally check out. At the front counter, while checking out, the clerk asked if I had lost some postcards and an address book. Not as far as I knew.... but when she showed me the bag with the postcards and address book, I recognized it immediately. It was definitely mine! Turns out, it had slipped out of my bag while I was in the common room last night and I never even realized it was missing. The name "Ryan" was on it so they figured it might be mine (I guess I was the only person named Ryan at the hostel last night).

My home away from home

So that was nice that I was once again reunited with my lost items--even before I had realized they were lost! =)

Then I stepped outside to start hiking and... what the heck?! It was raining! Literally during the few minutes it took me to check out, it started sprinkling. Curse you weather gods!!!!

It was just a light sprinkle, and since the weather only called for short spots of rain during the day, I headed back to the common area and decided to wait it out. Surely it would stop in a half hour or something. I could wait a bit longer.

But a half hour later, it was still sprinkling. And a half hour later, it continued to rain. And another half hour.... Two hours later, it was still raining. Argh! This was not in the forecast!

By now, it was already noon and I had reached the limit of how long I could stay and still hit my minimum goal for the day, but looking at the weather, I could see no end in sight. The forecast didn't look great, but it continued to insist that rain would be minimal which was turning out to be horrendously inaccurate.

I still had not had a chance to replace my umbrella that had been shredded from the storm on the Hadrian's Wall Path, so I didn't really have much protection against the rain and finally decided that perhaps, I should just turn it into a double zero and spend another night in the hostel.

I returned to the front desk to inquire if there was a bed available for the night, and they said that there was one left. "I'll take it!" I practically shouted, wanting to lock it down before someone else grabbed it.

Once I was locked in for the night, I headed back to the lobby where I basically spent the rest of the day and night reading my Kindle, watching videos that I had previously downloaded to my phone and chatting with the other guests at the hostel.

One of the two common rooms where I spent most of my time at the hostel. It was very cozy and nice! =)

At this point, I realized that I would definitely not finish this trail before my flight was scheduled to leave England, so I'd have to change my reservations. I didn't have to rebook it immediately, however. I could still wait a week and see how my progress goes. I'd hate to rebook then for some reason (weather, injury, or whatever) not be able to catch the new flight either!

Well, theoretically, if I tried to push myself 20 miles a day, I could still catch my flight, but that just sucks and I didn't want to push myself that hard anymore. I hated doing that on the Hadrian's Wall, and I didn't want to continue that pace on this trail. It was kind of a relief when I finally gave up on keeping to that schedule. Now I could just walk whatever felt comfortable each day and not worry about it.

The rain did finally stop, but not until a little after 5:00 in the afternoon, and I was quite happy that I had taken a second zero. The day was a bit boring, but hiking in that weather would have been utterly miserable, and all of the hikers arriving into the hostel complained bitterly about the day's rain. It wasn't as heavy or brutal as yesterday's rain, but it was still demoralizing for everyone that had to deal with it.

The river in front of the hostel had gone down considerably during the day. It was still higher than when I first arrived two days earlier, but much lower than after yesterday's downpour, but I found it somewhat interesting that the river level actually went down despite the fact that rained all day.

And, speaking of rain, lest you think I'm making a bigger deal out of it than necessary.... I had several people tell me before this most recent storm that this area had received more than double the normal amount of rainfall in August than it typically does! And locals were telling me that before this storm even hit. Not to mention... it wasn't even the end of the month yet! There was still time to get in a bit more rain before the month came to an end.

I joked that precipitation just follows me everywhere I go. I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, and it set new rain records. I thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, and it set new snow records. Then, on the same hike, the Washington section set new rain records in September while I was on the trail. Then there was the flooding when I did the Florida Trail. I fooled the weather gods when I hiked the Long Star Trail. The week I was originally planning to do it had that terrible winter storm event happen--but at the last minute, I wound up having to delay the hike by a week and so it just missed me. Then the horrible flooding in Jordan when I started the Jordan Trail. I really think drought-prone areas should hire me to hike through their region and I'll fix things right up! =)

Anyhow.... thus ended another day on the trail....