Okaaaaay. That was interesting. And extremely unpleasant.

No wonder I only lasted a day. And got nowhere. You wouldn’t either :P

So, the nice and good stuff about this first (bit unsuccessful, though not entirely) hike attempt:

-          I got to see some of the road and the road is beautiful.

-          I got to test the gear and myself and one is too small and the other too heavy. Or, kind of, we are both too heavy.

And the stuff that arrested my advance? The list be a bit longer:

-          I still can’t read maps, so I got lost a few times. Which isn’t as fun as it is in the city.

-          The pain gets you eventually. The blisters, the hips, my hands, my shoulders … still hurt.

-          The backpack’s main wrap cracked, so I couldn’t really place the load on my body properly, resulting in A LOT of discomfort.

-          The dog wouldn’t carry her saddlebags, so I had to do it for her, adding another two pounds on my already too heavy setting. All in all, it was just too heavy.

-          I was making good mileage, I did almost half of what I wanted to do for the first day by noon, when the rain caught me and I got lost, got my shoes wet and had to climb out of a ravine, which took for ever, because the dog’s leash and my own gear kept getting tangled in the growth.

-          When I tried to rest, the mutt was too stressed out and still wouldn’t stop making noise. Some was scared noise, some unhappy and some plain old telling me to quit fucking around in this wet dirt and get us home!

-          The reason why I ultimately caved in and allowed General to kidnap me, stuff me in the car and drive me back to civilisation, was not what you think, though. It was the dog. And not that she wasn’t adorable or good company or anything. It was that there is an number of unleashed dogs in the farms we passed and more often than not no owners around and being faced with two large barking and growling dogs on THEIR land while you’re soaking wet and holding a scared beagle in your arms is not as fun as it sounds. That simply proved too stressful. We got away unscarred this time, though by a lot more dumb luck than wit. I may be overly paranoid in this department, but finding yourself in the middle of nowhere in the forest and suddenly there’s a large dog behind you and a large dog in front of you and you start calling for the owner and there’s no response, the dogs are simply getting closer …

I got two ideas for a story. This extreme pain in the rain is good for me :)) I want to do it again, but I gotsta get my gear in order and leave the mutt at home. Sadly. Or… I dunno. Or stick to less remote locations and get lost less? Hm.