Day 4 Hurunui River to Ferniehurst Rd, Hawkswood plus a bit more

Walk be me and Rapid today 46.8km Ella walked 15km. 65974 steps
God bless the person who invented Voltarin. My feet are an awful mess with even a large blister on the sole of my right foot. About half an hour into todays walk I took some Voltarin. It was magic. Another dose at afternoon tea time made walking a pleasure.

I thought perhaps Rapid should were his shoes today to give his feet a rest. I put them on and buy the time I had organised my back pack, put on a parka and hi-viz vest he had kicked 2 off. I found one almost immediately but about 10 minutes were spent looking for the other. He managed to lose another at Dommet. I noticed him 2 or 3 times stumbling so at Cheviot I decided he was better without them. If there is snow on Monday he won't have a choice.

As a consequnce of the shoe dilemma and a bit of slowness getting away this morning we were 20 minutes late. By the time I reached Cheviot it was 25 minutes late. I stopped for bacon and eggs at 2 Rivers Cafe. The owner gave me a free chicken salad sandwich to take with me. By the time I was one the road again I was a little over an hour behind schedule. I manged to prine that back to one hour during the afternoon.

Quite a good collection at the cafe. A lot of people have now seen me while driving before along the road and are giving donations. Two cars of girls who had been playing netball in Cheviot stopped on Hawkswood Hill where Paul had parked the van on Hawkswood Hill and waited for us to get there to make donations. A couple of farmers stopped as the pulled out of their drives and gave money.

The truck drivers have been great today. No tight passing at all. Many of them have passed me for the 5th time today and were giving toots.

The weather was really good walking weather today. There was one short period of drizzle - about half an hour. The rest of the day as been overcast with light winds. I was down to shirt sleeves (merino ones) for much of the day.

The jet planes given to my by Mike at Rangiora have been a good source of energy - I'm about half way through them now. Remarkably the bar of Whittakers Dark Orange chocolate I bought has not been touched since the quick snack I had on the way to the ferry on Tuesday. I can't remember the last time I had chocolate that survived more than 24 hours - probably last year in India when I took heaps with me.

Since I was feeling really good (even the feet were OK) at the end of the day, and as a late start may be necessary on Monday I did an extra 6.2 km today - getting nearly to Hundalee.