Day 34 Geraldine to Kimbell

Walked today by Mike & Rapid 45.9km 63070 steps. Walked by Ella 13.8km

A 5:30am alarm and walking at 6:30am. Geraldine was fairly quite at that time of day. I made it to Black Creek where I started the "advance" walk in 1 hour. That was all the walking Ella did this morning.

The first of 3 serious climbs, through Geraldine Forest and into Beautiful Valley was completed just before the first rest break. Fiona had some really good food from the Berry Barn cafe. I had 90 minutes "spare" time as a result of the distance walked and used 20 of them having a break.

The climb out of Beautiful Valley and into Cattle Valley is fairly gentle and didn't present any problems. There is a really good rest area by the Opuha River bridge where the dogs can get easy access to the river. It was just a little to soon for Rapid and I to take a break but Fiona let Ella out of the van.

The climb from Cattle Valley to the Opihi River valley, where Fairlie is located, is a much more difficult climb. About halfway up a Contiki coach came along heading towards Tekapo. The driver slowed the coach to about 20km an hour and was giving a commentary as he went past.

I made it to the Farm Barn Care on the top of the hill with 20 minutes spare before my adverstised time of arriving in Fairlie. Fiona and I managed to fill that in having a hot chocolate. Fairlie was really quite. The only money we collected was from a knitting group meeting at the museum.

My feet were really sore when I got to the edge of Fairlie so I took a longish stop and applied arnica cream to my feet. The road between Fairlie and Kimbell has a really wide verge on the left hand side. Ella and Rapid did that section of the walk off lead. I also took Rapid's shoes off (he wears them on back feet only). I was a little slower - because of being tired and it being uneven on the verge.

The Silverstream Hotel gave us a free hot chocolate when we arrived n Kimbell. It was threatening to rain from about 11:30am but actually rainedd only for the last 10 minutes of walking. The rain stopped fairly soon after getting in the van.

Tonight Fiona and I are staying with Martin & Grace Perry at Albury. Martin has a huge shed full of cars (I think he has kept every car he ever owned). He is also a fantastic cook and we had a really good meal. I'm feeling a little bloated.

Tomorrow will be half the distance covered within the first hour.