Start – Birchwood Cabin
Finish – Merrivale Hut
Daily Distance – 26 km
TA Distance – 2904 km
Bluff Distance – 137 km
To commemorate the passing of Steven Hawking, today I shortened my walk by hugging the event
horizon of a black hole, skipping three times round a spinning singularity, before pogoing backwards out
of an imploding nebula to magically reappear at an entirely different point in space time. At least, that’s
the best explanation I can come up with for how we completed a part of the trail that is supposed to take
7-8 hours in 3 and still found time for a snack break. Well, either that or the trail notes were a mite off on
their timings. That temporal anomaly accounts for why today’s walk, which was estimated to be really
long, began by headtorch before first light and ended at the unexpectedly early time of 14:00.
I am glad to have had the afternoon to rest up though. Tomorrow I wave a final goodbye to farmland and
head into Longwood Forest for several days en route to the coast. These final few sections before Bluff
have come full circle and are very remeniscent of the first few weeks from Cape Reinga. A mix of roads,
beaches and muddy forest. To ensure this section gets off to a good start, I’ll be breaking my fast in the
morning with 2 boiled eggs laid by the farm chickens of Merrivale farm, where I am camping tonight. A
rare luxury, which I’m rather looking forward to. Naturally this will be in addition to, rather than a
replacement of, my customary muesli. Sometimes it feels as if this walk has become one long excuse for
gluttony…I’ll need to come up with another excuse after Bluff!
