Day 135 - mud glorious mud
Merriview hut —-> Martin’s hut 28km
After the mice of Merriview finally left us alone last night, I awoke to the dark and watched a glorious sunrise over the farmland around.
This morning’s walk would take us about 7km up a country road / 4WD track to the edge of the Longwood forest. The Longwoods was a section we’d heard horror stories about from every NOBO we’d come across. Knee deep mud, filthy rat-ridden huts. Everyone had told us to prepare for the worst. We’d even met a couple on the Two Thumb track who couldn’t face sleeping in Martin’s hut (this evening’s intended accomodation) so pushed on thinking they’d find a camping spot. They didn’t, and instead spent the night hiding from a thunderstorm amongst the mud under an emergency blanket. Pfffttt - NOBOs, they would have been barely 100km in… they’d seen nothing, how bad could it be?
We tracked along Merriview road and soon found we had some cheeky things following us…
We eventually left the calves behind, but soon swapped them for deer, all absolutely roaring their little deer socks off. It was incredible to hear - not quite as incredible as hearing them in the wild but hey, I’d wonderfully already done that.
The fields slowly faded away as we hit the edge of the forest. No mud just yet but it was cold and ominous.
I’d had over four months of forest tracks, and I thought I was very much over them but this forest was just beautiful. Sunlight bursting through the tops, moss covering everything it could.
There were sections of mud… but I was sure we hadn’t hit the worst of it yet - this couldn’t be what all the fuss was about..
The trail climbed up, out of the forest and followed the tops along to Bald Hill; Bluff and the beaches of Riverton clearly visible in the distance, now only a few days away.
We came off Bald Hill and followed a 4WD track down towards an old quarry where Leon was perched up on a rock. Leon would live in a perpetual state of levitation if he could - he liked to be off the ground. He jumped down as we approached and ran towards John and I with his arms outstretched. He handed us a cracker with a wonderful slice of brie each - what a welcome!
John and I joined him up on his rock and we ate our lunch in the sunshine, discussing how much mud we were about to be in for.
We packed up around 1pm and now travelling as a three, headed back into the forest. A sign told us Martin’s hut was a 6 hour walk away… had we horrendously underestimated how long this would take?! If that was accurate… we’d be walking well into the dark.
Almost immediately upon reentering the forest, the real mud started. We flitted between the trees and the open tops but it didn’t really matter where we were, the mud followed.
John was desperate to keep his blue shoes blue and avoid mud at all costs but Leon did not give a monkeys, the muddier he was, the better.
I was somewhere in the middle. After an hour, I realised I was burning so much energy trying to avoid it, I might as well surrender - I’d be sure to fall in at some point anyway!
And then John, realising he was on the verge of burning out, surrendered too.
Ian had showed us a video a couple of nights back of his friends stepping into a puddle thinking it was not that deep… we came across that puddle and Leon, without hesitation, jumped straight in.
It had been a gloriously warm day so far, the warmest I’d had in months. Long gone was the snow of last week, today it was 17 degrees! I felt guilty for having such a good day… Steph had walked this section a few days ago in freezing temperatures and non-stop rain. The old age saying of ‘everything is better when the sun’s shining’ well and truely applies to the Longwoods.
As the sun started to set we turned off the tops and headed back down towards the forest for the final stretch of the day’s trail.
I had no idea how many layers of mud I was now carrying. I was desperate to wash it off, we were all going much slower as the daylight faded - not only we were knackered but our legs were heavier…
We reached Martin’s hut around 5.30pm and dumped our bags inside. Before we lost the light, Leon lead us off through the forest towards a stream he could hear in the distance. Five minutes and a lot of bush bashing later, we were all furiously scrubbing our legs in about three inches of gloriously fast flowing water. I’d never felt so clean.
Back at Martin’s hut we set up for dinner amongst the rubble and dirt. It was by far the most derelict hut I’d seen but I had not a care in the world. The holes in the wall, dirt floor and mice running around were all just character traits. There was a mattress and a roof and that’s all I needed.
