I had a lousy sleep which was  my own fault for having food in my tent.
I was woken at 11pm by what i thought was water  dripping on my head, but when  I put on my head torch i was confronted  withtwo little eyes staring back at me. a bloody mouse it took me 20 mins to catch the bugger and throw   him out of  my tent. Then I noticed a second which took longer to  chase around my tent, How the FUCK did they get in . I examined my tent and found a  hole, the bastards  bastards. I goy  up and  repaired the hole as i didnt want any more visitors
Dam it i was  wide awake now  and  couldn’t get back to sleep
Lesson learnt No NO FOOD in my tent.

I eventually woke at 7am and quickly packed up, not even bothering to  put on a brew
I rejoined the trail at 8.30 and as soon as I began to walk ,my Knee complained and . pain shot up my leg. Oh come on Knee  i pleaed ,I downed several ibuprofen and 2 painkillers then shuffled forward . My goal for today was the NOC. Nandana outdoor centre,  just over 9 miles away. I shuffled off down the trail and soon began the first  climb of the day. My knee seemed to like this and so I was able  to make  good progress , until  it was time to decend . Due to the rain it was terecherous , it was so slippery and  I am not surefooted as  most  people  and so this was an adventure and right knee hated it. I made my way down as best as I could but it i was slow and so  wasn’t doing the. mileage. I was in no hurry but I did want to get there.

Several hikers past me by as I mumbled and swore to myself as I limped on..I stopped and downed 2 more ibuprofen and 2 more painkillers before continuing on. I was now I a small burn area although  not as vast as I had witnessed on the Paccific Crest trail.
and again I climbing, that’s what you do on the Appalachian Trail you climb, you climb a lot. I climbed for an hour before deciding to  take a break. I  ate a protein bar before eating  an apple that I had carried for two days, but  boy  did it  tast so good. I swiged lemonade before  hoisting up my pack and returning  to the trail. The rest of the morning was like a rollar-coaster  up and down and up and down finishing with a huge climb. I am sure the views would be spectacular on a Sunny day but all I could see was FOG…….

At last I’m heading down and , but  the trail  is  stil very slippery  with  sheer drops … a very long way to fall and  in places the trail is non-existent. its hands and arms as i clamber over huge  rock and  slabs  .

This  scrambling  down  soon makes my  knee complain that it has had enough and as I do not want  to fall off a mountain I decide to  take a quick break. I am  just about to sit  on a rock when  I hear another hiker behind me, it’s Tarzan.
“How you doing” Snail he asks.
“Bloody knees playing up” I reply.
“Need a shot of moonshine?
Well it cant do me any  harm  I replied ”  and took a huge gulp, phew it’s 100%+ and envelopes me in a warm glow.
“Laters snail” Tarzan   replies   and then he is gone.

I sit  for a few more minutes before continuing on , the trail to  the NOC  is down  but  due  to my knees  it seems to take forever. I am making good progress until my pack decides to list to the right, I try to correct it but can not with out stopping again and i do not want to do that . But being unbalanced  is also effecting my knees .
I guess it doesn’t help when  your kit is wet and so your possibly carrying an extra 10 lb.
I limp on muttering under my breath until  I hear other hikers behind me.
I shout out  please pass as  my knees are killing me , before noticing that it was Dan & Beth. We walked a while   andn   decided to split a cabin if there was one avilable . THen i  watched them go,
“see you inabout an hour” i called

The trail was still heading down but where was the NOC how much further.?
At last I could make out a building and cars .

Eventually I emerged onto the road and crossed over to the Outfitter. sat outside was Tyler (Tentless) we chatted  a while , before  I went to find Dan
eventually i tracked him down  and  found our way to our  cabin or sparse bunk room but it had a bed.
I reorganised my pack slept  before stepping out of my clothes. I  grabbed up all my wet stuff plus my sleeping bag and headed for the laundry, i got some change from the outfiiters and  soap then found the machines .I put my clothes in the washer then put my bag into the drier. There was a nice little community outside so enjoyed talking bollocks for a few moments. Tyler produced 2 x 10 packs of beer so the mood was soon relaxed even further. While my clothes were being washed I walked back over to the store to pick up my parcels. whoop both here. I brought a patching kit  for my tent before  heading back to laundry.
A nice dry  bag, heaven!
Once done I headed back to the cabin. I seem to  have stuff everywhere, but now it’s clean and my bag is dry. I sorted through my food as i was still carrying too much and decided to discarded some., as I don’t want to drag excess weight up a 6 mile climb DREAD!!!.

After my chores i was now hungry so went insearch of food
I wandered back across the  bridge and entered the restaurant.  I found a  table, ordered a beer and the chicken chilli.
The beer was good, although the chilli was disapointing .I  should of had a burger or pizza oh well.  I had just finished when  Dan,Beth and Tyler joined me so I ordered another beer and a side of fries. Omg the fries were enormous.
We chatted and enjoyed each other’s company and were just about to leave when Tank arrived and  so the conversation continued  on.
Eventually we made  our way back to  the cabin and bed

Start 127.4
Finish 137
mileage 9.4
Remaining  2054.2