I  got  up  early  as i wanted  to be on trail early . it was only 6 miles   to Fontanna dam  and  i wanted to  be there before lunch .  I  waved good  bye  to  my  hiker buddies  and  stopped  out  onto  the  trail  and up.
it was several  hours  of climbing   before  i  began the long decent   down to Fontanna dam .
i  thought i was setting a good pace  until Steve and Lauren steamed past me.  I was in no hurry  as i watched them  go .
I was pacing myself  as i knew  the  first climbs  would be steep
I adopted this for much of the day. eventually I began to head and down, occasional I had  great visions of the country side and glances of the dam. AS i hiked  on the dam become closer   but  vanished from view as I decended lower and lower. and shortley emerged onto the road
Whoop I was  here at Fontana Dam. I wasnt sure  on how i got  to  the  complex  so  wandered across the  road   and through a small gap in the trees . as i passed through I  I noticed my crew.
Hi guys  i called , Has anyone called the shuttle ?
Yes  snail  he  is on his way ?
we all chilled in the morning sunshine  before posing for a few  photos
The the shuttle arrived and we waited  for a stream of  hikers  to get off and retrive their  packs  before  we boarded . We all l asked for the grill.

As  the  driver set  off he  turned up  the music  and   the  first track  ws the Bluegrass version of  Toto , Africa   and  the  whole  of  the  bus  burdt  into  song  it was utterly brilliant   so  we asked  for it to be played again

We soon arived   at  the Grill and swaremed from the  bus     and  headed to  the resturant like locosts
We all decided to sit  outside first before deciding  that it wass too cold so  we all haeaded inside and  amahded to  sit  around a huge round table.
I ordered up lovely IPA at 6 % that was delicious. before ordering the house salad followed by the rare Dam buster burger that was so tasty.
We  all enjoyed  our meals chatting  about  our exploits .

After lunch  we ventured to the store. some did laundry others like me just sat in the        parking lot  in  the warm sun and drank beer.
It was a great atmosphere  as more   familar faces arrived .
Dan offered to grab my  resuppluy box so when he returned I organised my food
then brought more beer .
Eventually we grabbed shuttle back to the trail or  rather the  campsite .My pack seemed very  heavy as we walked to the shelter. But then i decided to camp
THe  tent pads  were concrete  so you  needed a free standing  tent  which mine was
I quickly put my  tent then we  congrgated around a picknick bench  and    carried  on  our  low  key  party
At 9pm I was escorted to my tent as  my  legs  had  stopped working properly

night all

Start  159
Finish 165
mileage  6
Remaining 2025 miles