Again I slept really well waking around 7 and just dozing as I hadn’t  planned  on leaving until after lunch.
Happy feet, who was camped next to me was trying  to use up gas canisters and so was boiling water for people so I grabbed my cup and tea bag before  visiting  the loo
It’s such a treat to be able to flush a toilet.
I drank my tea  whilst chatting to Happy feet and Optimist. I was telling her about loosing my stakes  and that I really  needed to buy a pole repair sleeve just in case.
I began to slowly pack away my tent as it was forecast to rain and I wanted a dry tent,
As I dragged my pack out of my tent , my missing tent stakes fell out onto  the  grass .
I looked at happy feet and she looked at me, WTF I said I have just brought new ones.
I have been with stakes , for almost a week and  just as i brought new ones  they appear I emptied my pack out at the chapel In hot springs and they were not there then Oh well I now have spares.
At that moment Danimal appeared ,
“Jess is  here”,  he  announced
So i went  to find her and say hi and  tell her that my tent stakes  had  miraculously appeared which made her laugh
I gave her back the two that I had borrowed.
It was  really sunny as I finished packing then i carried it  to the  porch and joined Jess for a couple of breakfast beers . SAS we enjoyed our beer Big Mike  appeared and gave me  half of his  ham Sandwich that was huge.
There was a shuttle going to town for breakfast. but I was going to go in on the next one around lunch time, grab a  pizza and a few bits from the store.
So continued  chatting to new and old friends until it was shuttle time. Omg about 25 of us squeezed into the bus.(wouldn’t happen in the UK) and headed to town.
We were dropped us at the store. and  quickly went shopping ,  I got most of what I needed then crossed the road to the other store to finish off
I wasn’t really hungry so sat on a bench and  decanted my food in to Ziploc bags whilst munching on a bag of grapes. Several other hikers joined me as we waited for the bus to return.
Once back I quickly phoned AT&T to renew my phone contract. good  that’s sorted
I weighed my pack and was pleased that it  was now 40 LB, although that’s without the  food that I had just brought or the  2 liters of water.
But I was happy as  I stuffed all the extra stuff into my pack. I then peeled an orange to pack out( didn’t want to carry the peel ) . One last check  before saying my good-byes.
As I hoisted my pack there were several very large claps of thunder, but  i am still going.
As I headed towards the bridge, It began to drizzle with but  I didnt care  Yet !

My back groaned under the weight of my pack as I found my stride, I crossed the bridge then followed the railway track  for  a while before crossing over it and up.
I knew I had some big climbs as it  had been a long decent into town.

I climbed a bit I came down I climbed a bit then I came down I climbed some more than did some sketchy rock climbing  that with l a full pack was no fun. I was then  in the forest , still climbing but gentle. I was then followed the river  crossing  over it  about 5 times using very sturdy bridges.
the sun now decided to come out which was nice to see until  I  started a mega climb, with the sun I was soon roasting. Omg it was hot ……
it was steep and seemed  never bloody ending, up and up and up some more until at last  it began to level out. It was 5 pm when I cruised into the next shelter.
There were 5 other hikers here and several tents were up. I signed the shelter register then sat for a moment to recover after that climb.
It was 5 pm,  I pondered and pondered some more. I  then hoisted my pack and said I am going on as I wanted another 4 miles ….
I can do that I thought and off I went ..Typically the next part of the trail was rubbish , strewn with rocks and  roots so I was more  stumbling  than hiking .  This type of surface really hurts my feet Arrhhh I shouted at myself. Eventually it became normal allowing me  to speed up, well until a snake shot out in front of me.
That stopped me dead as i reached for my camera  to video it  until it slithered off.

OKay snail  back to the target , i pounded down the trail  going  up  going down   until i caught a hiker named Maps who was standing pondering  if  she should pitch her tent here . There were several spots but she was concerned about Wind!!.
I left her to it as I was heading on, as the next hour passed I began to look for suitable places…… Then at last. that will do me.. and  with several suitable trees to hang  my food  bag. It must be my lucky day, perfect.
Amazingly  I threw my line over the tree and  on the first go,So that put a smile on my face. I walked back  and soon had  my tent up and my bed inflated
I put on a brew  then  began to cook supper  it was a lovely  spot  and   nice  to relax in the late sun . When I was  done I hung my bag before heading back  to my tent and bed

As I had started late  I was pleased with my 8 miles

please note my videos are on Facebook I will add more photos later

Start 343.7
Finish 351
mileage 8 miles
Remaining 1839 Miles