Jane slept well after her pole dancing and I am getting used to the Nursing Home bed time of 830. With no television or newspapers and a general desire to disconnect from the world , it’s blogging and sleeping.

Today we had the most difficult walk to date. Even without spending a further 4 hours to go to and return from the absolute summit of the mountain, it’s still 1500 metres up and down and 7.5 hours of hiking.

Had thought about abandoning walk and going with luggage to take  a cable car ride, but instead put a tablespoon of cement in the tea to harden up and take on the mountain.

All the talk about cable car ended in a miscommunication and host arranged a driver. Rather than disappoint them we suggested a 3 km lift up the road. Suddenly she was too busy and the alternate driver took off without us. We found him at a watering hole we fell into after some of the toughest walking either of us had ever done. An hour and a half for 3 Kms was hardly greyhound like. The 20 or so Russians we passed going down hill had hardly raised a  sweat

Interesting water stop, when I went to fill  my water bottle out of a trough I managed to notice it had fish in it. Though it had not killed them I searched and found a more drinkable option.

Because this guy at the water stop had built over the track, we needed to scurry over a less than robust thing posing as a ladder to get back on the route. 

Route was hardly appropriate for a walk which went through, landslips, forests, creek beds and muddy slippery spots – predominantly uphill and in some spots around 30 degrees.

It was another episode of not being able to take in scenery, although the presence of the giant hill on our right was ever present. When we did stop it was fabulous, with views back to the coast and across the mountain range.

Passed a couple of Aussies and swapped notes and his comment about ‘your trip from here is still very interesting’ rang in my ears going up and down. 

Arrived at the top in 4 and a quarter hours and travelled less than 6 Kms. Must say it was spectacular and the view and thought of some downhill lifted the spirits.

Second part  of downward journey was on a road and finished in a hut erected by a local farmer as a camping spot or just somewhere to rest the weary bones.

After that lunch stop we looked forward to the downward journey of 6 Kms more. It was not much better than the up side, with similar terrain, but much wetter and slipperieru. Track marking were poor and we needed to be looking for pole marks made by other walkers to ensure we were on track.

The valleys and canyons we could see were magnificent with huge land slips and fabulous groves of Cyprus trees, some hanging precariously close to crumbling off a cliff face. we traversed at one stage.

A couple of hours later we hit a dirt rod which took us into our home base. Passed an aging Russian couple at about 400pm, hoping to make a campsite at the top of the hill. With fading light and a fog rolling in as well they were very ambitious plans.

Finished our day in just over 7.5 hours and celebrated with a beer and a great chat to our host who spoke perfect English.

Lovely accommodation and a shower to die for. The thought of 5 meatball meals n 7 days was in the back of our minds, but he surprised us with hearty soup and stuffed  eggplant , both welcome on a chilly evening in the mountains   Ironically at the same altitude we left this morning.

Tomorrow looks the same in walking time, but with half the elevation and a town in the middle, not the absolute isolation halfway bought today.