Up at 8am. I had a reasonable sleep but I´m not a great sleeper in a tent. Most of the campsite are getting up now as well. I want to be off at 9am because its going to be a long day. I have 30km to cover to the
campsite I intend reaching tonight. It will be a 10hr hike so I don´t want to leave too late. Beside in a tent are three lads I was talking to yesterday. One of the lads is from Tralee and bought stuff in Lots this summer. He speaks highly of his purchases (He dealt with Kevin)....... and so he should!!! (LOTS... for the world in Furnishings www.lotsworldwide.com) Yesterday they were all friendly but this morning they are distant and off hand. I think they think that I want to join them on the trail but I have no intention of doing so. However they´re attitude hurts a little. Its another example of a "pack" attitude that I´ve encountered once or twice before this summer.I leave the campsite with a little cloud of annoyance because of those guys attitude. By the way these guys are the only people to have brought litres upon litres of water into a park which has the purest water in the world. I took my water directly out of the streams and not once suffered any stomach upset. These guys also missed the ferry yesterday, an almost impossible task. And reckoned they´d be on the trail at 6am today. As I leave at 9am, Dads army are nowhere near ready... and planning to the same route as me??.......Good luck lads!!!
Its cooler this morning, overcast, but good for hiking with a full pack. It looks like it may rain at any time. There isn´t a breath of wind after yesterdays strong gusts. I pass by a peak which has a glacier coming down its slopes. The upper slopes are hidden by swirling clouds. I hear what at first I think are thunder claps. This makes me quicken my pace. But then I notice puffs of falling snow occur when the thunder sounds. I´m looking at avalanches.
For most of the day I follow along the base of a set of peaks which will eventually open up to form a narrow valley through which lie the famous Torres. On my right I´m following a lake. I´m tired and still irritated by the attitude of those guys. I know I´m being oversensitive but its difficult to shake the annoyance. I wonder where Fionnuala is. It would have good if I´d met up with her. I tell myself I wouldn´t be down in the dumps if we had. It begins to rain lightly. The route is undulating, sometimes flat, sometimes steep so progress is quite slow. I stop at a campsite at 1.30 expecting to find an area for cooking but I don´t see an appropriate spot. I content myself with a protein bar and some fruit and nuts. I fill my water bottle from a fast moving stream and hit the trail again.
There is a bit of climbing to be done over the next stretch and I start to meet groups coming down the slope in the opposite direction. I make way for those coming down but it gets a bit frustrating as I have to make for 3-4 groups in a row. At least today most people do say hello. I stop again at the base of another slop to make way for a new group. I´m feeling tired and irritated now as I step to one side. Next thing I hear "Oh my God I don´t believe it" I look up quickly and there she is.... Fionnnuala, looking fresh and breezy as if she were out for a morning stroll. I´m delighted. Talk about a mood swing. All tiredness and frustrations are forgotten in a moment. We don´t get to talk for long as Fionnuala´s group is pushing on to their next campsite
some hours away. We do get a photo together though. It was great to see her and it keeps me in good spirits for the next while.
Some the rain starts to come down, soft but persistent. The jacket is put on. The trail continues but it feels more like home now than South America. The clouds are sitting low on the mountains, its wet. Theres no novelty in it for me. There´s at least two more hours on the trail. I´ve been waliking for seven. I´m getting bored with the whole hike. My hearts not really in this. Suddenly I decide to cut the hike short by a day. It means I´ll miss out on the famous Torres altogether but I don´t care. I saw them from the bus from El Calafate. I´ll stop at the next campsite I´m heading towards. I can get a mini shuttle at 7.30pm which links up with the bus back to Puerto Natales. I push on for Hosteria Grand Paine and get there at 6pm. 9 hours of hiking with three short breaks. I´m quite tired.
On the bus back to Puerto Natales I talk to two Italian girls I´ve been bumping into for the last two days. They, like me were a bit underwhelmed by the park. To be fair it is beautiful but for some reason I didn´t take to it I did feel as though I´ve seen as good and better elsewhere. A myth has built up around the Torres del Paine and, like a lot of myths, I think its been exaggerated.
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