Muddy trails

Hopefully the graphic gives you some idea of the constant up/down nature of today's walk. What it doesn't show is the shocking state of some of the paths I followed. Or tried to follow. Often the trails petered out and I found myself stumbling across slippery tussock-covered slopes and along stock trails searching for the walking track, and once I found my path blocked my three huge cows and had to carefully negotiate my way around.

But by far the worst part of today's walk was the truly treacherous Worsleys Track, popular with both mountain bikers and four-wheel drive enthusiasts, who together have transformed it into something resembling a rutted mudslide. A torrent of water was actually flowing down one of the ruts for much of the way, and it wasn't even raining. Incredibly, I made it to the bottom without once slipping, although my shoes and the bottom of trousers were covered in mud.

It was only when I made it back onto the flat that I realized how tired my legs were. But a couple of kilometers later I found myself on my old jogging route and, bizarre though it may seem, I felt the urge to break into a run, so eager was I to get home.

Distance walked today: 19.3km
Total distance walked since blog began: 249.7km
Maximum altitude reached: 450m
Days left until launch of Kisokaido Project: 99