We slept in! Regardless of the rooster Our bodies wanted to sleep and so we slept. I mean 8 o’clock was 3h after sunrise. We packed the tent and our backpacks and went inside to steal some of the coffee the group made (hihi). After that, it was blister time. I took out my fully equipped ziplock first aid kit and started to patch all the blisters up. Took only 15 minutes 😉
After saying goodbye to the group, we started our hike. Today we would do another climb. But first a nice 4×4 track up to Black Sail hut. It was a quiet hike, apart from the mountain biker who broke his chain right in front of us.
Black Sail Hut was so beautiful, the location, the old building, the stream, the view, all of it! We already had done 10km so breaktime. After that it was a steep climb, but with mostly stairs made of rocks. Honestly, this made the climb a lot easier. With climbing up we decided to hike our own pace and I was slightly quicker. I also managed to pass another hiker with such a cute dog. At the top, I waited on Ylva and soon we were heading down towards the visitor center of the slate mines.
The descent was slightly uncomfortable, but the idea of food kept us going. I was surprised at the families whom were climbing up, as they often wore flip-flops and I wouldn’t recommend it. Especially doing this downhill on flip-flops. I’m sure they survived it, but still
At lunch, we saw the hiker with the dog sitting at a table. So we asked if we could join them and we could. Tony and his dog Sunny were also doing the Coast to Coast and just like Ylva, it was their first ever thru-hike. Together we discussed the beauty of the Black Sail hut and the views and together we complained about the downhill (especially because we still had a part of the descent left). After lunch we continued together and Ylva was thrilled to have the company of Sunny (she loves doggies). While talking the descent wasn’t too bad, but for both Tony and Ylva the day had been long enough.
Arriving at a really busy campsite, we were escorted by the owner to the hiker’s spot. Which was nice and quiet. Other tents were there, but no one was home. We paid for the campsite and switched to our sandals. The owner was still there and after seeing Ylva and her tiredness, he asked her to follow him. A bit odd, but no red flags. After a few minutes she came back and I asked her what happened. Apparently he showed her a nice private bathroom, not that the ones on the campsites were horrible, but sometimes your own space can be lovely. The only odd thing was, this bathroom was on a graveyard. So in the end we didn’t use it.
Another big question was how the feet of Ylva were looking. And yes she managed to get more blisters and still not complain. What an amazing woman. So we treated them and quickly decided that we would go out for dinner rather than cooking. So we ‘walked’ back to the YHA we passed on our way, where they served drinks and food even if you didn’t stay there.
Aaaah the cider tasted soooo good!! Love them ❤ And for dinner, what better than a burger? Joining us at the table was another hiker, Kirsten who stayed in the hostel. She quickly told us about her two dogs, which she repeated every time we saw her. Oh well, a hard thing not to talk about the thing you love. So we repeated that we loved black sail hut and loved the views, but hated the descent. Which she wholeheartedly agreed with.
After a second pint of Cider, it was time to go back to the tent. Our legs, but especially Ylva’s and Tony’s, felt heavy and the walk back to our tent revealed that tomorrow would be an interesting day as there was another hill to conquer. Plus more blisters for Ylva
Zilla-in-the-wild 