2018 Bibbulmun Track
Lots of colour
It’s day three and I overnighted at Torbay shelter instead of Mutton Bird which was my original plan. Given I was one hut further along than I had planned, I wanted to make it to Nullaki shelter today. But by the end of the the day things hadn’t gone as well as I had hoped. On day one I averaged 4.5km per hour and on day two this had dropped to 2.97km per hour. This drop in pace was bought about by a number of factors, the main one I didn’t work out until this morning.
My hot spot issues on the balls of my feet were starting to flare up and I had a blister on my little left toe. The hotspot issue always affects me on days over around 20-25km so it was expected. The blister issue is just the weird way I walk. Don’t ask me why but I grip with my toes, I always have done. This issue goes away after I develop callousing. I knew I needed to strap my feet and after doing so this morning, my feet have been fine today (strapping lessons at the podiatrist was money well spent). My main issue yesterday was that I just ran out of energy and for some strange reason I was freezing.
After deciding I wasn’t going to make another 19km (according to my GPS) to the next hut I had a 4:30pm dinner and hot chocolate in my sleeping bag and went to bed for what turned out to be just on 11 hours of sleep!
It wasn’t until this morning I worked out the problem. I went to refill my water bladder and realised I had only drunk around 200mls and when added to what I drank all day yesterday, it was lucky to be 1 litre. My urine colour was as dark as I had ever seen it which just reconfirmed my problem. I am so focused on drinking water during hot weather and with the constant rain yesterday just forgot as I didn’t feel the need. Big mistake and I paid for that. So today I loaded up and with the taped feet managed to power along at a cruisy speed of 5.2km per hour.
I reached Nullaki shelter around 1:00pm and had a relaxed lunch and let my feet air. I then walked to the designated pick up point to be picked up by Mark from Blue Wren in Denmark which was where I am staying tonight. The Bibbulmun Track actually runs through the lagoon and the two preferred options to getting to the other side are either by boat (which is seasonal and not operating at the moment), or my vehicle pick up at about 2.75km from Nullaki shelter. If you are feeling masochist you can also walk it but the Bibbulmun Track Foundation really rank this as a poor choice. It would have been a very soul destroying 26km walk and not recommended.
That pretty much brings me to the end of the day. I’m just about to go and get pizza for dinner, and then come back to do some podcasting prep for the next episode.
So getting back to the title of this post. I find on any extended walk that I do, that the second day of the trip is my worst. It always has been and this trip is no different.
Tomorrow is on to William Bay campsite which is 20km.
Just some of the great views along the way