Day 75 - 14th June Humpback Mt to Waynesboro - 11.5 miles

We start early with the incentive to get to town early and have the afternoon relaxing and eating in civilization. We descend on a good fast trail down Humpback Mt and are able to use our mobile phone to book some accommodation for one night at Tree Streets B&B.

We meet 'Caspar' and 'No Longer Chef' (NLC) who we last saw at Irwin on Day 37. They walk much faster than us. We discover that they had attended trail days in Damascus for 4 days and then taken 6 days off at the beach on holiday from the trail. Some people are lucky. Digby and I have just been slogging away every day. No beach holidays for us.

I tell NLC about my blisters and she says it is the heat causing the swelling, and the sweating which leads to the skin separating and blistering with the moisture and friction. Makes sense to me. She recommends that we drink electrolytes to help reduce the swelling and it should solve the blister problem. We follow her advice over the next few months and the blister problem disappears. I don't see her again so am unable to pass on my thanks. So NLC if you are reading this - THANKYOU! You saved my hike.

We arrive at the edge of Waynesboro and Bill from the B&B comes to collect us. I walk into the gorgeous three story southern mansion, with pool, check out our beautiful room with wonderful luxurious decor and bedding and a huge bed, and yes .... we decide to stay 2 nights. This will only be our third zero on the trip. We have hiked 853.1 miles and up until now walked for 73 days in total. The hosts envelope us with true hospitality and we lapse into luxury.

In town we meet Paradise and Superman who will collect us in his car and chauffeur us around to do our shopping for $10. We think it is a bargain. We visit the outfitters and spend $350 on new clothes and gear. My shorts have been falling off me - only kept up with a piece of cord as a belt. I buy new shorts, and a new skirt which is short and comfortable. I don't worry about the world seeing my knees with all the wrinkles - just get over it. I still wear this skirt a year later.

We have dinner at the Ming Garden Chinese Buffet - an amazing spread and it would probably stand out as the number one eating experience for us on the trail. Paradise joins us for dinner. There is a private room for the 'hiker trash' but we sit outside with everybody else and watch CNN on the big screens around the place. The buffet is so good that we go back for dinner the next night too and stuff ourselves.