Day 117 - 26th July - Wiley Shelter to Kent - 13.5 miles

As always, we make a fast getaway when it is a 'town' day. We are heading for Kent, our first New England village. We cover 4 miles and arrive at Ten Mile River Leanto, to find Ugly Tuna is still there! It is a beautiful campsite by the river, and we wish we could have been fit enought to make it here last night. The climb up the Schegticoke Mt turnes out to be an ordeal - very hard and rocky. We cross into Connecticut during the climb.

We meet a young hiker heading south - only second day on the trail - who is carrying a skateboard strapped to the back of his pack. We are boggled - he is young and fit and wants transport from the trail to towns and this is his solution. We wonder how long it will last.

When we emerge on to the Kent road, we meet Freeman's parents who are waiting to collect him. We had passed Freeman yesterday and given him an ankle bandage for his twisted ankle. His parents are about our age - they drive us into town. Freeman's foot is seriously inflamed and he needs serious medical help.
His parents had hoped to walk a few days of the trail with him as day walkers but he is in too much pain. We later meet him in Maine, heading south, and learn that he spent nearly 2 months camped in the forest on the edge of Kent waiting for his foot to heal.

Kent is expensive and cute. We book into The Fife and Drum - a tavern and accommodation and the most expensive accommodation we have had so far on this trip. We eat dinner there as well. The restaurant had won all sorts of foodies awards and was full of rich people.