Dotty & Marge* go trekking!

 

Sunday 10th April, Hayley and I struggled out of our bunk beds just before 7am. There was lots of groaning - mostly from me! I was warm and snuggly and my body was resisting the idea of a two day trek.

We drank several coffees and ate lots of toast which we felt was preparing us well for our adventure. The bus arrived just before 8am and we set off...and promptly fell asleep again on the bus.

The journey to Torres del Paine takes about two hours from Puerto Natales and then once in the park we had to buy our tickets and continue on to Lago Pehoe to catch a catamaran. We arrived at Lago Pehoe at about 11am (ish) and had to wait till nearly 12pm for the catamaran.

Once on board we got chatting to Chilean brothers, we also almost overdosed on the free biscuits!

I really was quite nervous about trekking on unknown terrain. It's not like I haven't done any walking since Gold D of E, just the thought of staying overnight that freaked me I think. In Ecuador I liked the idea of seeing the top of volcanoes but also knew that I was very unfit for the altitude. I don't want to be the person at the back of the group who is upset and not enjoying themselves and making it worse for everyone else.

We set off just before 1pm and at first I was fairly chipper. We chatted, laughed, swore about 'Jonny', etc.  I got a few pics which always makes me happy. However as the afternoon wore on, the weather was pretty shitty, misty and rainy. Again this did make for some interesting pics and I also gave Hayley some photography lessons. She has a D40 too and has had it set on auto for over a year - tsk, tsk! It was a happy moment when she stated, "Wow, this is much better than the auto!"

Annoyingly as the afternoon wore on, my knee started to ache more and more. I've had trouble with my knee since living in Ecuador, it's fairly common in my family so I just put up with it and carry on. Also it's worse when I'm a bit heavier and I certainly put on a little weight in both Argentina and Chile. Looking forward to getting back to altitude soon and it naturally falling off again!

I was really enjoying Hayley's company, but the afternoon was becoming a bit of a slog. It probably didn't help that we were comparing the scenery to the UK and not being wowed by it. This changed when we caught our first sight of Glacier Grey. There it was, all blue and mysterious behind a veil of mist. Suddenly I had the wow factor I'd been needing!

We kept going until we reached Refugio Grey at about 5pm ish. We'd walked for just over four hours and only 11km. It felt like so much more though and I was exhausted. Tea and nibbles soon followed.

Later I ordered dinner and bless the lovely folks at the refugio, they gave us two dinners for the price of one.

We struggled to stay up till 9pm and then both retired to bed. It felt daft to be going to bed so early, but realistically I'd had one good night's sleep in the past four nights, so not entirely surprising.

Next morning, again neither of us were keen to crawl from our warm and snuggly beds, we got up by 7am. Coffee was most necessary and I wasn't exactly overjoyed to be photographed by a lovely Chilean man and his daughter. I don't like to communicate too early, let alone have my photo taken. However they did balance out this mean behaviour with the provision of sandwiches for us.

We set off just after 8am. We needed to move faster down the route than we had the day previously as I had to catch the catamaran back across Lago Pehoe at 12.30pm. The weather was considerably improved - sunny and windy. We were walking as the sun came up and my love for beautiful light and 'catching' an image took over. At times I was almost running to find a viewpoint for both the glacier behind me and the view ahead. I'd also taken ibuprofen to help my knee and it was much nicer to take each step without feeling any pain.

Again we talked easily about life, the universe and some of our biggest demons. I truly felt a strong connection with this lovely lass and knew I would be sad to leave her at lunchtime.

Amazingly, the walk that had taken us more than four hours the day before took just over three this time. We arrived at Lago Pehoe with plenty of time to spare for a rest and a cuppa before I left.

I actually really enjoyed it and was quite amazed to find myself wishing I was doing the whole 'W'. Yet I also knew I would not have wanted to carry more than I had, as I cooled down from the walk my back decided to make itself known, alongside my knee. It's a bugger getting older, most of the time I ignore it, but sometimes the aches and pains make you have to accept that it is happening.

I waved goodbye to Hayley and hello again to my young German friend Louis.

* Dotty and Marjorie are mine and Hayley's alter egos, I am of course Dotty!