Day 158 Ebor

Up the first part

NSW Day 16 (158) Friday 29th October, 2021 21.5km walking 38.1km total

3141.3 / 1957.6km

Bit drizzly this morning but nice and cool for the climb out of the valley.

I pack up and start the climb. The book says it in a couple of stages. Going to be climbing McDonald's Ridge and gaining about 500 metres in height over the first couple of kilometres.

As I climb it rains and the clouds move across in patches, I take photos when I can and walk as best I can. 

The initial climb finishes in about 2.5 kilometres but then you meander across the ridge gradually getting higher and higher peaks. Each time I get up top of one I think "surely this is it?" but I think it's about 5 more peaks before I stand on the tallest part of the Ridge.    I then cross some open farmland where I picked up a herd of cows then finally a road. 

Clear view back down
The weather report talked about severe thunderstorms and hail with reports some hail the size of golf balls. I hot foot it down the road calculating in my head how long it would take me to get to Ebor. With daylight saving I might have to walk an hour on the dark but I would need to cover nearly 40 kilometres. I'm a bit slow coming up the ridge and I was running all the scenarios through my head when a car came down the road.  As usual I walk into the gutter but the car stops down the road.  I start walking and a man jumps out and starts taking a picture of me. It dawns on me this must be Mushgang from Ebor. He had heard the weather warning and asked Belinda where I was and came out to meet me.  He had bought out a meat pie and a coffee and since I was close to the designated campsite we went there to have a chat. 

Up some more

In the end I decided to get a lift the last 13 or so kilometres into Ebor. I had a parcel of food being delivered to Mushgang but it was Friday and it has gone missing. So I decided to stay at Mushgang's until Mondays post before I shopped the 11 days of supplies I need to get to Nundle.

Mushgang lives very basic outside of town and the daily charge for a bed was within my budget. He has some good set-ups that gave me a hot shower. Then he offered to take me to Armidale to meet Dermot, a bicycle rider doing the trail. 

We had a chat some fast food a drink at the pub and visited a bottle shop for some port. All better than a long walk in a storm. 

Looking across to Marengo Falls I think?
Well actually the storm didn't eventuate over Ebor but that's not my fault. As tired as I was Mushgang kept me up till midnight and we made a fairly big dent in the port. I slept like a baby in Mushgang's shed and appreciated every drop of rain that hit the roof.