Cold teeth

Posted by Mark on Dec 5, 09:16 PM

I had to take today off from walking. The flu thing that I was recovering from had migrated into my chest and I was coughing and spluttering like a badly tuned engine. To make matters worse temperatures have plummeted over the past few days and even my teeth feel cold. Thick layers of ice lined the edges of creeks and where water ran down ledges large icicles had formed. In the sun it was quite pleasant once I had warmed up from walking but once I hit shaded areas…. brrrrr!

Feeling under the weather has had an impact on me mentally as well. I haven’t been as focused as usual and at times I’ve been forgetful. Somewhere along the line I left my gloves behind. They’re probably sitting on a rock at the base of a tower where I stopped to take a few photos. By the time I realised they were gone I had walked too far to be bothered going back for them, despite being my much loved ‘middle weight’ gloves. I still have two other pairs – a pair of tight fitting woollen gloves that I wear when typing journal entries and my super warm pair that I wear first thing in the morning and late in the evening.

At one stage I even left my GPS behind. I had taken a brief snack break and was studying my map and GPS data and I simply left it where I had been sitting. Luckily I hadn’t walked too far on this occasion and it wasn’t a major hassle to go back for. When you consider that I haven’t lost a single item throughout the entire trek, the glove loss and the close call with the GPS show how mentally drained I’ve been over the past few days.

The good news is that one day of rest has made a world of difference and I’m eager to get started tomorrow. The weather forecast suggests that I’m going to be in for a cold spell over the next few days so my super warm gloves will probably become permanent fixtures on my hands. Now all I need is something to keep my teeth warm.