Before and After

Hi everyone - we're back!! ( me & Annie of Northern Living Allowance) I'm still sorting through photos and posting daily albums on Facebook. When that job is done I'll do a day by day description of this year's trip like I did last year. In the meantime (due to gearing up for a long drive out to PEI - more on that later) I'll post when I can.

Frankly, I think we look more tired in the first picture which was taken in the Metro station and we hadn't even taken the first step of our cross-country expedition! It's probably just the harsh flourescent bulbs emphasizing our bags and wrinkles, yeah, I'm sure that's what it is...'cause I KNOW we felt like teenagers about to have an incredible adventure - what could go wrong? Blisters and sore feet, rashes and sore achilles tendons were the furthest things from our minds - we were invincible!

And we were! Invincible that is...we lost track of our many aches and pains and no matter how tired and sore we were (and we were really sore) when we went to bed we woke up feeling better and ready to hit the trail. Mostly.

Calamity Jane and Annie (get your gun) Oakley - Day One

 We got to use our rain gear on the very first day - yippeeee!!! And many times more over the next few days. We got to be super fast at putting on our jackets etc when the first drops started to fall - the problem was it would start and stop raining about 100 times a day! Phew! We faced rain, mud, gale force winds and then sunshine (we're in short sleeves on our last day of hiking) - at least it didn't snow!

Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane - Day Seven

 On our last day of walking we encountered an older gent making an extra pound or two by posting where hikers were from and the mileage on a signpost he created and taking photos. A nice keepsake - behind us is Scotland!

A long long way from home!

Before I sign off I just want to say that the world of blogging has brought many special people into my life - people I'd never have met otherwise.  Annie is one of those people. I think Hadrian's Wall would have been hard to do on my own and I'm glad I didn't have to. Annie was always positive and though we both had moments when we wondered what the heck we were doing out in the middle of nowhere with the rain pouring down and the wind almost blowing us over we kept going, encouraging each other. We learned to appreciate and take great joy in the little things - a hot cuppa, a bathtub, a bowl of hot soup and a crusty bun, and managed to keep our sense of humour most of the time :)

Thank you Annie - WE DID IT!!