Meeting up with Jitske

My old housemate and hike mate Jitske got in touch. In the nineties we shared student accommodation in Amsterdam (where Frank lived too!). And my group of friends there would do several hikes per year; often both of us joined. And if we did we were often tent mates. We got along well! 

Jitske has been coming over before; she popped by in 2018 when she had been hiking in South Wales anyway. We hiked for 2.5 days then. The first one had been horizontal rain from start to finish! That had been tiring. But the next day was nice and sunny. It had been good to see her.

This time I had an extra responsibility: she was hiking from Land’s End to John O’Groats, and her hiking boots had started to collapse before she had left the Southwest. Oh dear! And she seems to have one particular model she likes, which is unlikely to be stocked by outdoor shops she would pass. So she bought them online, and had them sent to my address. And I could deliver them to her in Shropshire. 

It would work out I’d travel up on a Monday. I got my bag ready. I was out of practice; we had had a cold wet spring and summer, which is crap for camping, and which had also resulted in many midges. That is also crap for camping. I hadn’t been out with my tent all year! But I think I got it done. I drove to Bangor, parked up, and got the train. And four hours later I arrived in Knighton. She had decided to stay the night in a campsite just 10 minutes on foot from the railway station. The adventure could start! 

Arriving in Knighton