We slept late today. Well, Frodo did. Everybody else was up at daybreak. Frodo and Pippin argued about which way to head, mostly because Pippin had us all excited about drinking at the Golden Perch at Stock, but Frodo wanted to head to the Buckleberry Ferry. As usual, Frodo won.
His "shortcut" ended up leading to a thicket of brambles around a stream, which was none too fun to cut our way through. But it made for excellent cover, when Sam noticed a Black Rider checking out the river valley. We trudged through the bushes and brambles -- hot, sweaty, scratchy, tired, and lost. We waded through the stream, which Pippin recognized as Stock-brook, and came to a forest of oak trees that were extremely dense, but at least on level ground. It was pouring down rain by this time, and conversation was at a minimum. This leg of the journey will probably not go down in history as the best time ever had by a company. It didn't help matters or morale any when Pippin decided we'd turned too far south and suggested backtracking, which Frodo nixed.
Thankfully lunchtime was salvaged by our realization that the Elves had refilled our bottles with a pale gold drink that had a slightly intoxicating effect. After that, the rain didn't much bother us, and the walk was actually becoming enjoyable again -- until we heard the shrieking. Nobody said it out loud, but I knew the wailing came from Black Riders. So much for enjoying the trip.
Total miles so far:
54.98
I saw your link on SparkPeople. Lo and behold,in addition to the delights of a Tolkien trek, there is also the treat of The Road Not Taken. I'll be looking forward to another post.
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