Day: 15
Date: Friday, 01 November 2019
Start: Deloraine
Finish: Deloraine
Daily Kilometres: ~4.0km wandering around town
Total TT Kilometres: 385.4
Weather: Warm and mostly overcast
Accommodation: AirBnB Cabin
Nutrition:
Breakfast: Apple pie and milkshake
Lunch: Cornish pastie
Dinner: Hamburger & chips, milkshake.
Aches: None really
Highlight: Wandering around six of the Tasmanian Craft Fair venues and looking at some of the 260 exhibitors on a comfortably warm day in attractive Deloraine. I find the ingenuity and skills impressive, but think it would be a hard way to make a living with so much competition in the same space. It wouldn't be hard to think of a score of friends who would have savoured the exhibition more than me, and I'm sure I didn't appreciate adequately a lot of what I saw.
Lowlight: None really
Map and Position: Click here for Google Map
Journal:
I had a slow start to the day, and attended to some chores before walking the 500 metres into the centre of Deloraine, which is a pretty little town set along a main street leading up from manicured parkland bordering the Meander River. After a wander up and down the street, I visited the Post Office to collect my last mailed food package where the girl was very impressed that I had arrived on the exact date specified on the package as my ETD (all my packages say "Please Hold for Tasmanian Trail Hiker Due ~ dd/mm/yy"). I told her I was a "man of routine".
I had some breakfast at one of the bakeries on the main street, and as I walked from there towards some of the Craft Fair venues, I passed the town's small sports store and saw they had some discounted running shoes in a bin out the front that got me thinking about replacing the old Nike Pegasus shoes I have been wearing, and which I feel are well past their "use by" date (and are half a size smaller that I would like). I visited three of the Fair venues, before deciding to return to the sports store to see what they had in stock.
WARNING! BORING PARAGRAPH ABOUT SHOES.
The discounted shoes in the size I wanted (US12) were Asics Gel Nimbus, which have a good reputation, but after doing some Googling, I found their heel drop (how much higher the heel is than the forefoot) was 10mm, and I would prefer 12mm. I have had lifetime Achilles tendon problems (five surgeries) and the higher heel drop (which Nike Pegasus also has) takes pressure off the tendon. Inside the store, they had some New Balance 880s, which have a 12mm heel drop, in my required size and I bought them. I was once also sponsored as a marathon runner by New Balance, and have found them to be good shoes, though sometimes a little on the heavy side. The proof will be in the pudding when I wear them tomorrow.
After buying the new shoes, I had lunch at the other bakery in town, bought a few things at the supermarket, then walked back to my cabin, by which time it was 2pm. I then walked to the three Fair venues close to my cabin and spent another hour looking around the exhibits, before spending the remainder of the afternoon, doing a few small chores and watching TV.
Later, I walked to a 50s-themed diner for dinner and packed ready for a reasonably early departure tomorrow (rain forecast). Around lunchtime, I will have to ford the other major river on the Tasmanian Trail, the Mersey. A TT website update says that there is a deep channel that makes the crossing difficult, and suggests a road alternative, but I think I'll take a look first. If I decide to backtrack, it should only cost me a few kilometres.
No comments:
Post a Comment