Cold, and a cold...

Mavora Lakes is a beautiful place but it's at a fairly high altitude, and I could feel a cold wind blowing as I set up camp. By the time I had made my dinner the sun was gone and the temperature began to plummet. The only option was to crawl into my sleeping bag and stay there until the morning. But even my sleeping bag struggled to keep me warm, so it was a long and uncomfortable night.

When the sky began to lighten I looked out to see the landscape covered in a heavy frost. I waited a long time for the sun to rise and dry my tent but eventually I packed it up wet and got moving quite late in the morning.

For Lord of the Rings fans, at the top of the lake is the location of Nen Hithoel, the setting where the Fellowship battled it out with the Uruk-hai and the tree stump where Frodo, Merry and Pipin hid.

From the lakes there is a lot more traffic, and the road is rough and dusty. This section of the Around the Mountails trail has not yet been completed due to a land access dispute. So I continued along the roads until I reached the current trailhead, and then followed it allong the beautiful Oreti River. 

By now my sore throat had developed into a head and chest cold, and feeling pretty low I returned to the highway and with the help of a brisk tailwind brought a quick end to day at Mossburn, where I have taken a very nice room at the Railway Hotel.