The border crossing from Argentina to Chile was pretty easy/uneventful. Although do you remember the blog we did about the journey to Guayaquil when the English were blamed for blocking the toilet on the bus? Well it's official it's not the English who do this it's the Koreans! We got back on the bus after border control and I needed the toilet so I went to the back of the bus and it was being used. I queued for 5 minutes when an unbelievable stench of poo started wafting out, I quickly sat back down as everyone wasn't back on the bus yet and there was no way I was being blamed for that!!! Another 5 minutes after I sat down a lady calmly walked out of the toilet like she smelt of roses and then didn't bat an eyelid when the smell permeated the whole bus and people we're getting back on and gipping!

We decided to have 2 nights in Puerto Natales so we had plenty of time to get sorted for the 4 night/5 day hike we were about to embark on. There's a hostel there called Erratic Rock and every day they do a free talk on trekking in Torres Del Paine where they explain the routes, what gear you need etc. It was really good and it was here we realised that our best option was to hire all the camping equipment and carry it ourselves. Most of the info they gave us was invaluable, some was ignored but I'll come on to that later.

Casson loves a bargain and was prepared to shop around for the best prices for the rental equipment whereas unless I can do it from the comfort of a chair whilst using the internet I'm too lazy to go from shop to shop and would probably just go for the first quote we got, this might be why Casson suggested going on his own!

My job was to plan the food and the deal was I'd carry all of it and Casson would carry the tent and stove (and we'd each carry our own sleeping bags, mats and clothes). Food had to be the lighter option right?

At the talk the guy had said that he would snack on fruit and nuts for his lunch so Casson took this literally and when I told him what I was planning on taking he said to skip lunch and just take nuts. This is from the person who's appetite has been increasing steadily since we got here, only a week earlier we'd both been talking about how much he was eating. This was the piece of advice I ignored, I laughed in Casson's face at the very idea of him just having nuts for lunch and thank god I did (there's a story coming later)

The day before we set off some people returned to our hostel and said they'd had 5 days of rain and wind whilst trekking and that it had been miserable so we were dreading it being like that, here's our account if the longest trek we've done so far:

Day 1:
We can't even describe how cold it was on the bus to the park so it didn't fill us with confidence, everyone was freezing. Surprisingly, when we got to the park it had brightened up, it was still pretty cold but the sun was out.

We got a catamaran to the start of the W trail which was the name of the hike we were doing and began the hike. I should point out at this point that my earlier thoughts that my bag would be lighter than Casson's were regrettably incorrect, 5 days worth of food for 2 people is pretty heavy! The saving grace was that every day my pack would get lighter :-)

The walk to the first campsite seemed ok at first, the views of the glacier in the distance along the way were great and it seemed pretty flat but that soon changed. At one point we were bouldering with our packs on and by about 3 hours in I was flagging. I think what made it worse was the signs in the park are completely incorrect. They tell you that you've only done 2km when you know you've done more then it will say there's only 3km to go when it's more like 6km!!!! It took us just under 4 hours to get there (the average is 3.5 so we didn't do too badly)

We pitched our tent and then decided to walk on another hour to see the Grey Glacier from a suspension bridge, after that we headed back to have tea.

This first night we were at a paid campsite so they had a really nice room with tables and benches where you could cook on your camping stove. Tea was Mexican rice and hotdogs. I feel at this point that I should tell you that we had a big breakfast and some sandwiches for lunch before we started walking and by 2pm nut boy was hungry! We'd bought some chocolate bars with 6 pieces per bar and we'd made a deal that I would have 2 pieces to his 4 but I'd have 3 hotdogs to his 2. This went out the window on the first night as he was so hungry I couldn't stick to the 3:2 ratio and luckily for him I was so tired id lost my appetite and couldn't finish my food!

Day 2:
The next morning we had to re trace our steps back the way we came the previous day. This was my day to have a hissy fit, I just wasn't feeling it at all. At one point I made a statement that if on our last morning we didn't see the sunrise over the mountain (which was the pinnacle of the hike) I was NEVER hiking again and I truly meant it! We got back to the start of the trail and sat and had 20 minutes rest and some lunch before carrying on and I was like a new woman! It took us 3 hours to get to the next campsite but once there it was totally worth it, we were in the woods at the base of the mountains, the views were amazing! This was a free campsite so we had to cook out in the open and it was pretty cold but it didn't matter.

That night we could hear mini avalanches from the mountains, it sounded like thunder and all I could think about was if only my mum knew where we were camping, she'd be having palpitations (even though it was totally safe).

Day 3:
Today was probably the first day I've seen Casson look tired on the hike, he was grumpy at breakfast which isn't like him and he didn't seem up for the walk. We were heading up to the French Valley then coming back to camp and packing up and moving on. The day before the pass to the French Valley had been closed due to bad weather and it was still saying closed but everyone was walking it. We both honestly think that if I'd said lets not bother and let's just go to the next campsite Casson would have. But I didn't say that so we started the hike .... after less than an hour he was hungry so we got the snacks out and by 10am he was adamant that he was having his lunch (good job it wasn't just nuts). He would tell you himself he was on the verge of his own hissy fit but after some food he found his mojo and he was fine for the rest of the walk. When we got to the top of the French Valley the views of the mountains were amazing, it was totally worth it.

We headed back to camp, packed up, had a cup a soup and then were on our way to the next campsite. It should have taken 2.5 hours but we both had a power surge and we did it in 1 hour 40!

That night we wre at another paid for campsite so we had better facilities and there was a shop, we treated ourselves to 2 cans of beer and a packet of chocolate biscuits. They may have been mega expensive but they were totally worth it! Whilst we were sat outside we were chatting to a couple who said they'd heard there was a rat problem at the camp and to be careful with our food, well I was on high alert after this!

We went to bed and I woke up in the night to what sounded like rats trying to gnaw their way through the tent, the conversation went like this:

Me: Casson, Casson, CASSON (he sleeps like a log)

Casson: What's wrong?

Me: I can hear rats trying to get into the tent, they're coming for the food and it's on my side of the tent

Casson: It's not rats it the sound of the tent moving next door

Me: Can you just put the light on and check please?

After a thorough check there were no holes and he went straight back to sleep, I just lay there on high alert, the noise had stopped but I was waiting for it to come back, I had visions of waking up with a rat in my sleeping bag and I would have actually died!

I went back to sleep but I later woke up and was immediately on high alert and bolt upright, I could 100% hear rats running round ouside the tent, queue repeat of the above conversation. I had the worse nights sleep that night. In the morning at breakfast the first thing someone said to me was "did you hear the mice running all over your tent last night" I felt vindicated, Casson had been adamant it wasn't anything near our tent and I knew it was! The only saving grace was they were tiny little mice and not cat size rats like I was imagining!

Day 4:

This was supposed to be the hardest day as a lot of it was uphill so we were up and out early. It was pretty hilly but both of us were on fire and we absolutly powered it.

Just before the first check point which was a paid for campsite (we weren't staying there, we were carrying on to the free campsite to be closer to the Mirador so we could go up for sunrise) we stopped for lunch, we'd just done a massive climb and we were knackered but as we sat down, Casson spotted a huge condor flying past us really close by, it was amazing. We were just about to move on when an Israeli couple who we'd chatted to loads along the way crested the hill, she was so funny, she was fuming and shouting, "no one told me it was going to be like this, I wouldn't have agreed to it, I want to die, I actually want to die" The worse thing is they were on their honeymoon!

From the campsite to our free campsite it should have been an hour and half walk all uphil but we did it in about 40 minutes. The hardest day had turned into a really easy day for us so we pitched out tent and decided to walk to the Mirador to see the Torres Peaks just in case it was cloudy in the morning.

This turned out to be a big mistake, it was a pretty steep climb and parts of it were climbing over big boulders and stones and by this point I think we were both running on empty so it was like torture and took us an hour. The views at the top were amazing but in hindsight we probably should have just done it in the morning after we had rested, the walk back down was also torture.

For the past 3 days I'd been giving Casson more food than me as I knew he was hungry but I think it had all caught up with me as on our last evening I was absolutely starving! It didn't matter though as we'd saved our best tea till the last night. A huge pack of ravioli that would serve 3-4 people and we cooked it in tomato soup so it had a sauce. As it was a free campsite the facilities were basic so after cooking we took the pan of steaming hot food to our tent and demolished it! It was the best meal we'd had in weeks and completely restored us ready for the early mornning hike. Oh and the pack of biscuits that we'd bought that day :-)

Day 5:

We knew the walk to the Mirador took us an hour the day before and we had to be there before sunrise so we would be hiking in the dark (bouldering) so we had to give ourselves enough time to get up there. This meant up at 5.30am and on the road by 5.45am, for some reason even though it was pitch black it was easier this time so we flew up there and it was still dark by the time we reached the top. We picked a rock to sit on and were all layered up (as it was pretty cold up there) and sat back and had our breakfast, a packet of chocolate biscuits and a can of beer to toast the sun coming up. It was pretty amazing and made all the pain of the past 4 days worth it.

Once the sun was up we went back to camp and packed up and flew back down the hill to get the shuttle at 2pm, we were there for 11.30 (along with loads of other people) so we treated ourselves to a hotdog and a can of coke and sat back in the sun.

General points:

1) if there was a muddy, wet, difficult or downright dangerous path to take I would choose it rather than the easy one, at one point Casson banned me from going in front as I'd got stuck one time too many. Is it my fault I don't look further than the next stone i'm going to step on?

2) If Casson ever tells you he can survive off nuts for lunch whilst hiking he is lying

3) Sleeping on the floor for 4 nights is torture, I think both our hips were bruised

4) Unfortunately we saw the sunrise on the last day so I now have to continue hiking

5) We were so lucky with the weather, 2 days that were bright but fresh and 2 days that were really warm and sunny!