Woke up at 8.30am after a remarkably comfortable night, sleeping three in the van. Chris cooked avocado and egg for breakfast. Today's plan was to prepare the van got our road trip so first stop was Lisa's house to drop off various bits of excess luggage ( bike, ice axes / crampons etc) in her garage, and then to prepare our vehicle. B and C fitted the tow bar and luggage rack and invertor which unfortunately started smoking when connected. K washed up all the camping kit in Lisas kitchen and narrowly avoided losing Smudge the cat, who seemed intent in making a bid for freedom every time the door was opened, followed immediately by hiding under the bed, just to cause alarm! Neighbours watched with interest / puzzlement / friendly amusement as we tried to re-pack the contents into the van interior/ boot / luggage rack in a working arrangement. Job done, we packed ourselves into the van and set off on our adventure!
Next stop was to Grassi lakes to watch the climbers climbing on the coral cliffs overlooking the incredibly green coloured pools.
After that we drove to Engadine Lodge, in a remote valley near Spray lake. The sun was shining and we were made to feel very welcome as we tucked into afternoon tea - a sharing board of smoked bison, venison pate, cheeses, and crackers followed by pecan caramel slices and banana bread.
We then had a blissful couple of hours to relax before dinner in our cabin overlooking the river and mountains, whilst Chris caught up with work.
Dinner was served at 7pm sharp in one sitting which we shared with a group of Canadian girls who lived locally and were able to share advice and recommendations about local hikes and accommodation. Dinner was this a sociable and delicious affair with tasty and innovative servings of cheesy flat breads, duck with red cabbage and salted caramel coconut ice cream!
At some point during the evening Chris suggested that in order to make the most of our jet lag we could rise early tomorrow morning to hike the Tent Ridge trail, to watch the sunrise and be back in time for breakfast (8-9am).
From the leather sofas by the fire in the cosy lodge, this seemed a great idea to the enthusiastic first follower, although a still badly jet-lagged Bill was at first rather more reserved!