Continuing on from where our last post ended, we walked the final day from Mutton Bird shelter to Albany.
The day had a generally melancholic feel. We appreciated the first half of the day, along an isolated track with beautiful coastal views. The second half was following a flat tarmac cycle path, that lined the Princess Royal harbour into Albany. This was a bit of a trudge through some of the industrial areas of Albany and did not endear us to returning to civilisation. Actually upon entering the town centre, the old Victorian era buildings had a grand charm and it was yet again amazing to have a shower. As a fitting end to our trip we celebrated with drinks on the waterfront, alongside another end-to-ender David, watching the sun set over our achievement.
On setting out on this journey, we hadn't really factored in the social side of the walk. Whilst we predominately walked alone and rarely saw another sole on the track, at the shelters there were normally a few other people staying the night. Some people followed a similar schedule to us for weeks, so we formed unlikely friendships and others stayed just overnight. In total we only had one shelter to ourselves, which I suspect is lower than average. Being alone for days on end would have given us more of a wilderness feeling, but I suspect it may have also increased the chances of Callan and I getting sick of each other too!
Obviously we're both pleased to have completed the Bibbulmun track, as it is the longest walk we've ever done. However we've really grown used to our simple walking routine and the sudden jolt back into urban life did feel a little abrupt.
Interestingly, I thought I would come away from this trip feeling very fit and thinking that we would be able to walk 25 miles a day or more with relative ease by the end. Actually because we had allowed ourselves plenty of time in which to do this walk, it has not been necessary to push ourselves that hard - we averaged just over 15 miles a day. This has given us time to stop when we see a beautiful bird, paddle in streams and generally appreciate our surroundings. My competitive psyche still crept in from time to time, with the feeling that walking 1000km should be hard and therefore we should suffer somewhat. This manifested itself in a fair few days of over 20 miles, but I think our longest walking day was probably only 10 hours long.
On the Bibbulmun Track Foundation website they suggest planning your walk to take as many days as possible so you have time to appreciate the scenery. This was definitely not my feeling before this trip, where I felt that the quicker you walked, the greater your achievement. Overall I think our speed was a good balance of challenge and relaxation and allowed us to finish in fairly good nick. I'm not sure if I was ready for the walk to end, but it means that we'll still have some enthusiasm if someone suggests going for a walk and I suspect it won't be long before we start planning our next trek.
