Saturday 28 March 2009 - Franklin, North Carolina

In town waiting in Domino's for a pizza ahead of a zero (no hiking) day tomorrow. Going to sort out some groceries to post ahead to Fontana Dam as I hear that resupply there is quite poor.

Had a good couple of days hiking in the rain (after my low Thursday) and made excellent time - my mileage for the past few days has been 15, 11, 15, 11, 16, 14 which puts me in pretty good shape. Stayed in a shelter last night with some nice people (and some not so nice mice) and hiked 9 miles this morning before 10am in order to meet the shuttle into Franklin. Planning on pushing a little harder through the Smokey Mountains as I would like to spend a week or so on the trail without going into town as I feel that Hiawassee and now Frankiln have broken my momentum a little.

Staying in Miss Janet's hostel - she's a trail legend, known as the 'sweetheart of the trail.' The hostel is excellent and she's a great source of advice. Looking forward to a lie in ahead of an easy day and then some serious hiking.

P.S Passed the 100 mile mark today which already makes this the longest hike of my life by some margin - just 2075 miles to go!

Thursday 26 March 2009 - Standing Indian Shelter

Didn't enjoy today very much at all. We left Hiawassee at 9:15 and began our hike in the rain. I'd initially only planned to walk 5 miles, but decided to go further. On reaching Muskrat Creek Shelter where we had planned to stay, we found it full of 6 or 7 very morose characters. The rain seems to have dulled people's spirits quite a lot and when we reached the next shelter (also full) things were very much the same. Made big miles though (16+) and crossed my first state from Georgia to North Carolina.

Have just learnt how to hang my food from a tree to avoid bears taking it and am now in my sleeping bag waiting for it to get dark so I can get some sleep. Gotta love those 8pm bed times!

Tuesday 24 March 2009 - Tray Mountain Shelter

Had my first genuine low yesterday, but hiked with a girl called Wendy for a little while and it helped to have some human contact and conversation to keep me occupied.

Much better day today as I hiked around 15 miles and gained around 4000 feet of elevation. Experienced trail magic (when people turn up to give food and drinks to hikers) for the first time today (in the form of iced tea and spaghetti bolognese) at just the right point and came into a shelter just as I was feeling ready to drop.

Hiked with Patrick for most of the day and we dragged each other up some pretty big hills.Am camped out tonight with three of the people I started the hike with - Kelly, Ian and Anita. Hitting Hiawassee tomorrow -I need food!

Sunday 22 March 2009 - Neels Gap (Hostel)

Have just spent twenty minutes with the owner of the lodge where I am staying, trying to break in to my accommodation as he'd forgotten the keys. In recompense for having to drive the 3 miles back to collect them, he offered me a taste of some genuine north Georgia strawberry moonshine! Yee-ha! It was the real deal, made in an illicit still and everything.

Hiked 15 miles today over Blood Mountain and encountered an amazing couple having their 25th wedding anniversary picnic up there. They fed me huge amounts of trailmix and (bizarrely) talked in detail about how typical of Britain Keeping Up Appearences was. Very odd.

Fantastic day though.

Saturday 22 March 2009 - Gooch Shelter

Just a quick one - favourite line from yesterday came from Chuck who, when asked how he was feeling after a days hiking said 'I got shot once and it didn't hurt this much.'

Friday 20 March 2009 - Hawk Mountain Shelter

Have just finished my first day on the AT proper (having hiked the 8.8 mile approach trail yesterday). Feeling really good and strong and the sun is shining - have had to resist the temptation to do big miles and so am restricting myself to 8/9 miles a day at the moment to ease myself in. Stayed in my first shelter last night with a good few folk, all American. Kirk (a guy from Georgia) and I really hit it off, but he was just finishing a southbound hike, so we went our seperate ways this morning.

The hiking so far has mainly been through forest (with only a few breaks in the trees). Really enjoying the life at the moment - I'm writing this in my tent which I've pitched for the first time. Think I will try and trim my pack weight a little as I would like to get it down to around 40lb from my current 45lb.

Favourite comment on me being English so far - 'You're English huh? So are potatoes a big vegetable in England?'

No phone signal so haven't been able to call home yet. Aim to try in Neel's Gap in two days time.