We did better at packing our tent away today and we felt relieved we only had one night of camping left! I had to start the day with one foot inside a plastic bag in my boot as it was still wet from yesterday when we crossed a river. We had to step from rock to rock and it was a little deep and went over my boot. We started off with a river crossing that was knee deep so we had to put secure sandals on, and as practice for our more tricky crossing later in the day, crossed in pairs or threes, linking arms. The water was fast flowing and icy cold. My legs ached with the cold and it took a few moments to ease after crossing. We had two more river crossings, where we had to go through them, during the day. The second was thigh deep, fairly wide and fast flowing. Three of us were linked up to support each other. My legs were very painful. Thankfully it was generally a nice warm day and after the crossing I could leave my shorts on, which had got wet and needed to dry. 
After the river crossing we walked down the river a little to view a spectacular waterfall. It was a nice treat during a pleasant day. There were few ups and downs today so the walking was easier. It was nice to get to chat to my fellow trekkers and find out why they were taking on the challenge. There were 17 of us in all and I generally got to talk to most people during the 3 days trekking. We'd walk at our own pace and chat to the person or people near us. There were some inspirational stories. Lynsey and Graeme had travelled all the way from Dubai where they work and had taken on the trek at Lynsey's suggestion, who was raising money for Breast Cancer Care, following the loss of her friend to the disease. She's vowed to do something every year. She'd asked friends to join her and Graeme had obliged. He was raising for a hospice local to his home in Scotland. I learnt about some charities I knew little or nothing about before like the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) that Heather was supporting, both to raise money and awareness. CALM exists to tackle suicide which is the biggest killer of men aged between 20 and 49, which is startling. Julia was raising money for the Mastocytosis Support Group. Mastocytosis is a relatively newly discovered illness of which little is known. I learnt so much from the variety of people and was entertained by many, including Clodagh, a bubbly Irish lady, who kept us all amused!We walked a lot on black sand today, peppered with volcanic rock. The mountains in the distance looked beautiful but the immediate landscape was barren and lunar-like. I could see why NASA had sent it's astronauts here for training before the moon landings. The mountains we could see here were green, with the ground near us, black or grey with the odd plant with pink or white flowers. We still had to cross snow though and just in front of me Luisa fell through some. One leg went through and she was concerned she'd injured her leg, as were we. She was a little shaken up but recovered and continued.
The day ended nice and warm and we had an earlier finish than the last two nights so more time to set up our tents, enjoy and meal and relax. However, I'd got used to having a mobile phone signal whenever I had checked and had been able. I'd sent a message earlier in the day to my dad, who'd been picking up Thomas from the hospice, to ask how he was and when I turned on my phone at camp to get a reply and to send one to Paul to say how my day had gone I had no signal. I was upset and at a loss. I couldn't check how my children were or let them know how my day had gone. I was concerned about Emily being upset if she hadn't heard from me and I didn't know what to do. I considered walking back up the hill we'd come to see if I had a signal, and I had offers from people to join me. But I had developed a blister and questioned whether I should walk more than I needed to. I therefore spent some time in the tent, crying and then the early evening meal trying to stop myself crying, and not succeeding that much. I then heard someone say that they had a phone signal and I tried my phone again. I succeeded in sending and receiving some messages and felt much better. My toe though, was sore. Victoria had seen to it and had drained the blister. I hobbled around in my sandals and hoped I was better for the last day's trekking. Whilst the campsite had been warm it cooled down a lot during the evening and I wrapped up for bed again. This site was softer. We were on sand and dust and it got everywhere! I also still failed to sleep well but being woken a lot in the night and sleep deprivation are my life so I'm used to it.
Today we'd walked 19km, nearly 12 miles and we were out 8 hours.
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