Although this was not a particularly long walk it was presented a bit of variety in terms of vegetation, topography and ground conditions, which we were warned about by a fellow walker descending with his boots covered in mud. We had intended to complete this walk last year, but time was somewhat challenging. So, this year we made sure that we had plenty of time.
Even the best laid plan can take a turn in a different direction, either for the better or for the worse. In our case it was for the worse, at least initially as it worked out OK in the end. But more about that later.
Tarn Shelf Walk
The weather forecast for today was not that great and it certainly lived up to expectations. Looking out of the hut window at 8 o’clock, we were surrounded by thick mist, or, probably more accurately, the cloud base was lower than us. Rain was forecast for later so we decided to tackle the Tarn Shelf walk. We had planned to do this last year when we were here, but the weather got the better of us then.
After a very hot night in the hotel with no air conditioning or even a ceiling fan, we got out of bed to have breakfast and packing the car before strolling across the road to the railway station from where the West Coast Wilderness Railway departs. We had booked the Wilderness Class a couple of months previously and had looked forward to this treat for some time.