A day on the hill
Hour by hour
The shape of every day is the same, which is what makes the hard days manageable. Times shift by half an hour for a long day.
Tea outside
Someone is always up before this. Tea and fruit on the veranda while the cloud is still below you.
Breakfast, and the bags go
A cooked breakfast and whatever you want in your lunch box. Bags out by the door: the van takes them to tonight's inn and you will not see them until tea.
On the path
We start early on purpose. The views go when the cloud comes up around eleven, and the first two hours are usually the best of the day.
Coffee stop
Twenty minutes, usually somewhere with a view, sometimes at a shop if the route passes one.
Lunch on a rock
Bread, cheese, fruit, and something the inn made. An hour if the weather is kind, twenty minutes if it is not.
Down to the inn
Most days end with a descent, which is why we go on about knees and poles. Boots off on the step.
Tea and your bag
Tea, cake and a shower. Your bag has been in the room for two hours.
Dinner, and tomorrow
Dinner together, then ten minutes on tomorrow's map: the distance, the climb and where the water is. Everyone is in bed by ten.