Auf Weidersen Kampaeng Phet!

Saturday morning, 4 October, day 30; Here's a recap of what's been happening since we resumed the walk on Thursday afternoon:

Having hoped that Ros would get back to Khlong Khlung at a reasonable hour on Thursday morning, she eventually bowled up at just before 1pm after I had had to check out of the motel I'd stayed in the night before at midday. And things got worse from then on. We had a sudden downpour that lasted about half an hour thereby delaying our departure even further and then I discovered that my spare trainers had been taken out of the car in Lamphun and not put back in again! Likewise our torch! And my hand towel! Wait! There's more! Ros had replaced the dodgy tyre while she was back in Lamphun but had also decided to replace the other rear tyre. So almost all the money that I had authorised her to withdraw from the bank to pay for petrol and othere bits and pieces for the remainder of the walk had just about been blown. And I had about 300 baht in my pocket to pay for our food for the next fortnight or so!

Feeling the need to get some fresh air and put some distance between the two of us, I started walking and kept walking. When these things happen, it's best to have a bit of space. Fortunately, it remained overcast for the remainder of the afternoon and my thighs and calves seemed to have sorted themselves out. The road to Kampaeng Phet, and the inside lanes in particular, is not the best and could do with being relaid in many parts. On quite a number of occasions I found myself sharing the motorcycle lane with HGVs, tour buses and other assorted vehicles trying to dodge the pot holes in the road. It was a problem for Ros too when she was parking up waiting for me. Fortunately, we managed to get to a place called Bahg Dong without anything untoward happening just as it was getting dark and Ros parked up on a piece of wasteland next to a large temple with a row of food stalls at the front of it and this was to be our resting place for the night, still some 20-odd km from Kampaeng Phet. I can't remember at what point I started talking to her again but peace had broken out before we went to bed in the back of the car.

Because of the money situation, we needed an early off yesterday to make sure that we got into Kampaeng Phet at a reasonable time so that we could get round the banks before they closed and find one that could give me a cash advance on my visa. And as yesterday was Friday, we had to get money from somewhere to get us through the weekend at least. So, I was on my way by 7 after skipping breakfast to save some money and hit town just after midday. Had no joy with the first bank we found but struck lucky second time around, though it did take the woman in the bank some 25 minutes to process the transaction! Cashed up, we could then relax and afford some time to get some food ans tock up on water and some fruit. There was a fair on in the town centre and we had a quick look around after lunch before heading back to the car and on to the highway. Our next major destination is Tak and that's about 70 km further down the road and Ros then reminded me that the petrol stations between here and Lampang, some 250 km away, are few and far between. Another 10 km or so on, we arrived at where I'm writing this from now. Didn't know where the next service station was likely to be so this was deemed as good a place as any to rest up last night. And we could put the tent up so we both slept quite well last night. Well, until a couple of soi dogs decided to have a fight next to the tent some time in the early hours! By close of play tomorrow, Tak will hopefully have been conquered and then there's that long, long road to Lampang to look forward to, with those nice hilly bits where I'm sure we'll have plenty more slow moving HGVs to keep us company. Can't wait!