Ashville tour guide extraordinaire: Augusta Wind

The south isn’t known for its Japanese food, but it is what we have mostly been eating since we arrived here thanks to a nice little restaurant we found.  We have been in Brevard for quite a few days now and in that time have managed three of the four walks we had planned for the Pisgah National Forest.  It would have been more, but boy have I been aching from the hills we have been climbing!

The first trail, Cat Gap Loop was only 4.4 miles, but with an elevation gain of over 1,000 feet, and most of that on one section. It was tough going.  That’s why you won’t see too many photos of us going uphill.  Taking photos is the last thing on your mind.  The next day we had a rest day, but after that we had two hikes in two days; Looking Glass Rock (3.1 miles with about 1,500ft elevation gain and back down again) and a combination of the Art Loeb Trail and North Slope Loop that we think was about 7 miles with a much smaller elevation gain.  It will be interesting to see how those numbers stack up to our next set of trails in Lake Placid, NY.

Today though, was a different kind of day.  We went into nearby Ashville for a comedy tour of the city.  Ashville was never on our itinerary and we had not planned to go there, but feeling like something a little different, we headed in for the tour.

From our comically over-the-top, yet charming, hostess, Augusta Wind, we quickly got the impression that Ashville was a phoenix from the flames; a city that thirty years ago was down and out but now had a vibrant, if kind of wacky, community feel.  ”Local is the new black”, read a sign in one of the many individual stores and restaurants that we passed which sums up the unique character of the downtown area businesses, but you need a new vocabulary to describe the unique people!  It feels like a little piece of Goa (and I haven’t actually been there) has been transplanted back to the United States.  There are spiritual yoga teachers handing out flyers to the dreadlocked musicians that can be found on every corner.  This is the place where the new hippies hang out.

The tour that we were on only added to this atmosphere, interacting with passers by as much as those on the bus.  Comedy characters lie in wait along the route, jumping out from the “ordinary” passers by to join the bus for a short sketch before disappearing again.

Once it was known that we were english, the same demand that I have had three or four times now made its usual appearance in the conversation: “Say something”.  People, and it is mainly the women I have to say, love to hear the english accent here.  I can’t work it out, but I’m going to have to come up with a line or two of prepared prose rather than looking like an idiot which I have done until now!

At the moment, I’m reading the US constitution.  Not on everyone’s Amazon wish list, I’m sure, but almost necessary reading if you want to understand any of the news or political programmes on TV here.  More so than ever, I am beginning to get a sense that the states see themselves as independent countries that are in a constant battle with a federal government that wants to relegate their status to something more like a county has in the UK.  I, for one, always thought of the federal system as being one created from the top down, but now I see a closer comparison with the UK’s relationship in the EU than, say, Essex’s relationship with the UK.  Gettsyburg, our next destination, will give us ample opportunity to put this into a historical context which will shed some more light on the subject, I’m sure.

I should warn you that there will be some interesting reading coming up.  Julie has persuaded me that it would be a good idea to stay with some Christian fundamentalists in Pennsylvania.  We will be staying on a farm with a Mennonite family and then having dinner with the Amish neighbours one evening.  I’m not sure about the Mennonites, but the Amish believe in a literal interpretation of the bible.  I am firmly grounded in the scientific method, believe in a critical analysis of anything and everything, social equality and that, in general, stoning someone to death is a bad thing, but apparently I am still doomed to eternal damnation no matter how much I give to charity and do the right thing.  It should make for interesting dinner conversation.

Walking the downhill side of the Cat Gap Loop

They say that to truly hate something, you must first truly love it. Not so long ago, I could honestly say that I truly loved the blueberry and white chocolate muffin from the canteen at the London office. Today, that all changed; today we hiked the Cat Gap Loop in the Pisgah National Forest.

At 4.4 miles, this was by no means a long hike.  Last year we hiked 17 miles in Epping Forest in a day with relative ease.  What made today that little tougher, apart from the muffins, could be that I’m 5 years older than when we last did any serious hiking in the US, but I’m not ready to jump to any conclusions.

We have six months until we make our attempt on Everest Base Camp in Nepal.  Today was the first of many hikes that are planned that will gradually increase in difficulty and duration.  Weather permitting, we have the chance of four consecutive day hikes here in North Carolina before we start moving towards Washington, DC.

Until now I have been working on the treadmill at improving my cardio.  I’m running three times a week and for 30 minutes each time at the moment, adding five minutes each week that I complete my three planned runs.  Not much for my marathon running friends, but I’m happy with my slow and steady progress.  I feel like I could do more, but I’m anxious that I build things up slowly and avoid the injury that I normally get a few weeks into every phase of fitness I’ve ever had in my life!

After Pisgah we have more day hikes in Lake Placid, NY and Yellowstone National Park, WY.  After that, we step it up with a 3 day ascent of Mt Alice in the Colorado Rockies, a tough hike at altitude on Mauna Kea in Hawaii (at the 14,500ft summit there is 40% less oxygen in the air than at sea level) and then an 8 day hike in Yosemite.  We’re still planning Canada, but hope to get another hike in there before heading off to India.  Naturally, the gym work continues alongside all of this as well as any other hikes we can fit in.

Today, I may have hated the muffins, but it did remind me how much I love the hiking and how much I’m looking forward to Mt Everest.