Halfway report

Well a couple of days back Andrew and I crossed the halfway marker located crudely in the middle of a downhill track. It stated we had walked 367.325km since Cheonhwang-bong in Jiri-san national park. We didn't hang round much to celebrate that fact, just a handshake and some photos as it was already getting dark near the end of a 20km tab with no end in sight. We escaped from the ridge on darkness and got well fed by a local family who owned a minbak at the base of the ridge. The night's now in Korea are getting colder and our second half strategy is in place. Rather than add an extra 5 kilos of equipment to our 20kg packs from which we have been trundling round for the past 35 days - we have done the reverse and our now traveling in light order so that we can traverse to the mountains with speed and agility. There are some very long tabs coming up for us to acheive in sub alphine area and with laden packs our pace would become retarded and we would be forced to carry extra gear to sleep out. Now we can alight to the 30km mountain tabs when required with hastened mobility. Next week we are guests at Buseok-sa Temple near Yeongju city on the 20th of October - if anyone is interested in attending the temple stay they can contact Prof. David Mason at mntnwolf@yahoo.com. Our journey of research so far has taken us to hundreds of memorable vistas and we relish the fact that we are due to encounter many more before the walk's end in Jinbu-ryeong sometime in early November. The collection of information on the Baekdudaegan trail has been extensive and fascinating, we also look forward to working closely with our friend and colleague Prof. Mason when disseminating all that information for the trail guide book.

Over.
Roger.