28 Nov Capital to Country Day 4 – Dog days are here again!
The phrase ‘dog days of summer’ is a reference to the hottest, most uncomfortable days of summer.
These famed days have also been turned into part of popular culture by songs like Florence and the Machine’s of the same name.
That particular melody talks about the end of difficult times, which the heat and humidity of summer can also signify.
All of which wittering is a way into saying that on day four of the Capital to Country Multi-Day Ultra we were left far from certain as to whether difficult days, dog days or the impact of the weather were behind or ahead of us.
First of all, day four is the shortest day at a mere 19 miles. But as veterans of last year’s event have been attesting to on social media, it includes the most brutal hill of the five days.
Secondly, although it remains hot and sunny here in Nepal, we are still feeling the impact of some previous heavy rain. Today, we witnessed the power of nature as we saw where this rain, from a few weeks ago, had washed large sections of the road away.
This meant the course had to be re-routed over a suspension bridge, and eventually up a long and sandy uphill. The end of the dog days of summer or an uncomfortable day in its own right?
And talking of dog days, or rather days with dogs… after the 30km covered by our friend Ultra Dog on day two, our runners were today joined by another running hound. This particular pooch covered all 19 miles. We’ll see tomorrow if he will be prepared to take on a second day of running!
As for the race, Richard and Matt were first up the hill today, closely followed by Louise and Avi. Tomorrow is the marathon loop around the village on what will be the last day of our adventure.
We’ll be keeping you up date with the adventure here, as well as on our Facebook and Instagram pages – with plenty more breathtaking photography from our intrepid photographer Adrian Howes, who will be taking to the back of a motorbike to capture some amazing images along the way.
