Today we’re hiking Tre’r-ddol to Borth or Aberystwyth with a choice of five miles or ten miles.

We begin by catching the bus back to the lovely little town of Tre’r-ddol, then marching our way through a light mist from the drop-off to the Path.

After a moderate hill and descent, we trek through a peat bog, the Cors Forchno bog located in the Dyfi National Nature Reserve. The bog is a moving site as I realize it has been here for thousands of years. It’s also a bit fear-inspiring, putting me in mind of Maeve Binchy‘s novels (yes, I know they were set in Ireland, still–) where inn guests go off for a walk, get lost in the bog and mysteriously disappear. We carefully stay on the trail at the edge of the bog and I’m intent on staying close to the group.

The flat portion of today’s walk comes to an end at Borth, an active seaside village where we have the option of ending our hike and taking the train to our evening’s destination in Aberystwyth. I contemplate this as a mild ache in my right hamstring has returned, but make the decision to continue on. We stop for our bagged lunch along the beach where surfers and bathers are enjoying the 57- degree water.

Had I taken the train I would have missed these wonderful cliff views above the Ceredigion Bay, hiking along with Will, Jane, Randy, Jane and Katie who also happened to be a troupe of musicians.

The downside was that the mild ache in my right hamstring became painful to where one of my fellow hikers said I was “listing.” We finally approached a downhill into a lively caravan (a grouping of holiday trailers along the seaside).

Paul, our wise and experienced group leader, looked at my condition and offered that we had less than a mile to go over the most difficult elevation of the day and there was cab service from the caravan. A cab, really? Yes, a cab. Decision between pain and shame, I chose the shame andI telescoped my ski poles, hopped in and was the earliest arrival at the wonderful Black Lion Hotel located on the esplanade.

Who among us hasn’t bagged out before the end of a hike when the conditions seemed right to do so? Someone? Anyone? Only me?

A windswept vanity photo of the day.