Today's miles 25.6. AT miles 1143.1
It rained quite a lot during the night so we made a good choice staying at the Allenberry Resort last night rather than camping. It was a clear very warm sunny day again today though. We had a big mileage day today to get to Duncannon so set our alarm for 6am. We were packed and walking for 7am.
It was easy walking today, the flattest section of the AT so far. The first half was twelve and a half miles across Cumberland Valley. The trail still went through a lot of woodland but also across several sections of farmland which made a nice change. The field styles in Pennsylvania are much more hiker friendly than the ones in Virginia. We passed lots of wild flowers and blossom trees, some which had a lovely scent. We saw plenty of wildlife too, squirrels, birds, lots of red winged blackbirds in the fields, butterflies and Nigel saw what he thought was a beaver, could have been a muskrat. I also nearly stepped on an Eastern Box Turtle that was in the middle of the trail.
After the flat valley we had a short 500ft uphill, half way up there was a stone seat with great views back over the valley we'd just walked. We stopped after about eighteen miles, about half past one, by a stream for a rest, to air our feet and top up our water. Just as we were getting ready to continue our German friends turned up. We thought they were ahead of us, but they'd taken a nero day in Carlisle so we'd passed them. We walked with them to the top of the next hill, they stopped for a break but we continued. The five mile section of trail from the hill top, according our guide book, was supposed to be very rocky. It was no more rocky than the trail in Maryland. Just one small section on the descent to Duncannon was very rocky. The AT guide book must have different authors for different trail sections because the information provided is not uniform throughout.
After a steep descent down we entered Duncannon town. A rather run down looking town. We headed for the Doyle Hotel, another infamous hiker hostel. People say of The Doyle, the food is good but the accommodation a dive - they are right! We arrived just after five and were greeted by John and Fred who immediately offered us a cold drink, very friendly and helpful guys. We booked a room but then stayed in the bar area for some dinner first as they stopped serving food at six o'clock. Nigel had a scampi basket and I had a bowl of chilli. We then headed upstairs to our room. The building is in desperate need of repair and a damn good clean. The repairs can almost be excused but there's no excuse for the dirt, the floors looked like they'd not been swept or hoovered for weeks. It's cheap accommodation, they get away with it because it's the only place in town for hikers to stay. It is an amazing old building though, it's a shame the owners can't repair it and bring it back to life.
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