21st April 2025

When we woke we were treated with views of the sun rising. We enjoyed overnight oats and coffee in the chilly breeze watching the valley come alive.

Our first water source, three miles on from camp, was dry. It was the first time we had failed to get water at an expected source. When we did reach a water source everyone collapsed in the shade dumping their bags unceremoniously before filling their bottles. We waited out the mid afternoon heat, some of us enjoying a siesta while others rolled out their legs using hiking poles.

At 4pm we set off again and the trail cut through the hillside all the way down to camp. There is a noticeable lack of the green vegetation we saw earlier in the trail. Now the path is lined with pink flowering cacti and thorny bushes. We are heading deeper into the desert and as we do so the hotter it will become.