Last night was rough. Beset by strong gusts of wind stirring up the clouds of dust from the desert floor we found dirt invading our tent, clothes and food and everything was coated in a layer of brown dust. Perhaps we should have taken a clue from the presence of countless wind turbines busily powering the valley.

With the flapping of the tent we both slept fitfully and woke still weary. As we hiked back uphill the winds calmed and again we had fine weather with cool breezes. We were following streams uphill in valleys that had been recently flooded and in parts the track had been washed away so there was a bit of bush bashing to find the path.

As always dinner was very welcome. We have been mainly eating Backpacker’s Pantry freeze dried meals, supplementing them with 2 minute noodles / couscous/ lentils or mashed potato as well as extra fat with olive oil/pine nuts/walnuts or coconut milk powder. This seems to be working so far.