Date: 2004-08-26
From: Dalton, Mass.

To: Cheshire, Mass.
Miles today: 9.3

We started our day with a fine breakfast in an excellent local diner, well inhabited with townspeople talking over the previous day's events. Most notable of these seemed to be a record defeat of the NY Yankees by 22-0 suffered (enjoyed by everyone else) the previous evening. In many ways today has been quite like yesterday - a perfect clear day, good terrain, but it has been warmer and we were definitely getting weary when we crossed the Hoosic River and marched up into Cheshire about 3.30. Our first stop before we had even got into town was at an ice cream shop. The Post Office was only a short way up the street and from here we tried to call the Harbour House Inn almost a mile out of town on the north side. They say they shuttle hikers from town but we could only reach a voice-mail. We left a message and waited on the other side of the street. We waited here for a more important reason for this also where we had arranged to meet up with two hiking buddies from last year, Ben and Tyler, known to all as 'Riff Raff'. It was sunny and verging on hot as we sat on a bench in this very pleasant looking spot and in due course a pick up van passed us, pulled up, and unloaded our two friends. Maybe it's something to do with the colourful shirts that Tyler always wears for hiking but when they make an appearance they always put me in mind of Starsky and Hutch, they always enter the stage with such panache. And here they were, taking a break from their jobs to do a week's hiking with us, which is brilliant. They are two very formidable hikers, they can really put the miles in in a hurry, but that isn't their purpose in walking. They take their breaks, look around, take time to see what this beautiful country has to offer, and bring an irreverent sense of humour to the whole thing. At the same time, there isn't much that they won't give serious thought to and give a serious viewpoint about if that's what you want. I've found before now, when you listen to them you tend to learn something.   Still unable to get a response from the HH Inn, we decided just to walk through town and turn up there, so that's what we did. We arrived to find a quite superb house, beautifully furnished if in a slightly twee New England style, and seemed far too grand for odorous hikers like us. The proprietress Eva wasn't at all fazed by that and has made us feel very welcome. She has been very interested in who we are, where we are going, etc. She is from Israel and has been running this place as an inn for four years. There has been a lot of activity in the grounds outside in preparation for a big event at the Inn at the weekend. A large marqee tent is being erected. The Inn will host a wedding involving two very well-heeled families, one from New York, one from Boston, which sounds like a combustible mix to me. There could be plenty of tension and friction to come. It was obvious that Eva was more than a little anxious that the whole event should go smoothly. For food, we ordered pizza to be delivered, and had the Inn's spacious verandah to ourselves as we ate happily, enjoyed lots of good crack (conversation, not an illegal substance!) and watched the day give way to night.