Fellowship of the Wheel

Rana June 20th, 2008

Day: Afternoon Day 40 - Day 45
Miles: 159.2
Miles to Rivendell: 511.4
Miles in Rivendell: 544.2
Miles to Lothlorien: 439.5
Total Miles: 1503.1

Tonight I camp 18.5 miles from Lothlorien. It has been a long and solitary trek including the forbidding darkness of the biking trail that leads through the mines of Moria. I saw neither Orcs nor a Balrog and my way was well lighted and marked by historical panels explaining the glories of Balin’s reign, the fierce flight of the Fellowship, and the metallurgical properties of Mithral. I haven’t posted because there was no connection to the Net deep within the mines. By the second night, I was half imagining I could hear Gollum in the dark corners of the great cavernous rooms in which I pitched my tent. Now, however, I am once again near the lands of my ancestors and tomorrow I will see the city of Celeborn and Galadriel. Tonight, I sleep beneath a clear sky, exhausted, but elated from a five mile ride at sunset on my new steed, Amarillo.

• Journey Notes