We left early today and made the longest drive of our trip, some 450km to Mount Potts. Supposedly our lodging for the night was going to be one of the fancier stays of our vacation but I found it lacking. There’s something to say about going on trips with a group and not all of them are good.

We arrived at Mt. Potts Backcountry Lodge in the late afternoon and it became quickly apparent that our expectations had been deceived. Our room, which was supposed to be a double, contained two single beds. The beds themselves were little more than lumpy bits of material that had once been fluffy played on top of a pine board. The door to the room didn’t even lock. We were in the middle of nowhere, but it’s still comforting to have that slight protection against intrusion and/or interruption. There were four units attached, ending with a shared bathroom. Six people sharing one bathroom and a single roll of toilet paper. Not my idea of fancy.

The Lodge that lends itself to the establishment’s name was a bit better. Old but comfortable couches and chairs settled around the open layout and a pool table in the corner. They even had a room for Internet and Email. Unsurprisingly that consisted of an ancient computer and an even more ancient connection. It was enough to check email, but just barely.

The food for our stay was provided – a blessing considering that the nearest store lay some forty minutes away by windy gravel road.

After we settled in, we drove down the road a bit more and saw one of the more apparent filming locations – the horse lord city of Edoras. We hopped the gate of a sheep farm and walked along another gravel road to get a better look at this mound.

Unfortunately there were just too many angry looking cows and streams in our way to get to the top of Edoras. We were also running out of time weather-wise. A fog was moving in, bringing a light rain with it. After the long day of driving, none of us particularly cared to get wet, especially given our sparse accommodations.