After a bit painful night, third day came. Due to me feeling still quite stiff, I decided to improvise. I let the fastest group go their way and stuck to the majority as we walked through the valley. The lower portions were mostly deforested – what the windstorms in 2004 and 2014 did not destroy, bark beetle finished and now the diseased trees were harvested to prevent the insects from spreading even more.
‘Jamnická dolina’ valley
After the easier warm-up the previous day, I had something slightly more difficult ahead for the second day: the very long walk towards the ‘Hladké sedlo’ pass on border of Slovakia and Poland, which is (legally) accessible only from the Slovakian side. The reason for it was not just to test my endurance, but the potential sights. From the pass, the ‘Dolina pieciu stawu Polskich’ valley would be visible from bird’s eye perspective, with all its lakes.
‘Dolina pieciu stawu Polskich’ valley seen from overlook, 2015. The mentioned pass I was about to climb is to the right from the peak in central ride on the far end.
Note: right-click (most of) the photos to open 2000x1125px version in new tab.
So, I’ve decided to try and do my best with describing the 8 days full of hiking that was my holiday. The start was quite unpleasant, some time before I was supposed to be waken up by alarm clock, intense rain did the job quite well. Bah, as long as it stays here and does not move to the east with me, fine. I’ll skip the boring stuff like waiting for the bus and fast forward to maybe 7:15 when the bus stopped at Slovakian border so the driver could load the pre-paid balance that is used as toll on Slovakian main roads. It still rained at that point, even if just lightly. Good thing that the rain was slowly changing into mist, which is slightly less annoying and my gear can deal with it better.
8:50, the bus drops us out in the middle of nowhere on the road leading south from Zverovka, Slovakian village on the west edge of the hills. The first hike is planned to go through path where one would see the white limestone rock formations, but it seems that the only white thing I’ll see today is the ever-present mist.
So, yesterday I’ve returned from my holiday in Slovakia, more specifically Západné Tatry (Wikipedia link). As usual with my holidays, it was all about hiking in the hills as long and as much as my legs (and shoulders because of heavy backpack) could take.
To be scary with numbers right at the start, I walked 159,5 km in the eight days of which one and half were in foggy weather and the rest was during mostly sunny weather in which I felt like being fried alive. During these days, my total ascension accumulated at insane 10029 meters! And I took over 400 photos as well, though many were multiple attempts in the same place.
This will be a crossover post about how I sometimes get inspiration for my story while walking through the hills. It might not be just the landscape, but anything. The weather could be a factor as well. Reading books can be good inspiration for duels or battles but for the atmosphere, just going out to the hills works better than anything else.
Nature is often magical. It’s good to have some inspiration just from walking around and being able to think, undisturbed. It’s even better when the landscape itself gives you ideas. Here are a few times it happened to me.
Continue readingThis is a story about the picture that is header of my blog and a place that became my very favorite. While the significant part happened in 2004, I (or my family) did not have a digital camera yet at that point and so all photos linked here are from the 2016 hike. All photos are taken by me unless stated otherwise.
While Vel’ký Rozsutec is not the largest mountain in Slovakia by more than 1000 meters and with its 1610 meters of elevations is only 5th in the Malá Fatra mountain range, it¨s definitely one of the nicest peaks of Slovakia, if not the one. The dolomite mountain is striking from almost any distance and if the conditions allow, well visible from any nearby mountain ranges.
The name ‘Rozsutec’ could be coming either from ‘rozsutý’ meaning ‘torn apart’ or the verb ‘rozsut se’ meaning to fall apart. Both are well possible when considering the landscape where the white dolomite rocks stick out of the terrain, randomly thrown around and the peak itself looks like something tried to break it. Something that this picture shows well. ‘Vel’ký’ meaning only that it’s larger of the two peaks, the smaller one can be seen in the background.
Look north from the peak
During the previous week, my attention was drawn to a bus that had quite unique graphical design. While there are few that are not using the operator’s typical colors (usually it’s a prototype which was not repainted after testing) or paid advertisement, this one is significantly different.
I’m quite sure that most people saw buses, trains, trams and anything else covered by graffiti without the owner’s consent. This was the opposite case: the bus was intentionally covered by graffiti as part of a cultural event in the city. It was out of order for a week while some modifications were done to preserve the unusual look.
Graffiti-covered bus. In background, two buses in the usual color scheme (yellow stripe indicates low-floor bus)
Unfortunately I did not have time to take more from more angles. Another interesting fact is that the bus was operating on a route that was replacing trams (tram tracks are undergoing repairs) where a noise-cancelling wall is covered by street art for a few years already, replacing the billboards. I consider it better than the mostly unimaginative ads especially as the groups that make decorations for these walls are continuously replacing them with new ones (I believe one or two on each side of the road per year).
Karosa B941E bus specifications (source: Wikipedia)
This type of bus (as well as the slightly newer B961 variant as seen in background to the left) is slowly being cycled out and replaced by low-floor or low-entry buses but several are still in use if their technical state allows. These two and their B741 predecessor were significant part of my daily commute for several years. In the last years, they are being replaced by fully low-floor buses.
Art design credit to author. Photo taken by me.
Tomas - the wandering dreamer 
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