Fries & Freedom

12.05.23

I don't even know where to start this time. Every day on the trail brings so many impressions and experiences. I would love to tell and write about as much as possible, but with everything there is to tell and considering the limited time and energy in the evening, I try to capture as much as possible.

The sleeping spot, with the excellent church roof, was great. Except for the barking of a stray dog that came to us in the evening and its fellow dogs in the entire neighborhood, the night was okay.

Putting on the still wet clothes and shoes in the morning is not much fun.

Even less fun when the trail starts right in the tall wet grass and continues like this for the first few kilometers.

The trail was once again barely visible and went under every other bush, which only reached up to my chest, so with a full backpack I almost broke my spine trying to do a somewhat safe limbo without falling backwards. In addition, the bushes were of course thorny and wet. I'm sure I had about 470 spider webs and all kinds of caterpillars and other insects in my face just this morning. This went on for quite a while and if the sun hadn't come out slowly, I might have taken a taxi to Turkey, all inclusive for two weeks.

It was annoying, but as soon as we walked on asphalt for a while and later had a nice ascent through a magical foggy forest full of moss and lichen, the mood improved and we continued with confidence. I never thought I would be happy about a boring asphalt road.

The next section then led for a while fairly flat, on good ground along the mountain. A stretch that provided true relaxation and enjoyable hiking compared to the rest.

It reminded me once again how crucial one's attitude and mindset are in every situation. How often it's the little things that matter. Even in pouring rain, you still have the opportunity to say to yourself, "Good thing it's not steep uphill." A few hundred meters of asphalt can bring joy after a rough and rocky stretch of kilometers. The view when you reach the top of the mountain, sweating and with a wonderful view. Occasionally a cool breeze in the blazing sun. Plants, animals, smells... For me, these are always formative experiences that we collect daily and that are associated with so many ups and downs. It's crazy how many emotions you can go through in a short amount of time.

After lunch in the sunshine, all our things were dry again and the trail continued to be pleasant and easy to walk on. So we made kilometer after kilometer in high spirits, motivated as hikers.

We passed through a few tiny villages where we were greeted friendly as usual. Arthur, an older gentleman who, like Georgina, lived in Australia for a few years, was open and warm-hearted, just like most people here. He was out walking with a few friends when we passed by and we walked a few hundred meters together and had a little chat. Such encounters happen here again and again, and they provide motivation and a lot of joy.

We had already marched quite a bit when a small sign announced a tavern at 700m. Of course, we didn't miss that opportunity, so we had fries, coffee, and cola. The rustic tavern was the spot for the locals and they invited us for coffee.

After the longer break, we surprisingly got back into the rhythm and covered several kilometers, despite the afternoon sun and the more significant climbs.

We hadn't set out to do it, but suddenly it seemed possible to make up the 6km that we had fallen behind the actual stage goal since day 2. We had been on the trail for 10 hours already and still had 3km ahead of us. The conversations had become less frequent, the sun hat was pulled down low over our faces, and our gaze was focused only on the 1-2 meters directly in front of us.

In a small village before Vrytina, we could have already stayed overnight at a tavern, but the ambition had taken hold of us and we went through until the end. We can now look back on 11 hours, 32km, and 1000 meters of ascent with a little pride.

A fantastic day of hiking...