To go hiking in the Western Tatras (Roháče)

7.7. and 8.7.

After yesterday's change in weather in theLow Tatras, today we are changing our location and accommodation to theWestern Tatras, so we are staying in the beautiful Slovakian mountains ofthe Carpathians. Since we already know the High Tatras, we have chosen themuch lesser known and less touristy western continuation of the mountain range - theWestern Tatras - for the next 3 nights.

It is now noticeably cooler and the weather is unpredictable, but for our relatively short drive fromJasna to Zuberec - the tourist main town of the Zapadne Tatry -it is not a hindrance. At the "Liptauer Sea", the reservoir in the valley ofthe Wa, we make a photo stop, before that we do someshopping in Ruzomberok.

We arrive at our"Penzion Josu" in good time and have time for a walk around the town in the afternoon.

The village is "behind the seven mountains", Therisk of a heart attack is relatively low here, although there areSlovak tourists here. However, our car with the D license plateis an absolute rarity! Here, near the Polish border, you can noticethe many region-typical wooden houses that give the area itscharacter.

Our accommodation is also builtand equipped in this style, quite original. Dinner at the Koliba becomes afolklore experience.

Today we have aproper mountain hike planned, the weather seems to cooperate, so after breakfast we get in the car and drive about 10 km to RohacskaDolina. There, in the large parking lot at the ski resortwe set off at 9.30 am.

We want to hike to the mountain lakesof Rohace, the tour is indicated with 5 hours of walking time and 680meters of elevation in the guidebook, so itmight be challenging. And it is indeed, we climb seemingly endlesslyon a rocky mountain path, we need to take small breaks frequently... Every time we think we have reached the highest mountain lake,there is still more uphill. Quite exhausting!

Fortunately,the weather stays dry throughout the day, but it gets quite chilly at higheraltitudes and we take out our fleece jackets and windbreakers from our backpacks.

Our efforts are constantly rewarded along the waywith beautiful mountain views, but we cannot stick to the schedule: we only return to our car aftera full seven hours, it is quite tough. But we have our coffee break at the only serviced hut on the route. We are quite tired but happy to have completed this tour!

Back at our accommodation, we take a break first. Fortunately, we don't have to walk far for dinner!