Day 31, from the source near Kladenets to the mountain hotel near Tankovo

Day 31, from the source near Kladenets to the mountain hotel near Tankovo.

It was quite cool and, above all, wet overnight! We had to pack up all the camping gear while it was still wet in order to dry it out at the mountain hotel in the afternoon. In the first village, we had breakfast at the local shop with espresso,☕ chocolate croissant🥐, and a banana🍌.

In the outdoor area where we were drinking our coffee, there were only 4 women sitting, unlike the other shops we had visited in the past weeks! They were very interested in where we came from and where our future path would lead us! It was fun communicating with them. The next village was about 5 km away! But they were challenging once again - the path ended several times or we left it and tried to find a connection again in the steep terrain and undergrowth! Willi could often be heard shouting when he was caught by the blackberries or sloe bushes. When we arrived in the village of Dolno Sadievo, we were already looking forward to a visit to the shop with coffee for Willi, but it didn't happen. On our way through the village, we met a mother with her 2 daughters and asked them about a shop! They told us that there was none here! When we asked about water, they signaled us to follow them! After about 50 meters, we reached their house - they showed us the water tap in the garden, we filled our water bottles, thanked them, and continued on our way. After about 1 km, we saw a barking shepherd dog, which was probably guarding sheep that we couldn't see! Suddenly, 3 out of 4 large white-black long-haired shepherd dogs ran towards me with aggressive behavior 😱! I looked around but couldn't see any stones in my immediate surroundings, (usually picking up a stone from the ground is enough to stop the dogs)! Nevertheless, I reached down to the ground to grab some dirt and small stones! The dogs stopped briefly but continued to approach me in an aggressive posture because they had probably seen that I didn't have a stone in my hand that could hit them. Now I only had one chance, I quickly reached into my pocket where my small air horn was, pressed it shortly after - a shrill deafening sound 📢, and they ran away as fast as they could until we couldn't see them anymore🤪 That was a real stressful situation where you didn't have time to think. One hour later, we reached our destination for the day: the mountain hotel, which has about a 150 meter long ski slope with a small drag lift in the winter.

Oh, it was so nice again, a room with a shower and later a dinner!