Slovakia - Day 30: Kosice - Kysak

A Sign

Whilst we could have easily stayed in Kosice longer and trained it back from Kysak, we were feeling guilty at not carrying full packs so we decided to get back to real walking. With a bit of planning, and public transport, long distance walking can be made significantly easier it seems.

A Meadow

We gradually climbed out of Kosice through the meadows with views of the city behind us. We came to a cottage and a bit of a ski slope. But the owner, we were told was still on his way, 5 minutes, but we decided not to wait. Of course, we regretted our decision. He pulled up just as we were entering the forest.

A Village

We found a wall in the forest. A big wall. Long and well maintained. It went on forever. Very Winter is Coming.  We figured it was a hunting place, the wall to stop people and real wild animals from being shot. But a pee-stop and map consultation showed that it backed on to the zoo. So an ecological protection zone: not The Wall, not Winterfell. We eventually found a hole in the wall but assumed that the wild animals wouldn’t use it, as the rest of the wall was so formidable. Not that we saw any wild animals.

Is this rude?

The rest of the day was spent walking through the pleasant but empty forest. Well I say empty, when I pointed out the lack of noise, not even any bird song, to the family, they looked at me with, what can only be described as undisguised pity. You honestly can’t hear them, they said. So maybe I am just too deaf and blind for wild life. Or they were playing some very well choreographed joke.

Above Kysak

Towards the end of the walk we came to Janosik’s Castle (Janosik, to those who don’t know is a Slovak hero, a Robin Hood type, who had a problem with peas. Lots of famous people have trouble with veg,

The Castle

Pythagoras was scared of beans.)  It was, or probably still is, a rocky outcrop high above a steep sided valley. A beautiful place to have lunch in the sun, watch the trains go by way below and enjoy the view. This is another one worthy of a visit. I have used spectacular a lot, so this view I will only describe as being really rather quite nice. You can see, on the other side of the valley, the place where, a geologically long time ago, our outcrop used to go. We sat there for a long while. Enjoying the rays.

We weren’t in any hurry.

The Sky

We had pizza in Kysak, a new pizzeria and of course kofola and beer: Saris (a last ditch try for sponsorship).  We stayed in a children’s outdoor center, by the river. Empty save for us. We were even given the keys to unlock the caffeine drinks in the vending machine. We played a few games of table football and slept like babies, despite the trains.

All trains to and from Kosice go through Kysak and past our bedroom window.

Three of Us

Worth the Walk

	Day 30	Cumulative
Distance Walked	26km	660km
Meters Climbed	737m	26,160m
Walking Time	9:16	224:18
General Comment Enough of Kosice. Another hotel to ourselves. We have climbed a 9% the length of the River Danube (2,860km)

Slovakia - Day 29: Zlata Idka - Kosice

Civilisation

We got to the bus station. There was a long line of people wearing camouflage gear and, slightly incongruously, carrying wicker baskets. We soon discovered that they were mushroom hunters. The word had got out; the woods were full of mushrooms. We, having been walking in the forest for days, knew this to be true.  There must be some kinds of mushroom grapevine. The bus was soon full of almost invisible pensioners. We could feel the slight registration on the Richter Scale as the mushrooms in the area all shook with fear.

Uncivilisation

Zlata Idka was resplendent in its end-of-the-lineness. The sun was shining, the hoards of aged mushroom hunters disappeared with ease into the undergrowth, it was a good day. The walk was generally down with the added bonuses that the weight normally in our rucksacks, for those who carried them, was ‘weighting*’ for us in Kosice rather than following us; in its usual embarrassed, always lagging slightly behind type of way.

The mushrooms had apparently got the news of their impending demise and had hidden themselves somewhere safe. We hardly saw any. It is possible, I suppose, that because of the mushroom hunters the local mushrooms were just better at hiding than those we had seen in previous days.

Skiing

At 10:31 precisely, we came across a cottage in the forest. So, use it or lose it, we had vyprazany syr with all of the trimmings. There was, apparently, a tame squirrel in residence but it didn’t make an appearance. Must be us.

Art

The first bit of non- forest was a ski resort. We sat at the top of the slope, suffering withdrawal symptoms and admired the view, ate, took artistic photos so that we could win the daily photo competition:  I was already trailing miserably. The resort looked nice but there wasn’t much snow. But not many people either – so swings and roundabouts.

More Improvements

The route followed the road for a while. It looked new. In fact, as we descended it started to smell new. Then a bit later it started to feel new – warm. It was a nice day but not that nice. We passed a water truck. It started up just after we passed and came down the road spraying water to cool the road surface.  I am not saying that he waited until we passed – just so he could spray us. But, I am just noting that we were alert to such a possibility. A coincidence, probably.  So we walked in the ditch and he missed. The stampede of steam-rollers coming at us from below was the last straw and we darted back into the safety of our dear friends the trees away from the dangers of road birthing.

Down into Kosice – a kofola (the references to Original – haven’t helped) a bus and a tram and a walk through the beautiful main street of Kosice and a shower.

* groan

Not too much Traffic or You Must Obey

	Day 29	Cumulative
Distance Walked	22km	634km
Meters Climbed	455m	25,423m
Walking Time	6:34	215:02
General Comment A bus full of invisible people. Mushrooms in hiding. We have climbed 130 times the height of the TV tower above Bratislava

Slovakia - Day 28: Stos Kupele – Zlata Idka

After the Storm

Because we were dead, we needed a rest day and then the weather forecast said it was going to rain the day after that, so we decided to have two rest days. Tourists in Kosice, then we used the bus to get back to the starting point. In the end we stayed in Kosice for four nights and used the most excellent local bus network to facilitate our walk.  We walk faster without rucksacks, but stop more often it seems. Taking time to smell the roses. But as we go faster, we sweat more so we smell just the same. Our apologies to any Eastern Slovak bus passengers effected.

Kloptan

The bus ride to back Stos Kupele was unremarkable. We spat when we got off, just to register our ongoing disgust, then set off. The rain had finished. Or our weather site had said so. Beautiful sunshine for the foreseeable future – it said. Unfortunately, no-one had told the storm that is was supposed to be somewhere else. Maybe it missed the bus or the memo. But either way it pissed down on us all morning. So, while I am sure it was beautiful, all we saw, through the rain was the sodden rain soaked muddy ground in front of us. No conversation, no jokes, no photo opportunities – just rain by the bath full.

We are still debating the waterproofness of our waterproofs– rain or sweat, a tricky question. We will do a controlled test in the shower at home.

I think the rain was punishment for spitting!

By lunch time and the peak at Kloptan the sun had appeared – a new location for the storm had been found. So we stripped off, hung our wets in the wind and had lunch. We hadn’t seen any other walkers for days, so little chance of being disturbed. Not that we were indecent – just, let’s say – not necessarily fashionably attired.

Here they come

Possibly criminally, we picked, what we guessed were the last blueberries we would encounter – we are losing altitude every day. So no more altitude sickness. We also lost the signs, they are bright red and painted on big trees, but we still mislaid them briefly. However, we had learned our lesson from previous incidents and didn’t walk too far before sending out scout parties to find the missing signs. The going was easy and we make good time while walking. But as is our modus operandi (getting carried away with the Latin) we stop a lot. Hey, it is supposed to be fun.   

Just nice

They say the East is wilder – it may be. But in our experience it’s definitely longer: 27km, views to view, scenicfulness to scenicful but we also had the last bus to catch. They don’t run every 20 minutes from Zlata Idka. So we had to force march a little. I guess things were different when the gold was coming out of the ground. But now the shop has closed, the pub has closed: things must be bad. I guess it has become a weekend village. Luckily this isn’t Wales (cultural reference – look up Burning Welsh Holiday Homes). We were lucky that there was a bus at all.

Back to Kosice – this walking thing can be hard.

The Four of Us

	Day 28	Cumulative
Distance Walked	27km	612km
Meters Climbed	1,545m	24,978m
Walking Time	8:42	208:28
General Comment A quite unexpected shower. Cheating again. We have climbed a long day’s walk! Does anyone even read this bit?

Slovakia - Day 27: Skalisko – Stos Kupele

From the Rock

I am constantly surprised how some businesses or managements survive.

The view from Skalisko in the morning was beyond words. So I won’t waste your time.

But beauty on a scale that can’t be photo’d – we tried and failed. Lots of times. We were the highest things for many many miles (or many 1.6 kms, if you speak metric) around. Truly a 360º view – spectacular. Possibly, the highlight of the trip so far. It has to rate as one of the best views in Slovakia and it is relatively easily to get to: just 26 days walk from Bratislava.

Nobodyness

The route here defies prediction, it is impossible to guess where the walk will go next. But it, luckily takes into account my age and weight, and avoids going up and down unnecessarily, we didn’t look down from the top of a hill all morning.

We joined a mountain bike race, and were 32^nd, 33^rd, 34^th and 35^th as we crossed the checkpoint. Not bad for people with rucksacks and a distinct lack of bikes. We watched the racers pass us at speeds that defied sense. Most of them spoke except the ones who were too scared to think of anything else but the trip to hospital if they made a mistake. 

Some Trees

The beetle had visited this part of Slovakia too; therefore, we were thankful for the race organisers as they had marked the path with ribbons. All of the trees had died: no trees, no signs. We didn’t get lost, so a big thanks to Smolnik Mountain Bikers. Because of the sad lack of trees the views were excellent – but the actual route a little depressing. Soon all of the trees will be gone.

We arrived in Stos Kupele, through a fairy-tale forest, a spa consisting of multiple hotels under common mismanagement.  In a pretty, steep or actually a pretty steep valley. We had spent the last five days trying to confirm our reservation.  But all we had learned was that our call was important to them. Not, however, important enough to be actually answered. Still maybe calling during business hours for 5 days at random times and holding for ages is not the best strategy to get through to a place.  I probably don’t understand hospitality.

73 Something

Dead Trees

When we arrived there was no room at the inn. There were empty rooms, a lot of them. But we had stupidly arrived on a Saturday night, and according to long standing procedure rooms vacated on Saturdays or Sundays are not cleaned till Monday. Truly and utterly bizarre. So the empty rooms have to remain empty.

Enough Is Enough

There is … a pension … in (New) Smolnik (please read to the tune of House of the Rising Sun). 

We went there by bus, they answer the phone. We found the place easily as the owners were waiting outside for us. We ate, as the owner cooked for us, a service not usually provided, but there was nowhere else to eat, 8pm food cut off, so she kindly cooked. They had made up a room especially to take the four of us. All of this and they had a family party going on. The name of the place is Penzion Marianna, an amazing building, there is hope after all. 

Momentos: Thanks to the Beetle

	Day 27	Cumulative
Distance Walked	31km	585km
Meters Climbed	927m	23,433m
Walking Time	10:22	199:48
General Comment Stos Kupele – my legal team wouldn’t allow me to publish what I wanted to write Smolnik – just down the road a beautiful place Finally – we have climbed the Olympus Mons the highest mountain in the Solar System - @22km. Lee way given because of the difficulty in measuring its actual height. I know we climbed it yesterday but I couldn’t resist Dumbier exactness.

Slovakia - Day 26: Palcmanska Masa - Skalisko

Sepratists

A long but relatively easy day, mainly along forest roads. 

We had been expecting to spend the whole day in the forest. But the trees shown on the map were absent, on holiday I guess. So more spectacular views, due to logging and the unfortunate activities a beetle which is rapidly killing all of the Norway Spruce or Norwegian Spruces – I’m not sure which. Which were accidently planted in huge monoculture stands. No doubt, a lesson has been learned.

A Beautiful Day

We have been merrily eating blueberries and raspberries for several days now. A fresh fruit extravaganza fit for a king, or a bear – but I won’t go there again. Wherever the forest opened up the fruit grew in huge abundance. Everyone we met had the blue marks of guilt on their fingers and tongues.  But a good dose of vitamin something or other never hurt anyone.

Towards the end of the day we got to Skalisko a big rock outcrop. The weather was beautiful, the rock outcrop promised good views – but at that point in the day we were a little bit beyond caring. Rest, kofola ‘Original’ (if that will help with sponsorship?) and beer were needed for the weary travelers. So we saved the views for the next day – when we would be more appreciative.

Good Weather Continues

The path down to the cottage was well more like a climb down to the cottage. So steep that we slid more than walked. Luckily bottoms are not breakable.

The cottage was great – friendly people waiting for us to arrive. Kofola Original (hint hint), beer and food.  This cottage seemed to be another good example of use it or lose it. It stands, situated high above Roznava deep in the forest – mushrooms, berries* and beer. Come on what else could you ask for.

Apparently, Segedinsky Goulash.

A Marker

Allegedly food. Made from sour cabbage and meat. But being hungry and being served by the cook – every last bit disappeared.The only traditional Slovak food that I have trouble with.

Personal hygiene was assured by a pipe carrying water from a spring above the cottage – fresh!

* Technically raspberries are not berries, from a biological point of view. Neither are strawberries. But bananas are.

Tomorrow's View Point

	Day 26	Cumulative
Distance Walked	30km	554km
Meters Climbed	1,294m	22,506m
Walking Time	10:02	189:26
General Comment Another long day – unexpected views. I have forgotten the flora We have climbed EXACTLY 11 times the highest peak on route (Dumbier) – 11 x 2046m = 22,506m

Slovakia - Day 25: Telgart to Palcmanska Masa

Blast from the Past

500km Yippee!

We got great views of the television tower all morning. Depressingly, we could also see Dumbier and Chopok and we suspect Durkova Chata (where we stayed a year ago). Basically, good views of the Low Tatras.

Atypical Cottage

 The"Source"

We passed The Source of the River Hron (as sign posted), which we dutifully visited. You don’t get to see the actual source of a river every day. But then, in an area, that might be classed as being immediately adjacent and potentially upstream (if there can be such a concept above the source of a river), we saw other streams appear out of the middle of fields, which obviously fed into the Hron. I guess they just didn’t have the right PR. But, we think we eventually saw the actual source of the Hron, but we didn’t visit that one. Advertising does work, it seems.

A bridge

The route was through fairly open forest (thanks to logging activities) and meadows: quiet beautiful.  The mushrooms were starting to grow after the rain so a new game of mushroom spotting soon developed. We were not dressed properly, apparently camouflage gear and a wicker basket are required for serious mushrooming. But we still spot one or two of the slower mushrooms.

Apparently, they need two

A Destination

I  introduced everyone to a nice little song that kept us amused for the rest of the walk.

We had lunch in a field sitting in a field. A feast of Tuc biscuits and soft cheese, chocolate and water. Foods of the gods. Well, food which takes a few weeks to get really really sick of. If ever you are in need of a field this field was one of the better fields that we had eaten in.

A View

Because of Face Book (not my fault: honest) we got roaded – a long trip down a perfectly good, but very steep, road that was unfortunately going the wrong way. Such is life.








The new song, ‘Suicide is Painless’, the theme tune to M.A.S.H., an old, but still excellent US comedy show. We learned the whole song. My favourite bit;

“The sword or time will pierce our skins.

It doesn’t hurt when it begins.

But as it works its way on in.

The pain grows stronger watch it grin.”

                                  A HAPPY song.

Don't ask me

We arrived in Palcmanska Masa just in time to derobe and desmell, and get to the restaurant before the 8pm* cut off for food. Unfortunately, this meant that we didn’t have time to explore. Next time.

We stayed in a kid’s camp – once again we are beholding to nice people.

* - the last orders for food at 8pm is apparently to stop you eating too late. Restaurants with your best interests at heart. Amazing.

Considerate Logger

	Day 25	Cumulative
Distance Walked	25km	524km
Meters Climbed	847m	21,212m
Walking Time	8:54	179:24
General Comment The weather improved – we are happy again. Taught the family a new song We have climbed a half marathon!