Slovakia - Day 18: Kralova Studna to Donovaly

I know

We walked past the Kings Well. We were not impressed – now it’s a cattle watering thing. But I guess it was just a wet hole in the ground anyway. The valley is no less impressive as we climb out of it. You really have to come here. Just stay one night when the weather is nice. Some god created this place and is proud of their work. And he or she should be.

Top of the World

Up onto the ridge, and were tempted to follow another longer ridge north. But the forest beckoned with Donovaly hiding somewhere on the other side. The kids have seen bears in Donovaly before, but my suspicion is that they were on holiday too. No bears today. I guess this is just testament to the efficacy of our bear drills.

We were climbing one hill with the kids out in front, just in case there were any bears. The wife’s knees were hurting, and she was taking about taking the ski lift down from the top down into Donovaly. This, she had rationalized, was not cheating but a medical necessity. I asked for a vote, we are a democratic family, on whether we should take the lift down or not. Three to one against.

Beautiful

My wife then asked me if by doing this sort of thing we were creating the quality of determination in the kids. We had discussed stopping at Donovaly before, if we ran short of time. This was brought up again. Why not stop early, do a couple of day walks then go home. The quite aggressively delivered response was “We have walked all of this way. We are not giving up two days before the end”. So I guess we are.

They have been trained to walk from an early age – and in the E-age it’s good to get them away from all things E. People don’t understand why we do it, how the kids manage and what we talk about. I don’t really know the answers but it’s worth it, every sweaty step. It’s quality time with a capital Q.

A View

We are higher and the views getting better and better. The real mountains are coming.

The walk down was hard – and such a pretty lift. But into Donovaly and to our friend’s place for a refreshing shower, some Halusky* and a beer. Heaven.

Two more days to go.

* I need to eat it with one piece of Slanina (fried pork fat – really healthy) to one piece of Halusky. You have to ask for this. But its worth it.

Somewhere in Slovakia

Back to the Trees

As evening falls

	Day 18	Cumulative
Distance Walked	23km	397km
Meters Climbed	1,272m	14,779m
Walking Time	9:19	129:52
General Comment Finally, real mountain views. Life is good. Getting desperate – 14,720 meters 8,000 times me.