Vratna valley, Terchova So our base for the next 5 days was here. With the weather still good, we made our way up Boboty peak as a warm-up for the larger peaks. The climb was 400m, but very steep. The descent involved a bit of clinging on to a chain over a bit of rock. The day after we went via Stefanova for the climb up to Poludniovy Grun and the 1608m Stoh. It was tough going, as it was very steep, and I got very hot on the lower slopes, carrying all my crap. Maybe it’s because I was [View Full Entry]

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On Saturday, I woke up to a room flooded with warmth and light from the sun - I couldn't believe it - two whole days of such beauty! The bus took me to the Vratna Dolina Valley, which is a valley located in Mala Frata mountain region. For about 2.5 hours, I engaged in one of the most strenuous and rewarding climbs in which I have participated. The day was so beautiful and it felt so great to stretch my body that I simply could not complain, but many of my fellow climbers were not as optimistic and loudly proclaimed their [View Full Entry]

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First impressions on entering Slovakia was that we had landed in a giant cereal bowl, with seemingly endless fields of corn and wheat on the horizon - a bit like a scene out of ‘Honey I shrunk the kids!’ Our frustrating discovery that a symbol of a tent on a map does not mean there is actually a camping ground in the vicinity happily led to us spending some very comfortable and inexpensive nights in pensions (guest houses with self catering facilities). Camping does not seem to necessarily translate and sometimes can refer to private grounds with little chalets on them [View Full Entry]

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We headed to the village of Terchova in the Mala Fatra hills to catch a Slovak folk festival. Folk tradition and music is very much alive in Slovakia and people seem to be very keen to keep it alive. In the more rural villages there are a lot of farmers living off the land in quite a simple way. There are a number of communities around who are purposely trying to live and farm as the generations before them did. This is quite a contrast to the flash cars and shopping centres we have seen in the bigger towns. Wildlife [View Full Entry]

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