Leaving Norway
After leaving Northen Norway on April 20th and starting the 3000km long journey south to Central Europe, we finally arrived a week later in Slovakia after spending lot of time on the road. The plan was to use some of that time on the Norwgian coast, but as we started driving the weather had other plans and was not the best for exploring the places we had in mind. So after we arrived in Mo i Rana we decided to just go straight to Sweden and down to Trelleborg to catch the first ferry to Rostock in Germany. This turned out to be quite an intense drive for Petr due to the ferry we booked was departing the next day already and we had quite a lot of distance left, but with excessive amount of caffeine and no sleep then we managed to catch the 8 hour ferry to Germany. We did plan to actually spend some time in Germany on the border to Czech Republic in a very cool place with Sandstone towers, and run a bit there to explore and move after the long journey.
This was a very nice place with really interesting features in the landscape, and for Stina which had not been there before it was fun to see such shapes and art from the nature. Unfortunately the sleep on this trip was not the greatest, but alright since we were sleeping outside most nights under the open sky. There was also some decisions that needed to be made while driving regarding the plans ahead so managed to spend the time wisely.
After a quick stop in Jesenik in Czechia picking up some stuff and a quick hello to family, then we had to rush on to Slovakia so we could check in to our flat for the stay. We arrived quite late but got the keys and effectively moved all our stuff into the house and went for a shower and bed, which fair to say felt pretty good after a week on the road.
Settling in Slovakia
We did not throw away any time and got to work and training basically immediately, so the first day was spent on a 18km long hike not far from the flat we are staying in, and fair to say it felt amazing to finally be running up in the beautiful and clean Slovakian mountains again after a long, cold and dark winter up north. The sun was warming and the energy was good. The temperature was actually not the warmest (still april – easy to forget in such nice circumstances) but it was totally fine when running and moving. Also just moving and pushing our bodies again after a lot of sitting for a whole week was highly neccessary and pretty good.
This was just the first day but it started with a blast, and we kept it going the next days to come. So over the course of the next days we ascended several mountains and several kilometers. Veľký Choč, Babky and Rakytov was conquered during these days, and even tho in perfectly sunny weather and blue sky, the temperatures was freezing. It was super cold wind and not very comfortable, so it was not too much enjoyment on the summits, sitting for long and eating, it was more focus on training and pushing ourselfs. Which is also not too bad, especially thinking about an upcoming long trail project later this spring/summer. Stay tuned for that;)
Plans ahead
Now the work and training continues, and preparations for the project ahead. Hopefully it will get warmer soon as well, which is the diection it does seem to be heading. We have several different trips and run-hikes planned for the month to come, both shorter and longer ones. Later the plan is also to keep the bears company outdoors, sleeping outside which we both look forward to. On Monday we will head back to Czechia again to switch to a new car, due to the lease of the current rental is running out. So we both look forward to that since the new car will be bigger and more spacious, which means traveling will be a lot easier. As of now the plan is to stay here in the south until end of June when the project is (hopefully sucessfully) finished and then go north. If we will do another project on the way north is a posibillity which is not highly unlikely, but we will see how things are gonna go.