Blog: Walking across Slovakia: Day 7

No tents, no sleeping rough, two teenagers and two adults, 900km, 4 rucksacks and some maps, a lot of maps: this is going to be fun.

The memorial of M. R. Štefánik in Brezová pod BradlomThe memorial of M. R. Štefánik in Brezová pod Bradlom (Source: John Nicholson)

A few strange looks as we walked through town. Or maybe people looked normal at a strange site. Just out of town and we are back in the forest. Getting grassier – not so many trees. I miss the trees. All three types. It seems that you can’t get too much of a good thing.

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Ján Hus – memorial – another important dead guy. Famous for something or other.

Up, of course but soon we came to the Mohyla M. R. Štefánika (the memorial for M. R. Štefánik – another famous person. More famous than Ján Hollý: bigger memorial. Actually, quite impressive.) and rested around there for a while. There were rucksackless people so there must have been a road and car park somewhere.

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Today was a bridging walk – between hill ranges so not so high and a bit of field walking. We found some apples trees and – stole – I mean tested them just in case we had to tell the owner that they needed picking. We decided that they weren’t quite ready so didn’t need to report anything. The last laugh of course were the worms – but you get what you deserve. We were obviously doing something right as the children were shocked by the theft. Ah well, years of good upbringing down the drain, as innocence is shattered by the harsh realities of this word.

After a week of walking we have covered what you could do in an hour and a bit in a car. We have climbed, the equivalent, Mont Blanc. We have sweated and got a bit of a tan: could be dirt. We have washed clothes somehow, so every day we start in fresh clean clothes, this is good for moral and everyone else. This is something that should not be underestimated.

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Distance walked: 17km (153km in total)
Meters climbed: 552m (5,150m)
Walking time: 5:28 (49:42 in total)

Start point: Brezová pod Bradlom (walk goes through the town)
End point: Myjava (walk goes through the town)
Via: Dolná and Horná Polianka

General Comment:
There is a sky. Fields. Grass. Worms.
End of week one. A third of the way to half way. Come on everyone does it.
Mont Blanc – 4,898 meters the highest mountain in the Alps. Everest is getting closer.

By John Nicholson

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