Epilog / Epilogue

Kakih 15 let kasneje je bila znanka na trekingu okoli gorovja Annapurna, torej na isti poti, kakor smo jo obdelali mi. Najtežje ji je bilo, ker je morala vsak dan hiteti, da je čimprej končala etapo in še dovolj zgodaj prispela do prenočišča, dokler je bilo še kaj tople vode za tuširanje, kasneje je tople vode namreč zmanjkalo. Kako, prosim? Topla voda? Tuširanje? Mi smo se umivali in prali cunje kar v ledeno mrzli reki.

Some 15 years later a colleague told me about her recent Annapurna circuit trek, the same one we took. The most difficult part for her was that she had to hurry to finish each day's hiking early enough so that when she arrived at her hotel there was still some hot water left in the showers. Excuse me? Hot water? Showers? We washed ourselves and our clothes in the freezing cold river.

Velikih pet / The big five

Pravijo, da je cilj vsakega pravega lovca na divje živali, da ulovi velikih pet: lev, leopard, slon, nosorog in bivol. To so živali, za katere velja, da so najnevarnejše in torej najtežje za ulovit. V sodobnem času je lov na divje živali strogo omejen oziroma večinoma kar prepovedan, kar velja vsaj v Južnoafriški republiki. Na lov na divje živali pa se menda lahko še vedno hodi v Zimbabve, kjer je zaradi politične krize in korupcije mogoče tudi to, kar je sicer prepovedano. Če že lov na divje živali v sodobnem času ni več tako popularen, kakor je bil včasih, pa je postal cilj vsakega pravega turista, da hodi toliko časa v safarije in naravne rezervate, dokler v živo ne vidi vseh pet najnevarnejših živali.

They say that the goal of every wild animal hunter is to hunt the big five: lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo. These animals are the most dangerous and therefore the most difficult to hunt. In modern times hunting wild animals is very limited and mostly prohibited, at least in South Africa. It might be possible to go hunting in Zimbabwe where the political crisis and corruption can cloud the illegal aspect of hunting wild animals. Since hunting wild animals is not popular in modern times, it has become the goal of every tourist to visit safaris and national parks until they at least see all five of the most dangerous animals.

Izmed velikih pet sem doslej v safarijih videla in fotografirala leva, slona in nosoroga. Bivola in leoparda pa zaenkrat le v živalskem vrtu, tako da še nisem dosegla kvote videti vseh pet v divjini. Fotografije sem posnela tako, da sem odprla okno v avtu za nekaj centimetrov, toliko, da sem skozi potisnila fotoaparat in uporabila zoom, zato so živali videti precej blizu, a so bile kar na varni razdalji.

Among the big five I have so far seen and photographed the lion, elephant and rhinoceros in safaris. I have only seen the buffalo and leopard in zoos which doesn't count. I took the photographs by opening the window on our car just a crack, enough to be able to squeeze the camera through and used the zoom to make the animals seem closer although they were quite a safe distance away.

Enega izmed levov sem srečala tudi iz oči v oči, saj se je sprehodil mimo našega avta v safariju. Takega kralja živali sigurno ne bi hotela srečati v divjini, je tako velik, da je z glavo segel do višine moje glave, ko sem sedela v avtu. Čeprav levi v safariju večinoma izgledajo kot nekakšne ogromne muce, ki lenobno poležavajo v senci, se je pred kratkim v enem izmed bližnjih naravnih rezervatov zgodilo, da so levinje pojedle lastnika. Prav zares, najbrž je tudi lastnik mislil, da je varno in je stopil iz avtomobila, pa so se levinje odločile, da je čas za malico. Zelo hitro so sicer pridrveli na pomoč reševalci, varnostniki in policija, a so bili na žalost nemočni, saj je bilo težko razgnati pet lačnih levinj pri jedi.

I met one of the lions eye to eye when he walked by our car in a safari. I certainly wouldn't want to meet such a lion king in the wild. He was so large that his head came up to my head when I was sitting in the car. Although the lions in safaris look like huge tame kitty cats that lie lazily in the shade, they can be really dangerous. The lionesses ate their owner in one of the nearby safaris recently. It's a true story, the owner probably thought he was safe and he exited his car, but the lionesses had other plans. The paramedics, security guards and police arrived very quickly but they weren't able to help as it proved impossible to save a human from five hungry lionesses.

Razen velikih pet je v safarijih mogoče videti seveda še mnoge druge živali, recimo zebre, žirafe, divje svinje, pa številne različne vrste antilop, ki imajo tu vsaka svoje ime, na primer springbok, gemsbok, blesbok, eland, impala, hartebeest, wildebeest, kudu, itd. Potem so tu še številne vrste ptičev, od katerih prav nobenega ne prepoznam.

In addition to the big five, there are many other animals that can be seen in safaris, for example zebras, giraffe, wild boars, and many different species of antelope, each with its own name, such as springbok, gemsbok, blesbok, eland, impala, hartebeest, wildebeest, kudu, etc. Then there are the countless species of birds that I'm not familiar with.

Ugibam, da antilope večinoma ne sodijo med ogrožene vrste živali, saj se nekatere med njimi pojavljajo na jedilnih listih v restavracijah (zebrini zrezki, springbokov carpaccio, posušeno meso kuduja, itd.).

I'm guessing that antelope aren't protected species of animals because they can be found on menus in restaurants (zebra steak, springbook carpaccio, dried kudu meat, etc.).

Kurje glave / Chicken heads

V službenem bifeju nam vsako jutro streže kavo zgovoren tip po imenu Sam. In je beseda dala besedo in se je izkazalo, da se tip v prostem času ukvarja tudi s turizmom, pa se je ponudil, da nam organizira lokalnega vodiča in nas peljejo na ogled Soweta (kar se je kasneje izkazalo za precejšen strošek iz naše strani oziroma za dober zaslužek iz njegove strani). Pa nič ne de, dogovorili smo se tudi za večerjo, na kateri so Sam in njegovi prijatelji pripravili tradicionalno afriško hrano, s seboj na žurko pa so pripeljali tudi svoje punce, tako da je bilo hrane, zabave in plesa na pretek.

A talkative guy named Sam works at the coffee shop where we go for coffee every morning. And he told us that in his spare time he is a tour guide and he offered to take us to Soweto with a local guide (which later proved to be quite expensive from our side and probably quite profitable from his side). Nevertheless we also accepted his offer of dinner where he and his friends would bring traditional African food. Their girlfriends came along and so the dinner evolved into a party with plenty of eating, dancing and fun.

Med jedmi, ki so jih prinesli gostitelji, je najbolj znan moroho, tradicionalna afriška jed iz špinače in arašidov, vendar se moderni afričani znajdejo in namesto arašidov uporabijo kikirikijevo maslo, ki ga kupijo v trgovini. Mesne jedi pa so za bolj močne želodce, saj je najbolj opevana jed narejena iz kurjih glav in nog. Izgledalo in dišalo je sicer kar v redu, saj so bile glave in noge skuhane v zelenjavni omaki z začimbami, a nisem se mogla prisiliti, da bi dala kurjo nogo, kaj šele glavo, v usta. Na sosednjem krožniku pa je bila kurja drobovina, načeloma sicer prav lepa kurja jetrca, želodčki in ledvica, prav tako dišeče začinjeno, a vmes so bila prepletena kurja čreva. Menda posebna specialiteta. Tudi ta jed je z moje strani ostala nedotaknjena. Nekako se nisem mogla znebiti občutka, da so naši gostitelji verjetno popoldne doma lepo pojedli belo kurje meso, potem pa so nam tujcem kot specialiteto prinesli, kar je ostalo: glave, noge in črevesje. A sem opazila, da so tudi gostitelji z veseljem jedli prinesene jedi, torej jih najverjetneje res tudi sami jedo in niso le nekaj, kar podtaknejo turistom.

The most well known dish that our hosts brought to the dinner was moroho, a traditional dish made with spinach and peanuts. The dish has been modernized so that store bought peanut butter is used instead of peanuts. The meat dishes require a strong stomach. The most glorified dish contains chicken heads and feet. It looked and smelled quite nice because the heads and feet were cooked in a spiced vegetable sauce, but I just couldn't bring myself to put a chicken foot, much less a chicken head into my mouth. The next plate contained chicken innards. There were nicely spiced chicken livers, stomachs and kidneys but there were also intestines snaking over the plate. It's supposed to be a delicacy but I didn't touch this one as well. I couldn't shake the feeling that our hosts probably ate the white chicken meat at home when they were preparing our food and brought us what was left over: heads, feet and intestines. But I noticed that they ate the dishes as well which means that they don't make them just to scare tourists.

Kot priloga je obvezen "pap", to je tu zelo razširjena hrana, še najbolj podobna žgancem ali močniku. Jed skuhajo iz koruzne moke, okus ima povsem koruzen, barva pa je bela, saj tu gojijo posebno sorto zelo svetlo rumene koruze (mimogrede, tudi jajca so tu bolj bledo rumene barve, verjetno zato, ker kokoši jedo to svetlo koruzo). Tako koruzno moko prodajajo v trgovinah v velikih vrečah, največkrat vidim, da jo ljudje kupujejo v vrečah po 5 kg. Kruha pa očitno ne jedo preveč. V trgovinah prodajajo v velike vreče pakiran toast, nekaj je tudi rženega kruha, tu pa se izbira neha. Kadar si zaželim kruh v štruci, je treba v Spar, kjer – če imam srečo in je na zalogi, tu se namreč ne poglabljajo preveč v optimizacijo oskrbovalnih verig – se dobi ciabatta ali francoska štruca. Kakšna škoda, da ob vseh teh vrečah koruzne moke ni še nikomur prišlo na misel, da bi lahko spekli koruzni kruh.

A side dish is the "pap", a very popular dish that resembles porridge or polenta. They make it from corn flour, it tastes just like corn, but the color is white which is due to a very light yellow variety of corn that is grown in Africa (by the way, eggs are also very light yellow in color, probably because the chickens also eat this light colored corn). The flour is sold in supermarkets in large bags, most often I see people buying it in 5 kg packages. They obviously don't eat much bread. I usually find giant bags of toast in supermarkets as well as some rye bread but that's where the selection ends. If I want a loaf of bread I have to go to Spar where - if I'm lucky and it's available, they don't pay much attention to supply chain optimization - I can find a ciabatta or a French loaf. It seems a shame that with the large bags of corn flour no one has thought of baking corn bread.

Zraven hrane je na afriško večerjo prišla še velika plastična posoda tradicionalnega afriškega piva. Je motno in ima nekako kiselkast smetanast okus. Takoj smo navalili vsak s svojim kozarcem, a so nas gostitelji podučili, da se afriško pivo ne sme piti stoje, saj bi s tem menda užalili njihove prednike ali nekaj takega, ampak ga je treba piti spoštljivo sede. V nadaljevanju smo potem raje pili običajno pivo iz pločevinke kar stoje, kakor se za pravo žurko spodobi.

In addition to food, a large plastic container of traditional African beer also made its way to the dinner party. It's cloudy and has a sour and creamy taste. We immediately grabbed a glass each but our hosts enlightened us that African beer shouldn't be drunk while standing up as that may offend their ancestors or something like that, but that we should respectfully sit down. We rather drank normal beer from cans while standing up as befits a good party.

Narava v Johannesburgu / Nature in Johannesburg

Johannesburg spada med mesta z največ zelenimi površinami na svetu. Kakšna škoda, da iz varnostnih razlogov večina teh zelenih površin sameva. Mesto je prepredeno z drevoredi, parki, botaničnimi vrtovi in naravnimi rezervati. Razen nekaterih zelo frekventnih lokacij, kamor hodijo domačini na družinske piknike in so posebej varovane, so na večini naravnih rezervatov obvestila, naj bodo obiskovalci pozorni na osebno varnost in naj se ne gibljejo posamično, ampak v skupinah najmanj 3 ljudi.

Johannesburg is one of the cities with the largest green areas. What a shame that most of these green areas are deserted for safety reasons. The city is filled with trees, parks, botanical gardens and nature reserves. Except for a few highly frequented locations where local families go for picnics that have security guards, most of the nature reserves carry warning signs that visitors should take care of their personal safety and go in groups of at least three people.

Tu zelo pogrešam hojo po hribih, vendarle se da z malce iznajdljivosti izvesti tudi to. Kar se tiče hribov, v Johannesburgu ni praktično nobene ravnine, vse gre nekako gor in dol, tako da hoja po ravnem sploh ni mogoča. Nekateri naravni rezervati imajo objavljene termine, običajno enkrat ali dvakrat mesečno, za organizirane skupinske pohode. Na en tak organiziran pohod sem šla v Melville Koppies. Zbralo se nas je kakih 30 ljudi, nekateri so pripeljali tudi pse. Šli smo na pohod z vodnico, ki nam je spotoma povedala marsikaj zanimivega. Na primer, da se v tem rezervatu srečujejo tradicionalne afriške verske skupine, kjer imajo nočne obrede. Kaj natanko počnejo, ni znano, vendar oskrbniki rezervata občasno najdejo kokoši s prerezanimi vratovi, kar daje slutiti, da se verjetno gredo obrede žrtvovanja, ki so sicer načeloma prepovedani.

Living here, I miss hiking. But with a little planning it can be done. As far as hills are concerned, Johannesburg is not flat at all, it just goes up and down so that walking on flat terrain is not possible. A few of the nature reserves have guided walks, usually once or twice a month, where individuals can attend as part of a larger group. I joined a guided walk in Melville Koppies. There were about 30 of us and some brought their dogs along. The guide led us on our walk and told us interesting facts along the way. For example, tribal local people gather in the nature reserve for their night rituals. No one knows what exactly they do, but the guards sometimes find chickens with their heads cut off which indicates that they do sacrifice rituals that are generally not allowed.

Še en izmed naravnih rezervatov je Klipriviersberg, oddaljen le 11 km od strogega centra mesta, a je tako velik, da se v njem počutiš kakor v divjini. Ta rezervat je dokaj varen za hodit, saj je povsem ograjen, na vhodu pa je varnostnik. Vendar ograja ni zaradi varovanja pohodnikov, ampak zato, da ne bi ušle živali, ki živijo v njem. Od večjih živali so to zebre in antilope. Bilo pa je tudi mnogo ptičev in številne avtohtone rastline. Zelo mi je všeč sukulentna rastlina, neke vrste aloe, ki raste vsepovsod, je zelena z belimi pikami in rdečo obrobo. Šla sem v vrtni center, da bi jo kupila za domov, a je tam ne prodajajo, seveda, saj tu raste kot plevel.

Another nature reserve is Klipriviersberg, about 11 km away from the city center, but is large enough to give visitors a sense of being in the wilderness. This reserve is generally safe to walk around in because it is completely fenced and a guard sits at the entrance. The fence is not there for guarding hikers but to keep the wild animals from escaping. Among larger animals there are zebras and antelopes. I also saw many birds and local plants. I love a succulent plant, some kind of aloe, that grows all over, it's green with white spots and a red border. I looked for it in a garden center to buy it as a houseplant, but they don't have it as it's considered a weed.

Romania

Lanzarote

Vacation

Camel ride

Jameos del Aqua

Sculptures on a beach

Botanical garden

Bird show

Vineyards

Algae on volcanic rock

Borovnica – Bohinjska Bistrica 2005

Zemljevid poti / Map of my route

V našem lokalnem časopisu je bil članek o tem, kako so člani Planinskega društva Vrhnika šli na Triglav. Pa kaj potem, sem pomislila, saj je vsak resen slovenski pohodnik že bil vsaj enkrat na Triglavu. A to je bilo vendarle malce drugače. Šli so na Triglav - peš iz Vrhnike. In takoj je pritegnilo mojo pozornost. V članku je pisalo, da so najhitrejši prišli na Triglav v 3 dneh, povprečni v 4 dneh in ženske v 5 dneh. Odločila sem se, da moram tudi jaz to poskusiti. Nabavila sem zemljevide, si začrtala smer in se podala na pot. Načrtovala sem, da bom hodila 4 dni in ne glede na to, ali pridem na Triglav, ali ne, se bom z avtobusom vrnila domov po tem času.

Our local newspaper ran a story about how members of the nearby Vrhnika mountaineering club climbed Triglav, Slovenia’s highest mountain. So what, I thought, every Slovenian hiker has been to Triglav at least once. But this story was different. They went to Triglav on foot from Vrhnika. Now, that caught my attention. The article stated that the fastest members reached Triglav in 3 days, the average ones in 4 days and women in 5 days. I immediately knew that I wanted to try it myself. So I got maps, charted out my route and decided to just go. I planned 4 hiking days and whether I made it to Triglav or not, I would return home by bus after the 4 days.

Izgubila sem se že takoj na začetku / Getting lost first thing in the morning

Zjutraj sem se odpravila iz Borovnice proti Vrhniki. Na Vrhniki sem sicer bila že neštetokrat z avtom in s kolesom zaradi različnih opravkov. Verjetno bi lahko prišla do tja miže, če bi bilo treba. Ampak ker sem bila peš, sem se odločila, da grem po markirani poti skozi gozd, kakor je bilo razvidno iz zemljevida. Našla sem začetek markacij in šla po poti, dokler markacije niso izginile. A pot se je nadaljevala in sem se odločila, da grem naprej, saj vem, da so markacije včasih slabo vzdrževane, gozdarji podrejo kakšno drevo z markacijo, zato oznake niso vedno najbolj natančne. Res je, da se mi je zdelo rahlo sumljivo, ker je pot zavila preveč na levo, a sem si rekla, da je morda pač malo bolj zavita pot in sem šla dalje. Ko se mi je že začelo dozdevati, da sem zgrešila pot, sem se odločila da najbolje, da grem naprej, saj pot verjetno nekam vodi in se bom potem odločila, kako naprej. Končno, pot se je končala, nad ogromnim kamnolomom. Ojoj, ne! Sem takoj vedela, kje sem, namreč kamnolom je dobro viden iz avtoceste, kadar se vozimo proti domu in ni niti približno blizu Vrhnike, kjer sem hotela biti! Preostalo mi je edino, da se obrnem in grem nazaj do začetka poti in grem raje po cesti. Bil pa je res žalosten začetek moje ekspedicije, saj sem porabila dragocen čas in energijo, da nisem prišla nikamor.

The first morning I set off from my home in Borovnica towards the next larger town of Vrhnika. I had been to Vrhnika by car or by bicycle countless times before for various reasons and I could probably get there with my eyes closed. But going on foot, I decided to take a hiking route through the woods which was supposed to be nicely marked according to my map. I found the markings for the start of the route and I followed them until they disappeared. But the path went on and I decided to follow it, knowing that markings along hiking routes are sometimes poorly maintained, trees that had markings on them sometimes get cut down but I went ahead nevertheless. I did find it suspicious that the path turned too much to the left, but I figured it was just a roundabout way of getting to the destination. Not sure any more whether I was on the right path or not, I figured it best to just go, because it had to end somewhere and I would then try to figure out how to continue. And the route ended, finally, above a giant rock quarry. Oh, no! I knew where I was, the quarry is a prominent landmark well visible from the highway when we drive by, but is nowhere near Vrhnika, where I wanted to be! The only option was to turn back, follow the path back to where it started and continue my journey along the road. It was such a poor start of the whole expedition, having spent precious time and energy to get nowhere.

Konec poti: kamnolom / Dead end: rock quarry

Takrat še nisem vedela, da bo taka usoda mojega celotnega pohoda, iskanje prave poti, vračanje nazaj, od koder sem zgrešila, spraševanje ljudi za pot, kadar sem seveda bila nekje, kjer so sploh bili ljudje. Napredovala sem počasi, mnogo počasneje, kakor sem predvidela in počasi sem začela ugotavljati, da tako ne bom nikoli prišla na Triglav. Postalo mi je jasno, da če bi resnično hotela priti na Triglav v 4 dneh, bi verjetno morala iti z nekom, ki pozna pot. Ampak sem vseeno šla naprej, saj sem imela za cilj hoditi 4 dni, pa kamor pridem, pridem. Vendarle mi je uspelo priti do mojega načrtovanega cilja prvega dne, na Goropeke tik pred temo, utrujena in precej brez volje. A sem vztrajala, prespala noč v udobju koče in se naslednje jutro odpravila dalje. Bolele so me noge, ker so me otiščali precej novi pohodni čevlji, težko sem jih zjutraj sploh obula, ker so mi noge zatekle. Vendar ko sem začela hoditi, sem se ogrela in me je manj bolelo in sem pač šla naprej.

Little did I know at the time that such was the destiny of my entire trek, finding the right way, backtracking, asking for directions if I was lucky enough to be somewhere inhabited where I could find someone to get directions from. So the going was slow, much slower than I anticipated and I soon realized that my destination of Triglav was doomed. It became clear that if I were to get to Triglav in 4 days I would have to go with someone who knew the way. But I decided to continue the trek anyway, keeping in mind my second goal of going for 4 days and seeing where it gets me. I made it to the end of my first day’s trek at Goropeke just in time before it became dark, tired and feeling quite hopeless. But I persevered, spent the night in relative comfort and continued the next morning. My feet were aching due to the un-broken in hiking boots that I wore and it was difficult to even put them on in the morning on my tired and swollen feet. But after a while walking I warmed up and just kept going.

Nagrada drugega dne: bazen in točen Heineken / Second day reward: swimming pool and Heineken on tap

Naslednji dan je bil podoben prejšnjemu v smislu, da je bila glavnina hoje posvečena iskanju prave poti, vračanju nazaj in spraševanju za smer. Načrt je bil, da pridem na Porezen, kjer bi prespala v koči. A sem prispela v Cerkno, kjer se začne pot na Porezen prepozno in me je skrbelo, da ne bi prišla do vrha pred temo. Sicer sem bila utrujena in noge so me še vedno bolele zaradi čevljev in sem se odločila prespati v Cerknem. Šla sem v hotel, kjer imajo tudi bazen in ko sem podpisala formularje, da grem na lastno odgovornost, ker niso imeli čuvaja, sem lahko šla plavat. Kako je bilo prijetno, skočiti v vodo po dveh dneh nenehne hoje! Potem sem še odkrila pizzerijo, kjer sem se najedla in zraven dobila točen Heineken, moje najljubše pivo, ki ga je sicer redko najti v lokalih v Sloveniji. Ker je bila ravno sobota, se je v kraju dogajala še veselica, tako da sem večer preživela kar tam, malo posedala, poslušala glasbo, počivala in nabirala moči za hojo v naslednjih dneh.

The second day was similar to the first in that the main focus of my trek was finding the right route to go, backtracking and asking for directions. The day’s plan was to reach the peak of Porezen where I would spend the night in a mountain hut. But I arrived in Cerkno, the town below Porezen a bit late and was worried that I wouldn’t get up there before dark and my feet hurt and I was tired so I decided to spend the night in Cerkno. There was a nice hotel with a swimming pool and after I signed consent forms because the lifeguard wasn’t on duty I was allowed to use the pool. It felt so wonderful to swim after two days of constant hiking! I found a pizzeria where I had dinner and they even had Heineken, one of my favorite beers, on tap which is rare in Slovenia. Since it was Saturday, there was a town party going on so I sat around some more, listened to music, relaxed and gathered my strength for the following days.

Milijon malin / Unlimited supply of raspberries

Gor in dol in gor in dol / Up and down and up and down

Naslednje jutro sem se odpravila na Porezen, kar sploh ni bilo prehudo, saj sem bila spočita, le noge so me bolele zaradi neumnih čevljev, a sem morala naprej. Poti so mnogo bolje markirane v hribih in zato se nisem niti enkrat izgubila. Če sem hotela naprej v smeri proti Triglavu, sem se morala iz Porezna spustiti v Petrovo brdo in se ponovno povzpeti na Soriško planino. Prišla sem na greben, od koder sem videla kočo na planini, a sem se morala še spustiti dol po smučišču. Ko sem prišla do koče na Soriški planini, se je že delala tema, saj sem ves dan hodila gor in dol in gor in dol, zato sem vedela, da bom morala tam prenočiti. A kakšno presenečenje, kočo na Soriški planini so ravno renovirali! Vse skupaj je bilo eno samo gradbišče, vsepovsod stroji in gradbeni material in nikjer žive duše. No, pravzaprav nisem bila čisto sama, čreda krav se je pasla tam, glasno so se oglašali zvonci in krepko smrdeli kravjeki.

The next morning I had to get up to Porezen which wasn’t too bad as I was rested, only my feet hurt because of the stupid shoes but I had to keep going. The routes were much better marked now that I was in the mountainous region and I didn’t get lost even once. But to move in the general direction of Triglav, after Porezen I had to descend to Petrovo brdo and climb up again, towards Soriška planina. I came above the ridge where I could see the hut but I still had to get all the way down there. It was already getting dark after having spent all day going up and down and up and down so I knew I would have to spend the night there. But what a surprise when I finally reached the hut on Soriška planina, it was being renovated! There was obviously some reconstruction going on, there was lots of machinery and building materials, and not a soul in sight. I wasn’t alone though, there was a herd of cows grazing, their bells noisy and their dung smelly.

Porezen

Spanje z vrečo cementa / Sleeping with a bag of cement

Ko sem se pripravljala na pot, sem vzela s seboj tudi spalno vrečo, za vsak slučaj, če mi ne bi uspelo priti pravočasno v kočo ali najti primernega kraja za prenočitev, tako bi lahko prespala tudi zunaj, če bi bilo treba. In ker so se krave sprehajale naokoli, si nisem ravno najbolj želela prespati tam zunaj. Preverila sem gradbišče in ugotovila, da je možno vstopiti in čeprav je bilo vse en sam beton, je bilo pokrito in varno pred kravami.Ob steno so bila prislonjena stara lesena vrata z napisom "Kuhinja". Izgleda, da se je nekdo odločil obdržati stara vrata, kar mi je prišlo zelo prav, saj sem položila vrata na tla, razprostrla spalno vrečo in tako sem lahko spala na lesu namesto na betonu. Ko sem se ulegla, sem opazila vreče gradbenega materiala z napisi Kema Puconci in to se mi je še najbolj vtisnilo v spomin, namreč da sem spala med vrečami cementa ali karkoli že je bilo v njih. Spala pa sem kar dobro.

When packing for my trip I decided to take a sleeping bag just in case I wouldn’t make it to a suitable hut or place where I could spend the night and so I had the sleeping bag in which I could sleep outside in case of emergency. I didn’t really want to sleep outside, what with the cows strolling around so I checked the construction site and noticed that I was able to go inside. It was mostly concrete but at least it was sheltered and safe from the cows. There was an old wooden door with a sign saying “Kitchen” so I guess they decided to keep the old kitchen door. I lay the door on the floor so I could sleep on wood rather than on cement and spread my sleeping bag over that. As I lay down I noticed lots of bags of building materials labeled Kema Puconci and that is what I remember most about this night, that I slept among bags of cement or whatever was in those bags. But I slept reasonably well.

Soriška planina

Naslednje jutro sem se spustila proti Bohinjski Bistrici, kjer se je moja pot končala. Bil je že četrti dan in ni imelo smisla iti dalje na Triglav, saj bi trajalo vsaj še en dan, česar nisem načrtovala, razen tega sem bila izčrpana in se nisem mogla upreti oditi naravnost na avtobusno postajo, ko se mi je ravno ponudila priložnost.

The next morning I descended towards Bohinjska Bistrica where I decided my trek would end. It was my fourth day, there was no point in going further on Triglav because I would have needed at least another day which I hadn’t planned and I just couldn’t resist heading straight towards the bus station when I had the opportunity.

Ugotovitve / Lessons learned

Torej, uspelo mi je, vsaj delno in vsekakor sem se mnogo naučila iz te izkušnje. Če bi želela tak podvig še kdaj poskusiti, sem spoznala da: Morala bi oditi na pot z nekom, ki dobro pozna pot, ali pa sama raziskovati pot po kosih, tako da bi vedno vedela točno, kje je treba iti Morala bi imeti boljše čevlje ali vsaj take, ki so bolj uhojeni Morala bi premisliti, ali je res najbolj učinkovito iti na pot v ravni črti; morda bi bilo bolje iti malo bolj naokrog, ampak z manj hoje gor in dol in gor in dol Ali bom poskusila še enkrat? Priti na Triglav? Kdo ve, resnično me jezi, ker tokrat nisem uspela. Morda se bom nekoč v prihodnosti včlanila v Planinsko društvo Vrhnika in odšla na pot vsaj enkrat z njimi, da vidim, kje je najprimernejša pot.

So I made it, at least partially and at least I learned valuable lessons if I were to ever attempt such a feat again. Here are the lessons: Go with someone who knows the way or explore the route partially to make sure that there would never be a question as to which way to go Get better walking shoes or use shoes that were more broken-in Rethink the idea that going in a straight line is the most efficient way to get there; it might be faster to go the longer way around without having to go up and down and up and down Will I attempt to do it again? To reach Triglav? Who knows, I hate leaving it uncompleted but I think I might join the Vrhnika mountaineering club in the future and go with them at least once to take advantage of a guided trek.