One of the best things about this kind of travelling, is being able to change your plans and add new places based on recommendations from fellow travellers. Kim and James had heard about some adventurous walks in the nearby Narodny Slovesky Raj National Park. We found our cheerfully named Podlesok campsite and were even more pleased with the price (£4.50 with electric) and set off along one of the trails. It was marked on the map as one-way only, and it soon became obvious why. Wooden planks turned into metal step ladders as we climbed up the side of waterfalls. Fortunately at this time of year water levels are fairly low, but I imagine in spring you’d get fairly wet on some of the stretches. A stash of monkey nuts was our prize for reaching the top of the valley and then we came back down on a much les interesting path back to Podlesok.
On the second day we headed along another adventure path, which this time favoured metal platforms suspended above a gushing river. Handily placed metal chains made going a little easier – this was certainly a change from pine forests. This route however was two-way so there was plenty of waiting around for opposing groups to get over the next obstacle, as neither of us fancied trying to pass while clinging to the rock face. We came back via a path that took us steeply up the side of the gorge and traversed along the top ridge providing lovely views of the valley and river we had hung over earlier. Tom saw his first snake, which crossed the path directly in front of him, too quick to identify or photo and neither of us volunteered to go into the undergrowth to seek it out any further.
That evening we had rather more adventure than we had planned as a fire almost started in the van. Miraculously the material damage was minor, but a few nasty burns will leave an unwelcome reminder of the episode for a good few weeks to come. Having rocked the campsite with our explosion, we are primarily just relieved that it was not any worse, but recommend that you do not buy or use the small red single pierce gas canister and stove from Lidl. A torrential thunderstorm, where the sky literally turned deep purple marked our midsummer’s’ eve in Slovakia.
On the second day we headed along another adventure path, which this time favoured metal platforms suspended above a gushing river. Handily placed metal chains made going a little easier – this was certainly a change from pine forests. This route however was two-way so there was plenty of waiting around for opposing groups to get over the next obstacle, as neither of us fancied trying to pass while clinging to the rock face. We came back via a path that took us steeply up the side of the gorge and traversed along the top ridge providing lovely views of the valley and river we had hung over earlier. Tom saw his first snake, which crossed the path directly in front of him, too quick to identify or photo and neither of us volunteered to go into the undergrowth to seek it out any further.
That evening we had rather more adventure than we had planned as a fire almost started in the van. Miraculously the material damage was minor, but a few nasty burns will leave an unwelcome reminder of the episode for a good few weeks to come. Having rocked the campsite with our explosion, we are primarily just relieved that it was not any worse, but recommend that you do not buy or use the small red single pierce gas canister and stove from Lidl. A torrential thunderstorm, where the sky literally turned deep purple marked our midsummer’s’ eve in Slovakia.
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