Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
So I have crossed into my 3rd country and I am in Slovenia! In my rough-route estimation this is pretty much half-way to Istanbul, which is nuts when I think about it, so as much as possible, I haven't! All the english tourist info about Slovenia states that it is a country the size of Wales - and my first impression of it was that it shares the weather too! After months of rainless roads I was hiding under a tree from a down pour within 500m of the border. Everyone I speak to tells me it hasn't rained in nearly 3 months, the whole country is a tinderbox and there are water limitations in place. I must be some kind of rain deity then as i have been soaked in 3 huge downpours in the week I have been here!
Back tracking a little bit - after the fun and games with familiar faces in Venice I was a bit low and lost (as i hadn't planned my route at all after Venice in my focus to get there in time), so I headed back to Padua. It gave me a chance to have a look round the city, plan my next phase and share stories with a house full of couch surfers, as my host had somewhat triple booked his floor space! I was quite taken aback when someone said how inspiring they found me and my trip. I forget that from the outside I am doing something a little bigger and different to normal. But strangely it has now come to feel completely normal, even tedious sometimes - plan my route, find some hosts, walk, eat, sleep, plan my route . . . . . When another person wished me well on my way and to "enjoy the privelidge of the time you have" I was definitely given some food for thought.
Having made it back to the sea (all be it a filthy brown canal) in Venice, I decided to make my way along part of the Adriatic coast across northern Italy and headed round the Venice Lagoon down to the beachs of Jesolo. Although they offered clean, cool water to swim in, the area is a tourist swamp with rows of deck chairs along the beaches and an army of mosquitoes feasting on all the sun worshippers. At a campsite 500m from the beach I managed to catch glimpses of the Olympic opening ceremony on the TV screen of a neighbouring caravan, through a smoke screen of burning citronella insect repellant. I got my fill of swimming in the sea and then headed back in land to skirt round the many waterways of the delta and wetlands area.
With no hosts within walking distance of my route for a few days, I set up camp with Sonny, Eleonora and their 3 cats and 5 adorable kittens. Sonny had just quit his job and was preparing to walk part of the Santiago di Compostella so joined me for some warm-up kms as I caught-up the sections I had missed. On our way, we saw a young guy walking on the opposite side of the road pulling a small trolley with a back-pack and violin on it. Curious, we caught up with him to ask where he was going -"China" he replied! I was blown away, we walked the next 12km together talking about our respective trips and experiences. He is Andrew, 22yrs old from Minnesota. He managed to get a free passage to Europe as a crew man, helping a Dutch yachtsman taken his 11m boat back home to Holland. Just off Bernuda they hit a whale, which damaged their hull. A cargo ship picked them up but they had to settle with landing in its' destination port of Naples, so Andrew started walking from there. I have to say my trip felt a bit tame and comfortable after listening to his story and learning that he plods about 40km each day before sleeping by the road in his tent. We parted company later in the afternoon and I was seriously pondering the idea of a trolley after how much Andrew had said it helped. The combination of a heavy bag and sweat soaked back had been leaving me with patches of raw skin on my back and they are really painful. Maybe a trolley would help this?
Company on the walk is really good, especially on the Italian roads. Sonny's friend Lorenzo joined us for another days walk and it was so good to leave the constantly on-rushing traffic for a while to take a section of coastal path along the cliffs at the edge of the limestone dominated Karst region. They left me at a peaceful campsite for a couple of days before I continued along the coast road and into Trieste. Not put off by the shear rockfaces and lack of real beach space, the Italians flock to any vaguely flat section of this coast to sun worship and cool off. At one cliff-top lay-by I stopped at, I was sitting on a bench, enjoying the view (having just near drowned myself under a water fountain to cool down). I sat and watched as a middle-aged Italian guy pulled-up in his car and got out with a pair of binoculars. I was surprised to see him walk over to the barrier and instead of point his binoculars out to sea he was looking straight down the cliff face!? After he left I went to see why - no shame whatsoever - it was a nudist beach at the bottom of the cliff!
Arriving in Trieste along the coastal route I walked along the Viale Miramare. It is a promenade a few kms long and 2-3m wide which is covered by Italian sun worshippers (some of them the slightly leather wrinkled saggy skin types unashamedly squeezed into leopard print bikinis). I cut an interesting sight dumping my bag down, swapping my sweaty walking clothes for swimming stuff (exposing mozzarella white feet and stomach) and revelling in the clear, cool water. Eventually I prized myself away and headed into the city. This being my last city before the border there were usual logistical things to try and get my head round, the nagging decision as to whether to try out a trolley and the need for new shoes. After the best part of 2000km I had worn through the soles of mine and the smell was becoming a bit too much to apologise for! I had plenty of time to kill though as having arranged to meet my Mum and Steve in Ljubljana at the end of August, I was only about 90km and 3 weeks early!
I really liked Trieste, it feels different to other Italian cities I have visited. For a few days there was a fresh breeze blowing from the sea which made the temperature bearable, the buildings are beautiful and Lorenzo had promised me amazing icecream! Plus they had 2 strange phenomenons for Italy - free interent and public toilets! It's a city known for it's wind - in the winter the local wind called the Bora blows so strong that it takes people off there feet, some of the old buildings even have handholds built into the outside walls for people to hold onto! I was happy to wander round and run my errands but eventually, as always, it was time to leave. Complete with new shoes, an experimental trolley and a farewell English breakfast (don't worry, my very last meal in Italy was of course pizza!) I headed up the hill to the Slovenian boreder . . . . and the rain! As with my previous border crossings I was sad to leave the people I had met, the food I had enjoyed and the places I had found. But it was with a headful of happy memories and address book full of new friends and postcards to write.
With still more time to kill until meeting Mum I had plotted a meandering route through western Slovenia but my first day struggling with the new boots, adapting and learning the ropes with my new trolley and getting caught by rain and wind was a challenging one. The change to quiet roads, rolling through forest covered hills and tiny villages has been very welcome though. Sure I had the usual problem of new boots ripping my feet up, shortcuts getting me lost and ripping my legs up, but I stayed an extra day with each host to recover and they have been more than happy to show me more of their beautiful country. Dinner in a wine cave, visiting a partisan printing press hidden in the mountains, camping by the stream in the forest, swimming in waterfall pools - I am being treated to a little bit of a half-way holiday! Of course I don't look like a holiday maker in between - pulling my trolley along on the uphills and letting it freewheel attached to my bag on the downhills, I am maintaining the weird looks on the road. Guessing they will be with me the whole way!
- comments
Chelsey Flood Amazng. I love to read your blog. I especially love that you now have a little trolley. Excellent! And yes, it is extraordinary what you're doing, and a privelege too (hard-earned, mind) so make the most of it dear one. Sounds like you are anyway. Lots of love, your grounded friend, Captain Flood.
Amanda & Patrick Hi Nic. Congratulations on crossing the border to Slovenia and walking half way to Istanbul. I hope the trolly helps. I enjoyed your blog except for the whale incident! Enjoy Slovenia. Happy foot prints. Amanda & Patrick
jonny Good going bird! Some adventure your having, amazing and very inspiring if not a bit mad : ) Nothing much happening back here in Kern but Chelsea are top of the table so alls well, Cheers and gone