I woke up several times during the night, also without and alarm clock, the howling of the wind kept me awake. The surface of the spot I chose in a hurry was not optimal either, it was rather bumpy. The floor of the tent was all Iiwet. Since there was snow underneath, the water condensed there.
So I got up at 7. My hopes that the sunshine would wake my was not fulfilled. It rained a couple of times during the night and in the morning it was drizzling. It seemed as the wind was chasing clouds over the crete. Their humidity just condensed everywhere and sometimes also in thing air. It seemed like in a steam bath. So I ate the little food I had left. Most of the stock was made up of grop. This was lopsided but I would not need to suffer hunger.
So I tried to dry the shoes, that were still soaked. I managed to get them to a state that it would not feel like a foot bath anymore bye abusing my towel.
Everything was wet, all my stuff including my feet. After packing, the tent was twice as heavy, I went for the second half of the crete trail. I thanked the gods that most of the snow melted over night, luckey me... So today I could ride the bigger parts, where yesterday it was exhausting pushing and carrying. The atmosphere was strange, the thick myst and the harsh wind blowing it in eddies over the mountains and right, in my face. After a couple more up and downs over the tricky terrain I reached the woods again and the trail got better and allowed more fluent riding. Also the trees protected me from the wind and the air was less moist. Finally the trail became really beatiful and the only effort was in my fingers and mentally. By mtb this would have been twice as fast at least and another ton of fun more. But I was happy the trail was not demanding more physical efort and I was kimd of proud to be able to ride this trail with my touring bike without any, suspension and 30kg of luggage.
When the single trail joined the asphalt road again I stopped to wringen the socks and the gloves. Then I was eager to get to Besenova Bystryca to find a hostel and dry myself and my stuff, so hit the pedals hard. Funny, the biggest part of the, distance did not even take half of the time.
So... Lesson learned, do not head for the mountains with white tops, unless your thirsting for adventure. I shook my head a couple of times when realizing how badly I underestimated this really difficult, even dangerous combination of terrain and, weather conditions. I was really lucky there was and unusually warm wind blowing last night. So much naivete, my good... Typical beginners faults (like check topographic maps, that osm is not, if you go for this kind of trip, to mention just one). Ironically this made me feel veeeeery young. However, I will be very careful not lay survival in the hads of luck, especially if I should know better. My father would say: "give the luck reservoir time to refill". I will.
So I got up at 7. My hopes that the sunshine would wake my was not fulfilled. It rained a couple of times during the night and in the morning it was drizzling. It seemed as the wind was chasing clouds over the crete. Their humidity just condensed everywhere and sometimes also in thing air. It seemed like in a steam bath. So I ate the little food I had left. Most of the stock was made up of grop. This was lopsided but I would not need to suffer hunger.
So I tried to dry the shoes, that were still soaked. I managed to get them to a state that it would not feel like a foot bath anymore bye abusing my towel.
Everything was wet, all my stuff including my feet. After packing, the tent was twice as heavy, I went for the second half of the crete trail. I thanked the gods that most of the snow melted over night, luckey me... So today I could ride the bigger parts, where yesterday it was exhausting pushing and carrying. The atmosphere was strange, the thick myst and the harsh wind blowing it in eddies over the mountains and right, in my face. After a couple more up and downs over the tricky terrain I reached the woods again and the trail got better and allowed more fluent riding. Also the trees protected me from the wind and the air was less moist. Finally the trail became really beatiful and the only effort was in my fingers and mentally. By mtb this would have been twice as fast at least and another ton of fun more. But I was happy the trail was not demanding more physical efort and I was kimd of proud to be able to ride this trail with my touring bike without any, suspension and 30kg of luggage.
When the single trail joined the asphalt road again I stopped to wringen the socks and the gloves. Then I was eager to get to Besenova Bystryca to find a hostel and dry myself and my stuff, so hit the pedals hard. Funny, the biggest part of the, distance did not even take half of the time.
So... Lesson learned, do not head for the mountains with white tops, unless your thirsting for adventure. I shook my head a couple of times when realizing how badly I underestimated this really difficult, even dangerous combination of terrain and, weather conditions. I was really lucky there was and unusually warm wind blowing last night. So much naivete, my good... Typical beginners faults (like check topographic maps, that osm is not, if you go for this kind of trip, to mention just one). Ironically this made me feel veeeeery young. However, I will be very careful not lay survival in the hads of luck, especially if I should know better. My father would say: "give the luck reservoir time to refill". I will.
