Backpacks and blisters - the walking thread

[jameswba]

From the top.

[jameswba]

From the meadow just below Velky Choc.

[jameswba]

[jameswba]

Those sand-flats look treacherous.

Yesterday, I went up Velky Choc, which may be Slovakia's most perfectly-situated peak, as it stands almost alone, but equidistant from the four highest ranges in the country - High Tatras, Low Tatras, Velka Fatra, Mala Fatra. Slightly hazy views from the top though, so we couldn't quite see everything.

[Sits]

Sooner you than me Paul! Good effort.

[Paul S]

Today I walked part of the Broomway supposed to be Britain's most dangerous path. It connects the mainland with Foulness and was the only way until the MOD built a bridge in 1922. Until then horses and carriages went over the sand-flats in convoy with people and produce. The path goes off and runs parallel with the land about 400 yards offshore. This doesn't sound very dangerous until you consider that in thick mist or fog you had no idea where the land or sea were and over a hundred people have died on the path.

I did about five miles in my round trip, the Maplin Sands are a true wilderness.

[Sits]

Chilly by the look of it, but magnificent.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Looks like this the only picture I can upload...515am sunrise over Pen y ghent

[Moonlight Shadow]

[lambers]

As alluded to on mundane, we're in the Peak District this week.
In tribute to the opening word of the thread title, I'm going to talk about a backpack.

It is a baby backpack (or "babpack", as I've decided to coin it), which we've hired from an online company as buying new is over five times the price. Only the buggers at the company didn't include the poles that you put the sunshade/rain cover (both of which were provided) on to without smothering your baby.

We only received the babpack a day before leaving, so I had to Macgyver a solution:


And here it is in action, with the rain cover acting as a wind shield on a breezy day:

[Sits]

I didn't. The local expert (who had a telescope and a heat seeking camera with him) located them and pointed them out to us.

As to where they are on the big image, the stand of trees on the right-hand side is the best way of finding them. The one that starts on the brow of the hill, then curls round a bit. If you follow the line of trees as it comes away from the brow it 'points' directly towards a rocky outcrop. That is the big rock the Wolves are lounging behind. They are no more than browny-orange smudges in the big image, though. It needed more zoom than my camera was capable of to make them into recognisable Wolf-shapes.

I see the smudges! Thanks.

[Janik]

Oh, and there was also a Griffon Vulture drying itself off on the next hill to the left after probably being caught in the previous evening's torrential rain (found by a different local who stopped and got his spotting kit out when he saw us all clearly watching something). I never got any sort of half-decent picture of that, though.

[Janik]

Janik, I’ve been trying to find them in the big photo, and failed.

Great spot; how did you know where to look?

I didn't. The local expert (who had a telescope and a heat seeking camera with him) located them and pointed them out to us.

As to where they are on the big image, the stand of trees on the right-hand side is the best way of finding them. The one that starts on the brow of the hill, then curls round a bit. If you follow the line of trees as it comes away from the brow it 'points' directly towards a rocky outcrop. That is the big rock the Wolves are lounging behind. They are no more than browny-orange smudges in the big image, though. It needed more zoom than my camera was capable of to make them into recognisable Wolf-shapes.

[ad hoc]

Hmmm it looks like I misremembered some of that https://www.romania-insider.com/schw...orests-romania

Schweighofer were the one I was originally thinking of but now there's a new one who are very active. It came to light when Austria blocked Romania's Schengen application and people here started boycottin Austrian businesses

[ad hoc]

The walk is still rewarding, but I can't believe there isn't massive-scale corruption going on in Slovakia's forestry and National Park authorities.

Same here. There's a lot of organised crime involvement too. A couple of years ago an environmental campaigner was murdered here for challenging the gangs. There's a hugely powerful Austrian lumber multinational the name of which escapes me at the moment who seem to be very heavily involved (and I think a lot of the illegally logged wood ends up in IKEA furniture

[jameswba]

In the background are the highest peaks in the Mala Fatra : Maly Krivan, Velky Krivan, Chleb.

[jameswba]

From Mincol looking south.

[jameswba]

I've never seen wolves in Slovakia. Friends told me years ago that they heard a pack as they were coming down a mountain in the early evening, but that's the only experience I've heard about from people I know.

There seems to be uncertainty as to numbers here as well. Bears are protected, and their numbers are on the increase, which may in turn be affecting wolf populations.

I suspect the bigger factor would be that huge swathes of mountain forests are being cut down. Yesterday, I went up Mincol, the nearest mountain to home. There have been several tales this spring of bears visiting the village and surrounding meadows below the peak and, as you go higher up, you see why. If things carry on as they are, the hillside will be bare in 2-3 years. No way could wolves live up there. Bears are more and more attuned to coming closer to human settlements when their habitat is affected, but it's possible that wolves are simply dying.

The walk is still rewarding, but I can't believe there isn't massive-scale corruption going on in Slovakia's forestry and National Park authorities.

[Sits]

Janik, I’ve been trying to find them in the big photo, and failed.

Great spot; how did you know where to look?

[ad hoc]

And if my experience is anything to go by, more unusual to spot than bears. In the 18 years I've lived here, I've seen wolves once (and bears somewhere between 10 and 15)

[Sits]

Absolutely. Don’t tell any bears, but I reckon wolves > bears.

[ursus arctos]

Just wonderful

[Janik]

You may have heard it was rainy in Italy last week. This was especially true in the Abruzzian hills. But we did see some sun, and plenty of wildlife. No Bears though.

Anyway, in chronological order, my view of Pettorano (one clear, the other with some of the rest of the group in the foreground)...




Which hasn't changed much in over 100 years if this Escher drawing was a good representation.



So that is where he got his architectural ideas from!

The town square looked nice, so we headed that way for a drink



The view back the other way. Note how green everything is. Which was pleasant... but also spoke of impending tragedy elsewhere in Italy.



And just to prove we did see some sun




The thing with Bears and such like is they are activity early and late. So it was a dawn start the next day.



Bleary eyed Janiks make mistakes on camera settings, so the next few have time/date stamps to prove when they were taken...



Still some snow on North facing slopes



Nice and sunny (if chilly) at the Bear watching site. No Bears seen though, just Foxes, Red Deer, Chamois and a Wild Boar.



On the back to base in search of breakfast. This is a view up the Sangro Valley from Pescaserroli. The town on the hill is Opi.




More cloudy mountain views, morning and evening




In between we headed through a beech forest. And saw what was heading down the hills towards the coast. The path is unavailable because the stream has taken it over.



Final morning, and final chance near the town of Aschi.



The hillside above Aschi. Something interesting lurks up there



I know where to look on that image, and they are barely visible. But put a telescope on them... and it's a wolf pack



Who don't seem particularly bothered by our presence, though they were clearly aware of it. Let sleeping Wolves lie.

[Paul S]

I have been walking the TGO Challenge for 5 days now am now in my tent at Corrour Station after a very nice meal and some beers. Had some great weather coming up from Ardrishaig but also some heavy rain. I have walked north walked north for five-days and today turned west towards Dalwhinnie. A picture from Corrour:

[S. aureus]

A walk through Phleger Estate today. Was confused by the temperatures - having driven through thick fog to get there, it was decidedly hot at the top of the hill down to about 1500 ft where it suddenly got chilly again until I got below about 1000 ft and it warmed up again, though nowhere as hot as at the top. Which all then repeated (unsurprisingly) on the way back up.
It's been a while since I've been through that park, in part because the lower trail connecting it to Huddart has been closed for about a decade now, since big chunks of it were washed away in a storm. It brought back some memories from my trail running days, including running that lower trail shortly after said storm before the rangers noticed that a bunch of it wasn't there anymore and closed it, which was interesting. Also the first time I went along the Southern ravine, which was around sunset on a cloudy day with just enough wind to sway the redwoods, and fantastically eerie.