It turns out that Zagubica does have accomodation at the Vrelo Mlave, another national monument where a river, in this case the Mlava, just comes out of the ground, although in this case there is no cave to see.
It was a short walk from my campsite to Zagubica passed the usual cemetery on the outskirts of town. Some of the gravestones have wonderful pictures of the dead etched in them, one of the husband and wife sitting at a table having a drink caught my eye.
I arrived at the restaurant by the river source in time for a breakfast of omelette and bread so fresh it was hot to handle. Not as early as I thought as unbeknown to me the clocks had gone forward the previous weekend. Seeing a sign saying Sobe (rooms) I asked for one, having decided to call this a rest day after the exertions of the past few days and a strong desire for dry socks. After some interpreting by the cook I am now safely in my room. I have washed the clothes I have been living and sleeping in for the last 4 days and hopefully they will be dry by tomorrow. To absolutely make my day the sun has been shining.
The town has a nice pedestrianised street and the other streets have potholes. I bought some provisions for tomorrow and had a coffee, yoghurt and strudel confection for lunch. More my idea of a long distance walk!
It was a short walk from my campsite to Zagubica passed the usual cemetery on the outskirts of town. Some of the gravestones have wonderful pictures of the dead etched in them, one of the husband and wife sitting at a table having a drink caught my eye.
I arrived at the restaurant by the river source in time for a breakfast of omelette and bread so fresh it was hot to handle. Not as early as I thought as unbeknown to me the clocks had gone forward the previous weekend. Seeing a sign saying Sobe (rooms) I asked for one, having decided to call this a rest day after the exertions of the past few days and a strong desire for dry socks. After some interpreting by the cook I am now safely in my room. I have washed the clothes I have been living and sleeping in for the last 4 days and hopefully they will be dry by tomorrow. To absolutely make my day the sun has been shining.
The town has a nice pedestrianised street and the other streets have potholes. I bought some provisions for tomorrow and had a coffee, yoghurt and strudel confection for lunch. More my idea of a long distance walk!
My thoughts turned to what I had right and what I had wrong for my walk through snow for the last few days.
On the plus side I had adequate clothing, I was hot pushing through the snow (apart from my wet feet) but cooled down quickly on stopping. 4 layers of clothing including a synthetic "down" jacket then kept me warm, I also had liner gloves and winter gloves plus a spare set of gloves. Merino wool long johns, trousers and waterproof, over trousers kept my legs in comfort. My Mountain Hardware sleeping bag was rated for -6 C and again synthetic so it kept my feet warm even though wet, accumulated condensation and general wetness in the tent was a big issue, and that was with no socks on. On the downside it was rather bulky. A Thermarest airbed designed only to support my upper body, packed small but kept me off the cold snow beneath my tent's groundsheet. I also had adequate supplies of water (up to 4 litres) but was not very good at drinking it as it was ice cold and sometimes starting to form ice. My pee stops were infrequent but very yellow as a result.
Biggest downside were my boots which leaked although they had only done 500 miles, disappointing as previous Brasher boots of the same type had managed 1500 miles, maybe not such good boots now Berghaus has bought the company out. Even if they had been leak proof snow was getting under my gaiters and into the top of my boots as well. Heavy mountain boots with gaiters more suitable for snow would have been a better bet, but they would have been heavy and not ideal for the several hundred kilometres I still had to walk. Walking with a group would have helped both in case of problems and to share the task of breaking trail. Weather forecasts (including mountain forecasts) were too optimistic in this period.
However all life is about learning. On the plus side it takes the hardship of days of ice cold, wet feet to really gain intense pleasure from a dry pair of socks...
On the plus side I had adequate clothing, I was hot pushing through the snow (apart from my wet feet) but cooled down quickly on stopping. 4 layers of clothing including a synthetic "down" jacket then kept me warm, I also had liner gloves and winter gloves plus a spare set of gloves. Merino wool long johns, trousers and waterproof, over trousers kept my legs in comfort. My Mountain Hardware sleeping bag was rated for -6 C and again synthetic so it kept my feet warm even though wet, accumulated condensation and general wetness in the tent was a big issue, and that was with no socks on. On the downside it was rather bulky. A Thermarest airbed designed only to support my upper body, packed small but kept me off the cold snow beneath my tent's groundsheet. I also had adequate supplies of water (up to 4 litres) but was not very good at drinking it as it was ice cold and sometimes starting to form ice. My pee stops were infrequent but very yellow as a result.
Biggest downside were my boots which leaked although they had only done 500 miles, disappointing as previous Brasher boots of the same type had managed 1500 miles, maybe not such good boots now Berghaus has bought the company out. Even if they had been leak proof snow was getting under my gaiters and into the top of my boots as well. Heavy mountain boots with gaiters more suitable for snow would have been a better bet, but they would have been heavy and not ideal for the several hundred kilometres I still had to walk. Walking with a group would have helped both in case of problems and to share the task of breaking trail. Weather forecasts (including mountain forecasts) were too optimistic in this period.
However all life is about learning. On the plus side it takes the hardship of days of ice cold, wet feet to really gain intense pleasure from a dry pair of socks...
A mere 3.7 kilometres walk today from last night's campsite to my gorgeous breakfast. A gpx file of my route can be found on Wikiloc.com, and WanderMap.net. The route can also be downloaded from Viewranger.com as johnpon0027.
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