I did not hurry this morning as check in for my accommodation this evening was not until 6 pm. In addition I needed to visit the chemist to buy a strip of plasters. My wet boot was rubbing the top of my toes making them sore. A length of fabric plaster solved the problem but it became wet and had to be replaced each day. I was running out of plasters so needed to buy some more. Showing the old packet to the shop keeper meant I soon had a new one.
Around 9:00 am I started off. My left knee was stiff this morning, so I swallowed an ibuprofen and until I stopped at Bytča, it did not complain too much. My day began with a climb up to the first summit, overtaking a group of young school children. A little after the path entered conifer fotest and grew steeper until I reached an observation tower at the top. For the tower's top I could see the road on which I entered Rajec.
After my descent the otherside I followed a path through beech trees up to a ridge, which I would walk along for the rest of the day. At first I was pleased, no overjoyed, that the path took a lateral approach. Gradually gaining height by following a line along the side of the ridge, rather than going straight up the slope in the usual way in these parts. In this gentle fashion the top of the ridge was reached.
However once on the ridge, the path ran north along its crest except when impeded by larger outcrops of rock. The usual roller coaster ensued, the trail rising up and down with each summit, often steeply, slowing me down as I negotiated tree roots, slippery earth and rocks. At first, between the beech trees that grew on the ridge, I could see the valleys each side of the ridge with villages and houses strung out along roads. Later the cloud came in and with it cold wind and rain. My field of view was then limited to nearby trees and cliffs or sharp drops to my left, and steep wooded slopes to my right. With the hood of my coat up I faced the usual problem of my glasses misting up. Often I left my hood down, exposed to the rain so I could better see where the path went. This was not always obvious. Picking the wrong path I arrived at the top of a cliff on a precarious animal track. Instead the correct path dropped through a cleft in the cliff to my left, squeezed between the cliff and a tree and then dropped rapidly for several feet until it stabilised as a viable footway.
I had been following the green waymarked path out of Rajec, then switched to the red path, which I hoped would result in me leaving the ridge in a gentle descent. This mistaken impression was soon removed as I climbed among a selection of large rocks. Had they not been lost among very tall beech trees these rocks, conglomerates containing rounded pebbles, would be impressive features, and might have been widely praised as a giant's rock garden. One area was used for rock climbing according to the signs, but today there were no climbers and I saw only one couple walking in the ridge.
After the red path had entertained me with its structureless rock columns I joined the blue path which led me gratefully down to civilisation. Leaving the trees for meadows, and leaving grass for roads I passed through the village of Hrabové. A busy road, now waymarked in green, led me the final kilometres to Bytča.
As I have decided on a rest day tomorrow when I could investigate the town more thoroughly, I merely stopped for dinner the time now 6 pm. A kebab and chips sufficed, the guy serving proudly yelling me they made their own bread. Leaving the town for my Penzion, a little way out, I noticed a cake shop still open. So had a dessert of chocolate tort and an expresso lungo.
At my Penzion, a wedding reception was in full swing. Folk music was playing loudly, men in suits had abandoned their jackets and were smoking outside. Women in their best frocks sat at tables and children were screaming. Staff were hanging about, the meal service now over. One of them, who had a little English, struggled with my passport and the Penzion's IT system. Finally I was in my room and showering off the sweat of the day, looking forward to my evening phone call with my wife.
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