Today was a pretty laid back day. I slept longer, ate even more, did some updates on my phone that took ages and messed up things on my phone, took another shower, tried to but failed to get my organisational things done and went shopping again for a new 1 L bottle. I ended up buying an energy drink which was pretty ugly but certainly got me going after drinking it on ex before leaving :)
I wanted to leave around 1 pm, but ended up leaving at 2 pm, as I said goodbye to Lili (the owner of the pension) and her husband. It is incredible: staying with them, you become a part of the family, even when communication isn't easy. Very heart warming and if you ever come to Vatra Dornei, I can highly recommend staying at Pensuinea Magda!!!I finally managed to leave after several attempts and left the valley to ascend Mt Giumalau on wide forest roads. Oversugared, sleep derived but doped, I enjoyed the hike through forests. No need to worry about sheep dogs, some sun, an easy trail... And I couldn't believe that my cloths are clean and smell good. I don't know if Lili had to wash them 3 times as they were incredible ugly, but they are really clean!
The last bit up was on an open meadow and steep 4 AD track, that reminded me of the hiking in the Ukraine. And also here, it seems a common thing to take a jeep on a Sunday and drive up the mountains.
My shoes are REALLY crappy and I wonder how long they will last. I think they are not even worth 5 Euros but no alternative. At least they made the 20 km on roads today ;)
Another thing that really sucks, are my hiking poles. I bought Leki Khumbus and the lower segments don't seem to be properly (or in any way) connected, so if there is no pressure from above but tearing from below e.g. walking through mud, being stuck underneath a branch etc, the segment comes off. I don't want to judge too early, but wrote to Leki. Amy guess is, they are just glued together and this came off. But if that's true, it is a very horrible mis-construction that is incredible considering these hiking poles cost about 70 Euros!!! A simple screw thread would have done the job. Well, still waiting for an answer, but it really sucks on muddy trails, having to pull out the segment with every step and walking through mountain pines I'm constantly worried to loose the segment because just carrying them in my hands (not even using them), the segment might get stuck on a tree branch and is gone. Very annoying. Whenever I'll get an answer from Leki, I'll let you know in my 'hiker hack' category!
Saying goodbye to Lili
Mt. Giumalau and some scary looking clouds - but it stayed dry
Tonight's camping spot
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