From Baťovka to Korcháň – day 1

28.3.2024 Thursday

Partizánske – Rokoš

→ 23,63 km

This morning I’m still thinking whether we’ll actually go through with the plan that came to us last time we were in Kysuce — walking from Partizánske all the way to Kysuce, on foot. The forecast looks decent, just windy. I start getting our stuff together. It’s raining outside. In the afternoon I go shop for some food at the chaotic Kaufland, and by the time I’m out the sun’s already shining, so I’m starting to genuinely look forward to this. Jozef gets off work at 1pm so we can head out as soon as possible. We just wear shorts — once we’re walking, we won’t be cold. We’d wanted to bring the camera too, but something’s wrong with it and there’s no time left to figure out what. Right outside our building we start our watches and set off along the embankment by the river Nitra.

First stop is on Sládkovičova street, at Jozef’s parents’ place, for some cheese pagáče for the road. And coffee too, which I’d completely forgotten. It’s pretty funny, the odd looks people give us, wondering where on earth we’re heading with backpacks like these. Out of Partizánske we follow a farm road past fragrant blooming bushes.

There’s a lot of mud that sticks to our shoes, weighing them down and making the walking harder. As we walk along the Nitrica river I remember I forgot the towels. I should probably start making a checklist before we head out on these trips. Our next stop is in Skačany. After 7 km we grab a quick beer and continue through the fields toward Hradište.

In Hradište I remember I had forgotten the knife too. Jozef had looked at it back home, thinking he should trim his nails, but decided he could do that on the trail instead — so now that’s off the table too. And I forgot my kula cloth as well. Once we’re home I’m making that checklist for real. It’s flat all the way to Dolné Vestenice, so we put an ultra-speed.

At the local Jednota store we buy two liters of water, since there’s no spring left along the way. Rokoš is a brutal hill. It climbs steeply right from the start — over 900 meters of elevation gain over 10 km. We’d been up Rokoš once before, and back then I swore never again. As always, nostalgic optimism kicks in. We move along briskly given the conditions. Thanks to the missing knife I keep humming Nohavica’s song “Tramp” in my head (“I walk through the world without a knife”).

We fuel up on pagáče and chocolate-covered raisins. It’s already fairly dim by the time we reach the lookout point with the swing. We pull out our headlamps to have them ready, though there’s still just enough light to see the trail. After 6 km we reach the ridge, and from there it’s up and down, with occasional rockier, tougher terrain. A couple of times we scout out potential camping spots, but it’s really windy, so we decide to push on to Rokoš itself. We try to talk loudly and tap our poles often. At 8:45pm we finally arrive. There’s a hikers’ shelter at the top with a loft where you can sleep. Outside the wind is howling hard enough to rattle the shelter, but inside it’s actually quite cozy. We quickly get set up and Jozef cooks mashed potato with tuna for dinner. It starts raining in the meantime — I’m really glad we’re under cover. I check the forecast again and it says -2°C by morning, so I layer up to stay warm. We only covered 23 km, but it took a lot out of us, so I’m curious whether we’ll actually pull this whole trip off.