From Baťovka to Korcháň – day 4
31.3.2024 Sunday
Lookout tower above Hrabové – Bobek
→ 42,62 km – total 146,64 km
We keep the alarm at the same time, and we definitely feel the time change. On top of that I was tossing and turning all night. Today’s going to be a hard one. Jozef takes a few more photos of this fantastic camping spot before we go.
He just makes chia porridge for me, and then we head quickly into town, to a gas station, for coffee and a hot dog. The woman there complains that it’s turned into a restaurant in there. Lots of asphalt awaits us today. The route runs through Bytča, then through the surrounding areas and the village of Petrovice. After 10 km we take a break — I change clothes and we eat some tortillas. We’re in Petrovice at 10am, and to our great surprise the pub is open and already fairly full. The woman is still cleaning up from the night before. We each have a beer and continue on.
Even the men have already left, probably for 11 o’clock Mass. It really is a long, strung-out village. I try to keep my mind occupied and just run on momentum. My feet are starting to ache — the asphalt’s wrecking them. At noon we take a break by a stream. I dip my feet in the icy water and eat tortillas.
Only 3 km of asphalt left now. We continue along a cycle path and then cut through the forest as a shortcut. It’s a pretty bad shortcut — I didn’t quite nail it. We try to find the original path, then take another shortcut instead, a better one this time, which genuinely saves us some distance. In the forest we come across bear droppings, though from a while back. Some guy rides past on a kid’s motorbike, part of a group staying at a cabin blasting some pretty terrible music. We hurry away from there. Walking’s easier once we’re through the forest. The trail runs through thicket and woods, we tap our poles even though the guy on the motorbike has probably scared off every animal within a 10 km radius. We’re getting closer to Makov now.
There are some lovely cabins around here too. We pass one and an old man asks where we’re heading. We say Kmínek, and he tells us it’s still quite far — though where we’re actually finishing today is even further. His cabin is really lovely, dark brown with a green roof. He’s had it 50 years now and the locals treat him as one of their own. He’s got a sink outside, so I at least wash my sweaty face. We continue through Kršlisko, past a small chapel, on a local trail toward Makov. We take a short break to eat. Then we continue on asphalt and join the red Kysucká magistrála trail. We start climbing toward the border, to the Kmínek mountain hut. The start is fairly steep, and once it eases off we have to navigate around a lot of fallen trees.
The hut is fairly busy, partly because it’s accessible by car and there are even a few taxis around. I have a soft spot for this place, I used to work here as a camp counselor. We arrive at 4:20pm and they close at 5pm, so we just barely make it. Jozef gets bryndza halušky, I get a blueberry pastry — absolutely incredible, I’ll definitely be back for that one someday. Fueled up again, we continue another 6 km to Bobek. Along the border it’s gently rolling now, easy going.
Just before 7pm we reach a settlement below Bobek, where the map says there’s a spring, though it’s flowing pretty weakly, so we filter it just in case. We fill up every container we’ve got. It’s only about 200 m more to Bobek pass. It’s windy up there, but we manage to find a sheltered, flat spot. Some teenagers sit in the shelter nearby, and a car even drives past us down to the cabins, but nobody pays us any attention. We pitch the tent, change clothes and go straight to sleep. Neither of us is even hungry, so we just make the most of an early night after a demanding day.
