Craig opened the blinds to blue skies and an amazing view of the Tatras mountain range. Its not that the range is impressively high but its more the way in which the mountain sweeps from the flat plains. Its so compact and contained, its instant and dramatic. In Front, two peaks stand out and the one to the left has what appears to be a white building on top.

High Tatras

By 9am the queues for the ski lift or cable car up the mountain had started to build. There are 3 sets of cable cars and you can opt for any combination which range from €10 to €30 for a return journey. Very fair and reasonable price compared to other European ski lifts. For us, it was such a nice day and its been ages since the dogs had a real long walk, so we opted to trek.

Cable Cars

We made up our picnic and set off with a spring in our step. Like hunting dogs, Mac n Tosh were pulling away, yapping and dying to run.  We started our assent on the Tatras range, it was fun but within half an hour, I longed for a donkey. My legs ached and I was pumping in sweat. I huffed, puffed and hiked on up. It wasn’t a tough climb, its just the fact I am terribly unfit and turn to a useless blubber in any form of heat.

The road snaked up the mountain with the odd dirt path shooting off in to the overgrown vegetation. With crickets, ants, wasps and all other manner of creepy crawlies hanging around we kept to the main path.   After a mile or so the option to take a short cut, so we did and joined a steep, loose gravel path to the base of second cable car station. Craig chatted, Tosh tootled, Mac panted and I begged for a donkey.

Tatras valley below

At second base, we noticed some benches, so we stopped to empty the grit and stones from our boots. At the side, a Polish chap having lunch. He saw the dogs and came over. Despite our best efforts to explain we didn’t speak any Polish he continued to chatter. He had a brilliant conversation with us, as we smiled wondering what the hell he was saying. He didn’t care, he munched on his butties whilst chatting showing us the full contents of his gob. Having no regard for churning his food amongst his loosing fitting dentures. After 20 minutes he’d finished what he wanted to say and sat back down. And that was that.

Doggy Bag

The trouble with mountains they don’t have much horizontal ground, so you struggle to find a patch to sit without sliding down the hill. After several hours we found a flat patch and parked our bums. Out came the picnic blanket and food. Mac n Tosh enjoyed a few doggy biscuits drizzled in chappie chicken and gravy. All served in a portable freezer bag. The humans tucked in to ham butties followed by a raspberry donut and banana, swilled down with ice cool water.

T Break

Picnic over and still no signs of a donkey, we started our descent. Our leisurely stroll back along the track with breathtaking valleys, tiny mountain streams and reaching plateaus was really nice. We looked out and wondered how this little country survived…trapped between Poland, Hungary, Austria, Czech and Ukraine, it sure had a lot to contend with.

Our Bumble Verdict: Blinking brilliant

In the village, we had a wonder through including a look at the small domed church and kiddies monkey park. Then back through the car park packed with Slovakian, Czech and Polish number plates.

In the afternoon, I joined the dogs for a power nap. I hadn’t intended on drifting to sleep but the warm sun after a long walk just hit the spot. That combined with a need to top up my B12! Umm need to find a hospital pretty soon otherwise I will become ‘the’ nodding dog. To shake off the dopey feel, I took a wee walk and when I returned, Craig had started dinner. Wow, all set out lovely with napkins and bottle of wine. How sweet and romantic. I had steak whilst Craig had an unidentified object from our Lidl shop. We thought it might be a cordon bleu but no cheese or ham ruled out that theory. The overall lack of natural produce made it difficult to identify and all we can say, it was round, white with a bit of gloop in the middle and coated in breadcrumbs.

Dessert was far from lacking, it was delicious. Craig cut some chocolate wafers in to thin strips then careful spread some mascarpone before placing some fresh strawberries. It was so tasty and yum, which set the tone for a great evening.

Our sleepy spot: same as last night.

Wild Camping GPS position Tatranska Lamnica N049.167700, E020.270363

Route: Tatranska Lamnica, Slovakia