Stranger Danger in Slovakia ⚠️ Solo Bike Touring UNESCO Vlkolínec → Vrátna Valley

Day 251. 61km (92,364kms 8yrs)

In the morning a little light rain fell on the shelter but not on me. Instead I packed away a dry tent as the sun tried to peep out.
A kilometre further up the path I arrived into Vlkolínec, a 14th century hamlet of 45 traditional log buildings, including an 18th-century timber bell tower. The village is impossibly pretty and still has about 30 residents who suffer the tourists in a similar way to a Cotswolds village I suppose. Exiting the village along the road this time I passed a ticket office; again, but quite by chance I’d skipped an entrance fee by arriving through a back route.

Though cloudy, today’s ride was a colourful one beneath the now mostly orangey brown leaves, interspersed with evergreens. Pausing at the top of a particularly steep climb a man – who i’d seen a few kilometres before acting shifty – tried to engage me in a conversation about vodka. I turned the GoPro on as a warning to him but he still reached over to uncomfortably touch my arm before leaving. It’s times like these I really miss Algeria and Libya.

Only a few kilometres away from where I planned to camp I now had to be wary of being potentially followed. At Terchová I did an extra loop to scan the road for black BMWs, before turning into the very lovely Vrátna valley. After trekking up a path that ended in an open field I backtracked a bit and found a small piece of flat forest. Camping at its limit beside a stream I could see the car headlights on the nearby road so turned my headlight on and off throughout dinner to avoid being spotted.

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Good morning. After the tiniest little bit of rain, the sun’s coming out. How nice. Um, there’s a UNESCO listed village right behind me of some wooden houses, which I’ll go and check out shortly. And then I’m going to go hopefully 50 or 60 kilometers west. The sun’s really coming out. Yeah. um to camp somewhere hopefully in the Vatner Valley. Definitely worth the hike in the dark. There’s I hope that’s not what I heard in the tent last night. And no bikes and no camping. The best thing about this village is it’s not a museum. It’s still very much lived in. There’s some new builds at the top of the village, but still in the traditional style. I guess I suppose we’ve got a chronology of the occupants of this cottage down to the current cafe owners. had a bit of a new roof. What’s the name of the village? Local. Smells so nice in here of old cottage. Oh, I think you’re supposed to have a ticket to visit the village. Lucky I came in from the other side. These are very sweet ways of making these metal rods in the ground a bit safer and more aesthetic. [Music] Oh, I’m going I miss these colors. Enjoy them while I can. That one was brutal. Okay, nearly there. Made it. The sign said 11%. But that was definitely not 11%. That was way more. I’m from England. English? Yeah. English. Yeah. Okay. Well, nice to meet you anyway. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Bye. Don’t touch me. Thanks. Bye. This same car stopped before and tried to talk to me. And now, like 10 km later, lo and behold, here he is again. That’s not cool. Perhaps I seem rude here, but when I saw him the previous time, he was acting shifty enough that I made a note of his registration plate. And this time when I heard him say vodka is when I switched the GoPro on, cuz that’s often how these things start. On the lookout for black BMWs now, had a quick scan when I made the turning, didn’t see anything. Hopefully, uh, because he saw me filming him, hopefully that wasn’t enough of a deterrent. Uh, but that’s not ideal having somebody potentially following you when you’re about to camp. How comfy does that squishy moss look? That’s the spot. It’s cozy once more. I’ve barely been out of the tent for like nine hours. Um, I’m pretty happy with the campsite. The road is quite close, so every time I hear a car, I have to turn the light off because I don’t want to be spotted. Otherwise, pretty happy. Uh, another lovely day in Slovakia. Cheers.