Big Adventure

Today was a new day at the Vegetarium, and I decided to take a day off because there was an event nearby to climb Yavorets Peak, organized against gold mining in the area. One of the volunteers, who also wanted to come, and I woke up at 6 a.m. and headed to Tserovo to buy a ticket to Lakatnik station, which was two stops away. On the train, we met another friend of mine from Sofia.

When we arrived at Lakatnik station, we had to walk to the actual village of Lakatnik, which was about two hours away on foot, where we were supposed to meet the group. On the way, there were many beautiful views. We passed by a small shrine, a church, and a cemetery. When we finally gathered with the whole group, we started climbing the peak. At some point during the climb, we separated a little because I started talking to some interesting people, and it was a lot of fun.

When we finally reached the top, there was a very nice but slightly cold atmosphere, since there was snow on the ground. They had lit several fires, and there were many locals making barbecues, drinking, and having fun. Later on, Filip even showed up with Barbara.

Shortly after that, the boy from Sofia and I decided to head back toward Zhelen from Yavorets Peak. It was 1:30 p.m. when we started going down. The view was unique, and the weather was slowly getting worse. We could see the fog covering the nearby peaks. We went down quickly and continued along very beautiful paths, then through fields with cows and small, cozily placed houses.

We thought about climbing another peak that was quite steep, but we realized we wouldn’t have enough time to reach Zhelen before it got dark, so we continued on our way. Everything around us was beautiful and interesting. At one point, I found a roe deer horn and kept it. A little later, we came across some abandoned houses and went inside to explore them. They were not very well preserved, but inside there were some interesting tools, like stones used for sharpening knives.

We kept walking and reached a slightly overgrown path that was a bit harder to pass, but we managed. Right after that challenge, another one was waiting for us. There was a small river we had to cross in order to reach the road on the other side. We found some fallen trees and used them as a bridge, crossing with the risk of slipping and falling.

From there on, there was a wider and nicer road where we could walk calmly. The rain stopped and everything was great, except that I was already feeling very tired. We had been walking all day, and there was still some uphill ahead, but at least I knew we were close to Zhelen. We reached it quite quickly, but it was already around 5 p.m. and it was going to get dark soon.

The boy decided to head home, and I walked him to the road toward Gara Bov, from where it’s easy to get there. Instead of going back to the Vegetarium to rest, even though I was completely exhausted, I decided to visit some friends on the other side of Zhelen. Just as I started walking, my phone battery died, but I kept going. On the way, we ran into Filip, Barbara, and the volunteer, who were coming back from the event. We said hi and laughed about how muddy I looked.

Luckily, I had a headlamp, but when it got dark and thick fog fell, it didn’t really help much, so I continued almost in complete darkness. I was already in the center of Zhelen, and I still had about half an hour uphill to go. I was really exhausted, hungry, and very tired. A few times I stumbled and fell, the darkness and tiredness were definitely affecting me, but I kept going. I had to reach the end. A cozy, warm place with cheerful company and delicious food was waiting for me.

When I finally arrived, they had lit a huge fire in the yard to burn some branches, but I went inside the caravan to warm up. I changed my clothes, all five pairs of my socks and wool slippers were wet, and I left them to dry. Then I ate very tasty food, we laughed a lot, and had a great time. My back and legs hurt a little, but it passed. I slept like I was dead.

Mila ^^