Okaaaaay! It’s been a few short days since my last blog post and much has happened. We left Paklenica and spent two days in Zadar. I found Zadar fairly boring, my complete lack of surprise. The old town is pretty. Just like every other Croatian old town. Churches, clock towers, restaurants, souvenir shops – ok, we’re done here…. And then I had a bit of a melt down one evening because tickets to Ireland and accommodation etc were going to be too expensive and I was going to be stuck in Croatia for the next three weeks with nothing to do and nothing to see and I was totally, desperately, head bangingly bored and miserable and had really set my heart on going to Ireland.
The next day I woke up and decided that although it is going to be ridiculously expensive, I am going to Ireland. I have now brought forward my ticket from Croatia to London and booked another return flight from London to Dublin. I found myself a 6 day tour of southern Ireland, with a group called Paddywagon and have booked myself onto that too. (Thanks for the idea Bron J!) I am really excited and looking forward to it. The only thing is that I will be going alone. N is not keen to do a group tour with other people and that, coupled with all of the extra expense, has convinced him to stay in Croatia as planned. He is not quite as desperate for greener pastures as I am.
I am flying from Croatia this Sat, arriving in Dublin on Sunday. I will be spending the Sat night in London to see one of my best friends from my varsity days. I’m really looking forward to that too. It has been way too long.
In between Zadar and now (we are in Pula at the moment) N and I drove to the Bijele Stijene and Vela Draga. Bijele Stijene is a beautiful set of mountains topped with white limestone features. Vela Draga is a valley with some climbing and more limestone. Vela Draga is home to some spectacular rock pinnacles. I will try and blog some more about them as soon as I can and even post a picture or two. I don’t have time right now. I would like to spend some time with N, since I am abandoning him for Ireland in three days.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Where To from Here?
Ok, I am BORED!!!! I want to go home already.
This feeling has come upon me relatively swiftly and surprisingly. We have climbed Paklenica out. We’ve done all we can/want to do here. Perhaps if I were not gimpy, there would be more scope for us. But I have done most of the easy stuff. There are some pretty cool looking routes in the 6a+ or 6b range. But I know that right now I would fall off those routes and I am terrified of the consequences for the ankle. I am being sensible and so I will not climb any more. As for N climbing harder routes – well, Paklenica has a lot of fantastic easy routes, but not a lot of the sort of routes that he likes. So we are a bit stumped. And, as much as we have discovered the joy of walking into town for Toblerone, sitting around the campsite for another 8 days with only grocery shopping to distract us is not what we’re up for.
Realising that I was bored with Paklenica made me consider the question of “what now?” and I came to the conclusion that I would not be unhappy to go home early. I am all campinged out. The novelty of living in a tent has worn thin. I would love to sleep in a bed. I would love a kitchen of my own to cook nice food. I am over scuffling for oven space with fellow campers. I am over washing my clothes by hand in a basin or the shower. I am sooooo over it.
Thus, we have accelerated our plans. We leave here (tomorrow) a week earlier than originally planned. We have changed the car booking. We will stay in Zadar (IN REAL ROOMS!!!!!!) for two days and then drive north. On the way to Pula, we plan to stop in and see the White Rock mountains (Bijele Stijene.) From there we want to stop in Rijeke for a day of beach and a day of climbing. Then on to Pula for a day of Pula and a day trip to Rovinje. Unfortunately, that only takes us to October 03. I’m afraid I am a bit unenthusiastic about seeing it through to 15 Oct. Make no mistake, Croatia is a beautiful country. I would recommend it to anyone as a vacation destination. (Despite the evil troll that works at the Croatian embassy in SA.) But two months is too much for me. I have seen an overwhelming selection of pretty coastal cities, Roman ruins, old medieval towns, ancient city walls, gorgeous cathedrals and impressive architecture. There comes a stage (oh, I know this sounds spoiled and people are going to snort in horror at my ingratitude) at which another Roman ruin is just another Roman ruin. The next old town and cathedral is the same as the last. I don’t want to trawl across the country to see one more picturesque sight. I’d quite honestly rather go home and see my family and friends.
But - I can’t. Bloody BA wants to charge me an extortionist rate to change my flight. Apart from the R750 penalty change fee, they will charge me a thirty pound (that’s a lot of Rands) “service” fee because I have to go through their contact centre to change the reservation (despite the fact that it’s their website’s short comings that necessitate the contact centre intervention.) No one told me this when we booked the tickets. Plus, they will knock me for the difference between my old fare and the new one. Due to “availability issues’, quoth the consultant, fares are more expensive now. I would need to pay more because the space on the earlier plane is now going for a premium rate. Sadly, the fact that the seats still available on my current flight are going at the same rate as my desired flight (I checked on the website) makes no difference. They will charge me the more expensive rate and then sell my space on the original flight for the same expensive rate. I know that this is the way the air travel world works, but it kind of sucks. And it means that I will not be going home early. I am waiting for a confirmation email from BA, but I suspect the final figure will be somewhere in the region of three to five thousand Rands. Plus the R750 penalty fee. Plus the thirty pound “service” fee. Humph. I am stuck. STUCK!
We have maxed out our Schenen visa days and so we can’t go anywhere else in Europe. Places like Russia are a joke in terms of us getting last minute visas. Beurocracy, thy name is Russia. We briefly considered the idea of going somewhere in the Middle East that doesn't necessitate visas, but I will not - WILL NOT!!!! - spend my female tourist dollars in any country run by a bunch of mysogynistic bastards who have institutionalised discriminating against people like me. I wouldn’t have minded going to the UK to visit friends or cousins, but I only have a transit visa (48 hours in the country) so it is out of the question. N could go. He has a ten year multi entry visa. Lucky him! But I don’t have the luxury. I am now casting covetous eyes upon Ireland. South Africans don’t need a visa to go there for short visits. And it’s a place that I have always wanted to go to. We didn’t consider it before, because it is expensive for those of us earning in Rands, but it might just be the answer I am looking for. I would love to see Ireland.
So now we have a couple of decisions to make. Is it worth the extra money on air tickets? Are there cheap accommodation options? Where to go, what to see…
I am starting to get quite excited about it. Hold thumbs that we get to go, and let me know if any of you have any bright ideas!
This feeling has come upon me relatively swiftly and surprisingly. We have climbed Paklenica out. We’ve done all we can/want to do here. Perhaps if I were not gimpy, there would be more scope for us. But I have done most of the easy stuff. There are some pretty cool looking routes in the 6a+ or 6b range. But I know that right now I would fall off those routes and I am terrified of the consequences for the ankle. I am being sensible and so I will not climb any more. As for N climbing harder routes – well, Paklenica has a lot of fantastic easy routes, but not a lot of the sort of routes that he likes. So we are a bit stumped. And, as much as we have discovered the joy of walking into town for Toblerone, sitting around the campsite for another 8 days with only grocery shopping to distract us is not what we’re up for.
Realising that I was bored with Paklenica made me consider the question of “what now?” and I came to the conclusion that I would not be unhappy to go home early. I am all campinged out. The novelty of living in a tent has worn thin. I would love to sleep in a bed. I would love a kitchen of my own to cook nice food. I am over scuffling for oven space with fellow campers. I am over washing my clothes by hand in a basin or the shower. I am sooooo over it.
Thus, we have accelerated our plans. We leave here (tomorrow) a week earlier than originally planned. We have changed the car booking. We will stay in Zadar (IN REAL ROOMS!!!!!!) for two days and then drive north. On the way to Pula, we plan to stop in and see the White Rock mountains (Bijele Stijene.) From there we want to stop in Rijeke for a day of beach and a day of climbing. Then on to Pula for a day of Pula and a day trip to Rovinje. Unfortunately, that only takes us to October 03. I’m afraid I am a bit unenthusiastic about seeing it through to 15 Oct. Make no mistake, Croatia is a beautiful country. I would recommend it to anyone as a vacation destination. (Despite the evil troll that works at the Croatian embassy in SA.) But two months is too much for me. I have seen an overwhelming selection of pretty coastal cities, Roman ruins, old medieval towns, ancient city walls, gorgeous cathedrals and impressive architecture. There comes a stage (oh, I know this sounds spoiled and people are going to snort in horror at my ingratitude) at which another Roman ruin is just another Roman ruin. The next old town and cathedral is the same as the last. I don’t want to trawl across the country to see one more picturesque sight. I’d quite honestly rather go home and see my family and friends.
But - I can’t. Bloody BA wants to charge me an extortionist rate to change my flight. Apart from the R750 penalty change fee, they will charge me a thirty pound (that’s a lot of Rands) “service” fee because I have to go through their contact centre to change the reservation (despite the fact that it’s their website’s short comings that necessitate the contact centre intervention.) No one told me this when we booked the tickets. Plus, they will knock me for the difference between my old fare and the new one. Due to “availability issues’, quoth the consultant, fares are more expensive now. I would need to pay more because the space on the earlier plane is now going for a premium rate. Sadly, the fact that the seats still available on my current flight are going at the same rate as my desired flight (I checked on the website) makes no difference. They will charge me the more expensive rate and then sell my space on the original flight for the same expensive rate. I know that this is the way the air travel world works, but it kind of sucks. And it means that I will not be going home early. I am waiting for a confirmation email from BA, but I suspect the final figure will be somewhere in the region of three to five thousand Rands. Plus the R750 penalty fee. Plus the thirty pound “service” fee. Humph. I am stuck. STUCK!
We have maxed out our Schenen visa days and so we can’t go anywhere else in Europe. Places like Russia are a joke in terms of us getting last minute visas. Beurocracy, thy name is Russia. We briefly considered the idea of going somewhere in the Middle East that doesn't necessitate visas, but I will not - WILL NOT!!!! - spend my female tourist dollars in any country run by a bunch of mysogynistic bastards who have institutionalised discriminating against people like me. I wouldn’t have minded going to the UK to visit friends or cousins, but I only have a transit visa (48 hours in the country) so it is out of the question. N could go. He has a ten year multi entry visa. Lucky him! But I don’t have the luxury. I am now casting covetous eyes upon Ireland. South Africans don’t need a visa to go there for short visits. And it’s a place that I have always wanted to go to. We didn’t consider it before, because it is expensive for those of us earning in Rands, but it might just be the answer I am looking for. I would love to see Ireland.
So now we have a couple of decisions to make. Is it worth the extra money on air tickets? Are there cheap accommodation options? Where to go, what to see…
I am starting to get quite excited about it. Hold thumbs that we get to go, and let me know if any of you have any bright ideas!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Croatia - Paklenica Begins
I have that warm fuzzy feeling. The morning’s climbing was good. The ankle is improving nicely. It’s evening now, and there is a light drizzle. I’m looking out at the fine mist from the warmth of the kitchen area, which smells delightful from everyone’s cooking. N and I are sharing a big bowl of tasty soup and munching on hunks of whole-wheat bread, spread with thick slices of butter. I’m supping red wine gently from a real glass. (It’s a treat to drink from a real glass, ok?!) I’m dunking the bread in the soup and the combination is tasty and delicious. (Yes, I know tasty and delicious are the same thing but it’s really tasty and I think I say “really” too much.) There’s something about the combination of good food and good wine on top of a day of good exercise that is... well – good.
We like Paklenica. On the first full day here we slept a bit late and then wandered up to the national park. It’s a kilometre’s walk from our campsite to the gates of the national park. We were mildly disconcerted to discover that from the gates it is a further 2 kms to the start of the climbing. None the less, the walk is pretty much on the flat and personally I think we need the exercise. N has a disgustingly sweet tooth and I find it very hard to watch him eat chocolate without joining in. In fact, I insist on half. This is why a 6 km walk every second day or so will do the both of us a world of good. The first day was a bit of a wash out. Literally. N nipped up one climb. I tied in and set my paw upon the rock and the heavens opened. N darted up the climb for the second time in order to clean it and then we retired to the souvenir shop to watch the rain bucket down. Not quite what we had in mind when we walked our 3 km. When the rain stopped the rock was wet. We started to walk home but I decided that it would be very silly to waste the day. We returned to the crag and climbed 3 dead easy routes. While I was on the third one the rain came down again. This time it was too much and we gave up. We fled from cave to cave between showers of rain and eventually made it back to camp damp and unimpressed. The next day it rained in the morning and the afternoon and so we walked to town for groceries instead of wasting an entrance fee to the park. Now at least we have more lunch options. Food is so important to me. It’s so much more than just a means of staying alive. (Although staying alive is not to be overrated.)
Today we made it to the park nice and early. Well, sort of early. Relatively early. Ok, early for us. Before lunch. We climbed 6 routes, all of them pretty easy. I am still top roping out of fear of falling on the gimpy ankle. The gimpy ankle is coming along nicely. I can now put weight on it from all sorts of funny angles. Which is great. But make no mistake, it is still a gimpy ankle. It is nowhere near as flexible as it should be and nowhere near as strong. Even top roping easy climbs is a bit of an adventure, as I have to pull off the most bizarre moves to compensate for not being able to use my right foot properly. I think that the people at the foot of the climb must look up at me and wonder what the hell I am doing, as I grunt and contort and heave myself all over the place, totally ignoring the obvious right foothold. By the end of my 6 routes, my fingertips were rubbed raw. Interesting fact – if you climb enough you can lose your fingerprints, albeit temporarily. So, as climbers, we do not have to use gloves should we choose to steal your silver. How’s that for funky? (Not that I have put my theory to the test, but I am sure it would work.) My desperately sensitive fingers called for a lunch break. I listened. We ate. I had some of the best tomato sandwiches I have had in a very long while. N claimed (while curling his lip in disgust) that it was out of sheer desperation for real food. I disagreed. They were just good. You should try eating tomato sandwiches on a rock next to a stream after a morning of satisfying climbing, to see what I mean.
After lunch it began to drizzle again. N and I trotted home. By this let me not mislead you. We did not jog. We walked. I blame it on the gimpy ankle. I am sure that I would jog 3 km with a backpack of climbing gear if my ankle were only sound enough….
We took a quick walk in to town to buy chocolate and bread and then we made supper. The supper that lead to the warm, fuzzy feeling. The warm fuzzy feeling has outlasted supper. We are now finishing off the chocolate (dammit – best we walk another 6 km tomorrow) and I am finishing my wine. I think that it is just about time to head off to the tent for a well deserved snooze. I am sure that my fingertips will magically regenerate overnight and tomorrow morning we will be back at the park, flinging ourselves at more climbs. Paklenica has got some of the nicest easy limestone climbs that I have been on. The rock isn’t that awful cheese grater stuff. I’m really enjoying it. Hopefully we will soon recover some of the climbing fitness that was just beginning to manifest itself when I went and threw myself down a mountain in Italy.
Anyway, it’s nice to be feeling perky and happy again. Long may the warm, fuzzy feeling last!
We like Paklenica. On the first full day here we slept a bit late and then wandered up to the national park. It’s a kilometre’s walk from our campsite to the gates of the national park. We were mildly disconcerted to discover that from the gates it is a further 2 kms to the start of the climbing. None the less, the walk is pretty much on the flat and personally I think we need the exercise. N has a disgustingly sweet tooth and I find it very hard to watch him eat chocolate without joining in. In fact, I insist on half. This is why a 6 km walk every second day or so will do the both of us a world of good. The first day was a bit of a wash out. Literally. N nipped up one climb. I tied in and set my paw upon the rock and the heavens opened. N darted up the climb for the second time in order to clean it and then we retired to the souvenir shop to watch the rain bucket down. Not quite what we had in mind when we walked our 3 km. When the rain stopped the rock was wet. We started to walk home but I decided that it would be very silly to waste the day. We returned to the crag and climbed 3 dead easy routes. While I was on the third one the rain came down again. This time it was too much and we gave up. We fled from cave to cave between showers of rain and eventually made it back to camp damp and unimpressed. The next day it rained in the morning and the afternoon and so we walked to town for groceries instead of wasting an entrance fee to the park. Now at least we have more lunch options. Food is so important to me. It’s so much more than just a means of staying alive. (Although staying alive is not to be overrated.)
Today we made it to the park nice and early. Well, sort of early. Relatively early. Ok, early for us. Before lunch. We climbed 6 routes, all of them pretty easy. I am still top roping out of fear of falling on the gimpy ankle. The gimpy ankle is coming along nicely. I can now put weight on it from all sorts of funny angles. Which is great. But make no mistake, it is still a gimpy ankle. It is nowhere near as flexible as it should be and nowhere near as strong. Even top roping easy climbs is a bit of an adventure, as I have to pull off the most bizarre moves to compensate for not being able to use my right foot properly. I think that the people at the foot of the climb must look up at me and wonder what the hell I am doing, as I grunt and contort and heave myself all over the place, totally ignoring the obvious right foothold. By the end of my 6 routes, my fingertips were rubbed raw. Interesting fact – if you climb enough you can lose your fingerprints, albeit temporarily. So, as climbers, we do not have to use gloves should we choose to steal your silver. How’s that for funky? (Not that I have put my theory to the test, but I am sure it would work.) My desperately sensitive fingers called for a lunch break. I listened. We ate. I had some of the best tomato sandwiches I have had in a very long while. N claimed (while curling his lip in disgust) that it was out of sheer desperation for real food. I disagreed. They were just good. You should try eating tomato sandwiches on a rock next to a stream after a morning of satisfying climbing, to see what I mean.
After lunch it began to drizzle again. N and I trotted home. By this let me not mislead you. We did not jog. We walked. I blame it on the gimpy ankle. I am sure that I would jog 3 km with a backpack of climbing gear if my ankle were only sound enough….
We took a quick walk in to town to buy chocolate and bread and then we made supper. The supper that lead to the warm, fuzzy feeling. The warm fuzzy feeling has outlasted supper. We are now finishing off the chocolate (dammit – best we walk another 6 km tomorrow) and I am finishing my wine. I think that it is just about time to head off to the tent for a well deserved snooze. I am sure that my fingertips will magically regenerate overnight and tomorrow morning we will be back at the park, flinging ourselves at more climbs. Paklenica has got some of the nicest easy limestone climbs that I have been on. The rock isn’t that awful cheese grater stuff. I’m really enjoying it. Hopefully we will soon recover some of the climbing fitness that was just beginning to manifest itself when I went and threw myself down a mountain in Italy.
Anyway, it’s nice to be feeling perky and happy again. Long may the warm, fuzzy feeling last!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Croatia - Krka
After ten days in Omis we decided that it was well and truly time to move on. This was confirmed when I pulled my backpack out from under the tent flap and discovered a light coating of spider webs. When your pack is full of cobwebs you are being a lazy traveler. I dusted them off and packed. Hey ho and off we go! I heaved the heavy pack onto my back and tried to clip the waist band buckle. The receiving end of the buckle was full of a horribly dense spider web, complete with horrible green spider. The pack and spider went one way and I went the other, with a bit of a yelp. It took quite a lot of poking with a twig to dislodge the would be stowaway but eventually I set off sans spider.
I have decided that this lounging around thing is all very well, but I likely won’t be in Croatia again soon and I had better make the most of my time here. Thus, I decreed that we would be visiting a national park. I selected National Park Krka as the lucky recipient of our presence. Having been blesed with hind sight, I would have made a day trip of it. However, not being blessed with foresight, we set off to the Krka region to camp for three days and visit the park. We made our way via bus to Camp Marina, which is a couple of kilometres from the national park. We descended from the bus to find ourselves in trailer park country. We hadn’t realized that no one sane actually camps there for more than one day. This is because there is nothing there. Camp Marina (like Camp Krka next to it) is a one star campsite in a one horse town. Actually, the campsites are the town. There is no shop at the campsite. The nearest shop is three kilometres away. The woman from the campsite told us two, but she was wrong. It was three. This turned our doable four km walk into a six km slog. We walked six km to get groceries. When we got to the shop the selection was poor. The restaurant at the campsite was closed at lunch time and managed to confuse our supper orders. Busses are infrequent. The campsite is clearly geared towards mobile home campers, who bring everything that they need with them. The nicest thing about the campsite was the showers. The water was hot and the pressure was good. We spent a relatively uncomfortable first day at Camp Marina doing admin on our computers.
Trailer park purgatory at Camp Marina:
The next day we went to the park. We walked there, of course. Just a couple of kilometres. On the way, we discovered what I believe to be block houses from the war. I can't believe that this country was viciously at war for its independence from Yugoslavia, less than twenty years ago.
N climbing anything he can out of frustration at not having cliffs:
The Krka national park is worth a visit, for the novelty of it. It is situated around the Krka river, which flows through a karst landscape. Layman’s description: the water is heavily laden with minerals. The minerals leach out of the water and into the plant life (algae in this case.) Apparently this happens in many karst rivers, but in Krka the petrified plants (called travertine) have formed themselves into a set of seven beautiful waterfalls.
Travertine falls without the water:
Wooden paths have been constructed and tourists get to walk an eight hundred metre course about the park and look at the lakes and the falls. I shall let their beauty speak for itself:
The best part was swimming in one of the lakes below the lowest falls. I am the rightmost small blob in the water:
There are other areas in the park apart from the travertine falls, but we didn’t feel like coughing up even more money for a boat ride to get there. Having walked, gawped and swum, we left. Well, we walked back to Camp Marina. I reckon we clocked up more walking distance in the two days at Krka than we did in the ten preceding days at Omis.
We couldn’t handle another day in trailer park purgatory, so we cut our stay short. This morning we left Camp Marina and made our way to national park Paklenica. We are staying in Camp Marko, which is one km from the entrance to the park. The vibe here is much nicer than Camp Marina. There is a kitchen, so we will be able to cook again. Well, I will be able to cook. N will be able to pretend that he is incapable of cooking and suggest that I cook…
The reason we have come to Paklenica is the climbing. Paklenica is reputed to have some of the best climbing in Europe. N is refusing to believe that Croatia will be able to compete with Spain and France in terms of quality of climbing. Hopefully Croatia will prove him wrong! Will keep you posted….
I have decided that this lounging around thing is all very well, but I likely won’t be in Croatia again soon and I had better make the most of my time here. Thus, I decreed that we would be visiting a national park. I selected National Park Krka as the lucky recipient of our presence. Having been blesed with hind sight, I would have made a day trip of it. However, not being blessed with foresight, we set off to the Krka region to camp for three days and visit the park. We made our way via bus to Camp Marina, which is a couple of kilometres from the national park. We descended from the bus to find ourselves in trailer park country. We hadn’t realized that no one sane actually camps there for more than one day. This is because there is nothing there. Camp Marina (like Camp Krka next to it) is a one star campsite in a one horse town. Actually, the campsites are the town. There is no shop at the campsite. The nearest shop is three kilometres away. The woman from the campsite told us two, but she was wrong. It was three. This turned our doable four km walk into a six km slog. We walked six km to get groceries. When we got to the shop the selection was poor. The restaurant at the campsite was closed at lunch time and managed to confuse our supper orders. Busses are infrequent. The campsite is clearly geared towards mobile home campers, who bring everything that they need with them. The nicest thing about the campsite was the showers. The water was hot and the pressure was good. We spent a relatively uncomfortable first day at Camp Marina doing admin on our computers.
Trailer park purgatory at Camp Marina:
The next day we went to the park. We walked there, of course. Just a couple of kilometres. On the way, we discovered what I believe to be block houses from the war. I can't believe that this country was viciously at war for its independence from Yugoslavia, less than twenty years ago.
N climbing anything he can out of frustration at not having cliffs:
The Krka national park is worth a visit, for the novelty of it. It is situated around the Krka river, which flows through a karst landscape. Layman’s description: the water is heavily laden with minerals. The minerals leach out of the water and into the plant life (algae in this case.) Apparently this happens in many karst rivers, but in Krka the petrified plants (called travertine) have formed themselves into a set of seven beautiful waterfalls.
Travertine falls without the water:
Wooden paths have been constructed and tourists get to walk an eight hundred metre course about the park and look at the lakes and the falls. I shall let their beauty speak for itself:
The best part was swimming in one of the lakes below the lowest falls. I am the rightmost small blob in the water:
There are other areas in the park apart from the travertine falls, but we didn’t feel like coughing up even more money for a boat ride to get there. Having walked, gawped and swum, we left. Well, we walked back to Camp Marina. I reckon we clocked up more walking distance in the two days at Krka than we did in the ten preceding days at Omis.
We couldn’t handle another day in trailer park purgatory, so we cut our stay short. This morning we left Camp Marina and made our way to national park Paklenica. We are staying in Camp Marko, which is one km from the entrance to the park. The vibe here is much nicer than Camp Marina. There is a kitchen, so we will be able to cook again. Well, I will be able to cook. N will be able to pretend that he is incapable of cooking and suggest that I cook…
The reason we have come to Paklenica is the climbing. Paklenica is reputed to have some of the best climbing in Europe. N is refusing to believe that Croatia will be able to compete with Spain and France in terms of quality of climbing. Hopefully Croatia will prove him wrong! Will keep you posted….
Monday, September 7, 2009
Croatia - A Nothing Much Week
Omis. Apparently it used to be a pirate town. It’s nowhere near as exciting as that these days, but it’s still a nice enough spot to spend a few days of your holiday. The only place I have seen pirates is the numerous curio shops, all trying to sell t-shirts sporting a very Calvinesque pirate boy and an exhortation to come over to the dark side. Or something like that. Maybe it’s something about the Dark Rider. I’ve been tempted by the t-shirts. I dare say that if I had more than a 15kg baggage limit on Ryanair for my next flight, and didn’t have to lug all my stuff around on my back, I might have fallen prey to the tourist bug and bought a pirate shirt.
Omis has a small fort. I visited it for the view across the town:
The fort of Omis, just about invisible against the mountain:
Side view of the fort:
The fort is small but impressively situated.
It was built on a knife edge ridge, which makes it extremely difficult to attack.
We’ve been here for a week. The camping is cheap so it’s a nice break for our wallets. I have discovered that tinned lentils are actually quite tasty and they’re also nice and cheap. My other cheap lunch is tomato sandwiches. Bead, butter, slices of tomato and a sprinkling of salt. (Thanks for that idea, Grampa!) And I have discovered a reasonable take away joint where the cevapi (cevapcici on a bun, with salads and sauces – kind of like a Croatian schwarma only tastier) is only 15 Kuna. That’s about R21. Not too shabby for supper. N has discovered the pizza place next door to the cevapi place. It sells big pieces of tasty pizza for 10 Kuna (approx R15.) He is now constantly torn between cevapi and pizza. So Omis has been relatively good for our finances.
We haven’t bothered with the beach here. We were drawn by the climbing. There are a couple of crags very close to town (5 minutes walk, on the flat, from our campsite) with easy climbs.
View of the main crag from the town:
We were hampered in our climbing plans by my wicked cold. I spent a few rather miserable and snuffly days feeling weak and unwilling to do much. After that we ventured to the crags once or twice.
The main crag:
This is the first time I’ve climbed since The Ankle Incident. I can’t use it at any funny angles. I can’t stretch it. I can’t smear. I’m working a lot harder to get up much easier climbs than I used to. And I absolutely cannot afford to fall on it. So it’s top roping only for me. It is, none the less, truly nerve wracking.
Me teetering nervously about on a fairly easy climb:
N has to climb a bunch of tediously easy stuff to set up the top rope for me and then it takes me an age to squeak and yelp my way up. I really shouldn’t be climbing at all on this ankle. Because if I do fall on it again, I am going to make it a hundred times worse and that will be it for climbing for a few months. Eek. But that said, I think its doing me good to climb. It’s working the ankle in ways that it otherwise would not be worked – at all sorts of funny angles, and I can feel it strengthening up a bit. So that, at least, is positive!
Contemplating life at the end of a top rope:
The other thing that has put a bit of a spanner in our works is the wind. Over the last 4 days the wind has come up in a big way. We’re hoping this is just a localized thing and it will let up once we leave Omis. No wonder tourist season ends at the end of August! The tent has taken a serious weathering. The three guys next to us did not fare as well. Their tents couldn’t cope and kept capsizing. They had to move to a more sheltered area of the campsite.
Yesterday we went climbing despite the wind. We got to the main wall and found a bunch of other people. We weren’t feeling very sociable, so we carried on to the crag around the corner. We were slightly more in the wind there but preferred the wind to the crowds.
The view from the less crowded crag:
We climbed a couple of routes which turned out to be harder than we (I) really wanted. I was climbing the third route of the day in the howling wind (hair slapping me in the face, chalkbag being sucked dry, trying not to get blown off my holds) when there was a loud crash and thud. N bolted towards the cliff and I squooshed myself as close to the rock as possible. The wind had blown a rock off the cliff, which crashed through the tree next to us, thudded onto the ground and rolled into the road. That was it for the day. It was just way too close. I finished the route, eyeing the sky above me suspiciously, and we packed up and left.
It has been a bit of an unexciting week, hence the lack of blogging. The camp site is fine. The town is fine. The climbing is ok but hardly mind-blowing. We’ve just kind of muddled about not doing much at all. I think it would have been different if I didn’t have a gimpy foot and a wicked cold. N has done a lot of work. I’ve finally done my tax. A million curses on poxy SARS. May the fleas of a thousand camels, blah blah. I SO resent giving them my money. I’ve put a few photos on Face Book. The highlight of the week has definitely been my wifi discovery. I discovered a spot where the wifi is free. N and I have been heading off there religiously for the last couple of days to upload photos and download some large files. We will be heading off there very soon in order to post this and retrieve our email.
"Borrowing" the internet:
We leave Omis in a day or so. The plan is to climb tomorrow morning. Hopefully the wind will be somewhat less vicious and we won’t have rocks blown onto our heads. We don’t know exactly where we’re going when we leave here. Perhaps to the Zadar region and then we’ll look for camping near the Paklenica national park, where is rumoured to be some of the finest climbing in Europe. Such fine climbing will be a bit wasted on gimpy here, but I’m sure there will be some easier stuff that I can use to strengthen up the foot a bit more.
Perhaps I have been slightly unenthusiatic about Omis. Let me not totally mislead you. There are some pretty places here. The port was lovely at sunset:
Omis has a small fort. I visited it for the view across the town:
The fort of Omis, just about invisible against the mountain:
Side view of the fort:
The fort is small but impressively situated.
It was built on a knife edge ridge, which makes it extremely difficult to attack.
We’ve been here for a week. The camping is cheap so it’s a nice break for our wallets. I have discovered that tinned lentils are actually quite tasty and they’re also nice and cheap. My other cheap lunch is tomato sandwiches. Bead, butter, slices of tomato and a sprinkling of salt. (Thanks for that idea, Grampa!) And I have discovered a reasonable take away joint where the cevapi (cevapcici on a bun, with salads and sauces – kind of like a Croatian schwarma only tastier) is only 15 Kuna. That’s about R21. Not too shabby for supper. N has discovered the pizza place next door to the cevapi place. It sells big pieces of tasty pizza for 10 Kuna (approx R15.) He is now constantly torn between cevapi and pizza. So Omis has been relatively good for our finances.
We haven’t bothered with the beach here. We were drawn by the climbing. There are a couple of crags very close to town (5 minutes walk, on the flat, from our campsite) with easy climbs.
View of the main crag from the town:
We were hampered in our climbing plans by my wicked cold. I spent a few rather miserable and snuffly days feeling weak and unwilling to do much. After that we ventured to the crags once or twice.
The main crag:
This is the first time I’ve climbed since The Ankle Incident. I can’t use it at any funny angles. I can’t stretch it. I can’t smear. I’m working a lot harder to get up much easier climbs than I used to. And I absolutely cannot afford to fall on it. So it’s top roping only for me. It is, none the less, truly nerve wracking.
Me teetering nervously about on a fairly easy climb:
N has to climb a bunch of tediously easy stuff to set up the top rope for me and then it takes me an age to squeak and yelp my way up. I really shouldn’t be climbing at all on this ankle. Because if I do fall on it again, I am going to make it a hundred times worse and that will be it for climbing for a few months. Eek. But that said, I think its doing me good to climb. It’s working the ankle in ways that it otherwise would not be worked – at all sorts of funny angles, and I can feel it strengthening up a bit. So that, at least, is positive!
Contemplating life at the end of a top rope:
The other thing that has put a bit of a spanner in our works is the wind. Over the last 4 days the wind has come up in a big way. We’re hoping this is just a localized thing and it will let up once we leave Omis. No wonder tourist season ends at the end of August! The tent has taken a serious weathering. The three guys next to us did not fare as well. Their tents couldn’t cope and kept capsizing. They had to move to a more sheltered area of the campsite.
Yesterday we went climbing despite the wind. We got to the main wall and found a bunch of other people. We weren’t feeling very sociable, so we carried on to the crag around the corner. We were slightly more in the wind there but preferred the wind to the crowds.
The view from the less crowded crag:
We climbed a couple of routes which turned out to be harder than we (I) really wanted. I was climbing the third route of the day in the howling wind (hair slapping me in the face, chalkbag being sucked dry, trying not to get blown off my holds) when there was a loud crash and thud. N bolted towards the cliff and I squooshed myself as close to the rock as possible. The wind had blown a rock off the cliff, which crashed through the tree next to us, thudded onto the ground and rolled into the road. That was it for the day. It was just way too close. I finished the route, eyeing the sky above me suspiciously, and we packed up and left.
It has been a bit of an unexciting week, hence the lack of blogging. The camp site is fine. The town is fine. The climbing is ok but hardly mind-blowing. We’ve just kind of muddled about not doing much at all. I think it would have been different if I didn’t have a gimpy foot and a wicked cold. N has done a lot of work. I’ve finally done my tax. A million curses on poxy SARS. May the fleas of a thousand camels, blah blah. I SO resent giving them my money. I’ve put a few photos on Face Book. The highlight of the week has definitely been my wifi discovery. I discovered a spot where the wifi is free. N and I have been heading off there religiously for the last couple of days to upload photos and download some large files. We will be heading off there very soon in order to post this and retrieve our email.
"Borrowing" the internet:
We leave Omis in a day or so. The plan is to climb tomorrow morning. Hopefully the wind will be somewhat less vicious and we won’t have rocks blown onto our heads. We don’t know exactly where we’re going when we leave here. Perhaps to the Zadar region and then we’ll look for camping near the Paklenica national park, where is rumoured to be some of the finest climbing in Europe. Such fine climbing will be a bit wasted on gimpy here, but I’m sure there will be some easier stuff that I can use to strengthen up the foot a bit more.
Perhaps I have been slightly unenthusiatic about Omis. Let me not totally mislead you. There are some pretty places here. The port was lovely at sunset:
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