It never gets old

This blog gets older... it's been 5 years and two months since I started posting here, more or less frequently.

I get older... it was only a couple of weeks ago that I ate another birthday cake (carrot, this time).

But this travelling thing... this never gets old. Nature will always be pretty, and walking through it will always make me giggly.

It's been a loong time since I spent a whole week in the mountains. A whole week! That's seven days of making yourself incredibly tired and unbelievably dirty in your quest for new sights and adventures! And so it was.

Day 1

Total amount walking hours: 8

Target: climb Hawks' Cliff (also seen here)

  The weather was bright and really hot, which makes for some overexposed pictures (and skin.)

 

After a strenuous 15 minutes climb...

 ...there it was! The Mures valley in all its summery splendor.

 

 The river looked really refreshing and inviting from up there, so the next target spontaneously became "must bathe". But of course, the accessible side of the river was no good, and only the other side would do for splashing.

 

I don't know what slimy species of scum inhabited the rocks on the bottom, but the texture was just wonderful:

  

After the secondary target  was successfully attained, we crawled home, had some dinner and fell asleep before it was even dark outside.

Day 2

Total amount walking hours: about 4

Target: celebrate birthday in style

This time, "in style" meant have a hot meal, and limit the amount of walking to a simple shopping trip to the village. Because for some reason, food just seems to vanish into thin air when one is in the mountains!

Food was cooked, fancy lunch was had,

 

and evening was spent with hot tea, nibbles and a very bad Dan Brown novel.

 

Day 3
Total amount walking hours: 10
Target: climb Tihu peak
(Tihu has a rather Maori sound to it, doesn't it? :) )

The way there is 20km of boring forest road, with not so wild wildlife:

 

The dog above decided to follow us almost all the way. We later found out from a beekeeper that her name is Lisa and she acts as a tour guide, accompanying hikers uphill and then coming back down with forestry workers, just to do it all the next day with another group of tourists.

The last few km became steeper and more interesting.

It was an overcast day, which made the surroundings look even more impressive, dark and ominous. Added to my new-found fear of bears, that made for a rather short stay on the top; enough to snap a couple of pics to prove I've been :)

Again, the evening saw us crawling home, banishing all stinky gear to the far corner of the deck and falling asleep before it was fully dark.

Day 4
Total amount walking hours: a couple
Target: Pick and eat enough raspberries to get a stomachache and a rash.

 

Goal achieved successfully, accompanied by the same very bad Dan Brown novel.

 

Day 5
Total amount walking hours: another couple

Target: come back to the city, have a shower and attend a book club meeting. Go back the next day to continue adventures. 

In the meantime, Lisa blissfully ignored us and played with her new friend.

Day 6
Total amount climbing hours: 6
Target: climb all the routes!

  

I failed miserably on some, but at least it was good to know I had not one, but two guys keeping me safe :)

Day 7

Total walking hours: 0.5, if you count trips to the fridge.

Target: do nothing and enjoy it!

Well, it wasn't exactly nothing. The guys rigged a flying fox over the yard, and there was a big watermelon that had to be finished. So there was some work to do.

Like dance the Macarena with watermelon slices in your hands:

 

 

 

By the way, this is a non-flying variety of fox that visited the yard in the morning. She was a bit camera-shy.

And then it was back to the city and its modern sorcery, like hot water spouting from walls and electric contraptions that wash your clothes for you and stuff like that. Better go away again before I get too used to it!

So it begins

After so much rain and gloominess, we finally got to enjoy a day in the sun. Well, this one ended in rain too, but at least we made it to the top of the cliff first. This cliff being the so-called "hawks' cliff", a rock formation I spent my entire childhood under, behind or near, but I had never actually climbed.

Until this day, when I added another dizzyingly high peak (about 800m) to my portfolio:

I don't think I'll ever get tired of this view:

After conquering this difficult peak, which took a total of about an hour, we collapsed by the side of the river, fried, ate, lay in the sun and chatted for the rest of the day. Just like the good old times.

In other news today...the garden smells like honeysuckle, I have to sleep with the windows open at night, I've finished torturing my students with exams, the cherry tree across the road is teasing me with its load of deep red yumminess... Yup, I think it's summer...

Best Wedding Ever

 

 Lately, more and more of the people I know who are of "marriageable age" are very reluctant to do it. Not because my generation has any more commitment issues than the previous ones, but because the traditional way of getting married is becoming unacceptable for most. 

The extreme public exposure, the many embarrassing customs, the extreme pressure of having to do everything just right or else people will talk, the awkwardness of having to kiss over 100 people you don't know are enough to put even the most extroverted among us off a traditional, parent-imposed wedding. Oh, and the religious directives...don't even get me started on those!

Which is why our friends' wedding this weekend was a breath of fresh air. Spontaneous, sketchy, relaxed and very rock'n'roll. An example to follow.

First, there was the civil ceremony. Giggles, jokes, teary-eyed parents, all standard fare.

Then the less-than-standard fare: a live gig with a cover band consisting of 4 insanely talented young guys.

We were thrilled with their skill, they were thrilled at our response. I see a great future for these guys.

Then, in a matter of minutes, it was out of fancy clothes, into the usual gear and off to the mountains, where the party continued until the sun came up. There was gulyas...

 ... there was a camp fire,

...there was plenty of booze...and the rest is history. Which will remain unrecorded. For the sake of our reputations.

However unsteady and light-sensitive we felt the next morning, the glorious autumn sun made it impossible to stay indoors. So off we went on Mr. & Mrs. Coman's first hike as a married couple.

 

It was also little Cody's first hike ever (he did very well, except he didn't see much of the scenery, as he was asleep the whole time).

 Everybody had a whale of a time (or a sheep-dog of a time, to be in keeping with the monsters that attacked us at one point of the hike), and I'm sure that everyone made mental notes of how things will be done at their own weddings, inspired by our friends' choices. This wedding weekend was so relaxed, personalised, fun and original that it has surely become a trend-setter.

Good job, Mircea & Laura! May your life together be nothing but a succession of weekends like this one! And thanks for the pictures :)