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An Afternoon Stroll
  • JJ Weeks
jun. – sept. 2023

An Afternoon Stroll

A walk. Leer más
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  • JJ WeeksAn Afternoon StrollViajero
    Pretty coves along Crikvenica
    What an idiotLittle boats dot the shoreKarst on seaSmall marinaSunset citySceneryBlurWell if a poorly photoshopped Modric drinks it, then obviously I must too

    Senj

    4 de septiembre de 2023, Croacia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Day 87:
    Distance: 40.80 km (2,482.93 km)
    Steps: 50,699 (3,547,897)
    Move time: 7h10 (565h13)
    Spend: £33.93 (£1,600.22)

    🇭🇷 Jadranovo to Senj. 🇭🇷

    My original plan was to hitchhike between the hostel and start/end points of the day's walking, but I quickly binned off that idea to avoid the hassle. With almost the whole way along busy roads, I instead decided to travel the equivalent distance between Jadranovo and Senj by attempting to run from the hostel back in the direction of Jadranovo for 20.3 km before turning around and walking back the way I'd came. Completely stupid I know, and technically, I'll have missed a 15km section between Klenovica and Senj, but it's only different A-roads, and logistics can often be a nightmare, so who really cares anyway. Had some fun planting those ferocious 1's and 2's and paying homage to the man himself, @hardestgeezer, but boy do I have huge respect for anyone who runs because it sure as hell isn't easy. Saw some beautiful little coves along the coastline too.Leer más

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  • JJ WeeksAn Afternoon StrollViajero
    Another day goes by
    Could barely hold onto my phoneRipples in the adriatic from the strong wind, called BoraCampsite locationFirst time getting the tent out in a while

    Ujča

    5 de septiembre de 2023, Croacia ⋅ 🌬 22 °C

    Day 88:
    Distance: 10.34 km (2,493.27 km)
    Steps: 14,987 (3,562,884)
    Move time: 2h30 (567h43)
    Spend: £25.28 (£1,625.50)

    🇭🇷 Senj to Ujča. 🇭🇷

    Write off of a day. Woke up in Klenovica to the sound of hurling winds, but thought nothing of it: that it was just a windy day, even if nothing outside was stood upright anymore. After hitchhiking onto Senj with the help of a Swiss couple in a very fancy Audi, I began to climb up towards the mountains in the Velebit range despite the gusts. As I ascended further and further, the head-on wind only became more and more wicked. You know it's bad when you can barely control the direction of your own feet, or hear the music from your headphones at maximum volume. So, I decided the most sensible action was to turn back and find an alternative, and I've headed to the beach instead. Frustrating, because I was hoping to hike the Premužić trail, but sometimes the world just has other plans for you I guess. It was hard enough just getting to Ujča.

    P.S. I also wanted to give huge props to Max for donating so generously to my fundraiser. We picked up Max as a hitchhiker near to the Bosnian border when my parents were with me, on the way to see an abandoned ex-Yugoslav airbase. So, for Max, a complete stranger to more than repay the kindness we showed him that day when he didn't have to, and to donate that much is really touching. It goes to show that there are kind and great people out there.    Leer más

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  • JJ WeeksAn Afternoon StrollViajero
    View from the mountain hut
    JablanacQuieter roads under VelebitFeel just like how Jesus is picturedWhere I'm writing fromFrom Sveti Juraj

    Jablanac

    6 de septiembre de 2023, Croacia ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Day 89:
    Distance: 12.38 km (2,505.65 km)
    Steps: 17,814 (3,580,698)
    Move time: 2h52 (570h35)
    Spend: 31.52 (£1,657.02)

    🇭🇷 Ojča to Jablanac. 🇭🇷

    The mental struggle is real. Got to be honest here, I feel like I'm very close to throwing in the hat and continuing next year or something. When I reached Rijeka, it felt like a huge relief of pressure, so to go back to having to try and barely survive every day and force myself into walking all day and every day; it's really not easy, epecially when the only option for walking is along an extremely busy and twisting A-road. Really wasn't in the right headspace to take it on today, and didn't feel safe with all the blind corners, so ended up hitchhiking onto my destination here in Jablanac. Really enjoyed the hitchhiking though; I was picked up by local off-duty police officer Josip, great guy! We spent most of the journey talking about his situationship issues as the beautiful scenery of Velebit passed by. Tomorrow, I think I'll take a ferry over to the island of Rab for some more achievable hiking to make up the distance, and at least mull things over for a while. Something cool about where I'm staying tonight, though: I'm in the lowest altitude mountain hut in the world, at the dizzying height of 26m above sea level! Really cool that this place exists, and some view too.Leer más

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  • JJ WeeksAn Afternoon StrollViajero

    Some Ramblings

    7 de septiembre de 2023, Croacia ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    A day-to-day look back of the journey so far, and where I slept at the end of each day. Immense thanks to everyone who has helped me up to this point. Imagine how many more 'Bench 🙃's there would be without you!

    I know this becomes a lot less fun to read when things aren't going well (unless you've been praying for my downfall from the get-go of course), but as you'll see, the numbers have really fallen off a cliff lately, which leaves me with a bit of a dilemma. I want to do this properly, but the route has become, well, patchy at best as of late, and for the life of me, I just can't find the guile to be doing consistent 35 km days anymore, especially with the decreasing hours of sunlight in the day. I could moan about different things for hours, but the main issue here is what I'm going to actually do. And the answer is: well, I have no idea. I think I'm suffering from some really bad burnout; mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion from the journey, so I might take some time to just *exist* for a bit in Bosnia before making any rash decisions, who knows.

    As for where I've slept; I wanted to say something about wildcamping, because I've ended up doing much less than I expected to. Okay, it was easy in England, where I know the people, I know the culture, I know the law. If you ever have wildcamped before, maybe you've had that classic experience of paranoia the first time, I know I definitely did; and, I've had it all over again in every new country when trying that first wildcamp. In France, it wasn't so bad. In Belgium, the locals started to warn me not to. In Luxembourg, apparently the law states that you can spend a week in prison for the crime of camping on private property! In Germany, I was encouraged to by locals despite its illegality but became too scared of Germans themselves (lol). In Austria, I was warned that the authorities would tear me into tiny shreds and slap a fine ten times my net worth on my forehead. In Slovenia, it didn't even cross my mind. And in Croatia, I'm told that if the police don't get me, then a bear will. So hey, that's fun!    Leer más

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  • JJ WeeksAn Afternoon StrollViajero
    Evening in Jablanac
    JudithRabFerry terminalNew whip 😏ChillingPathAloha

    Completely Unnecessary Update

    8 de septiembre de 2023, Croacia ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Days 90 & 91: (Another long one, sorry)
    I've been all over the place the past couple of days. From considering turning my adventure into a spontaneous backpacking trip, to contemplating taking a random flight to Nepal; it's hard to *walk* away from the walk, but I've been feeling the need to claw back some freedom rather than feeling this is something I have to be doing right now. Don't get me wrong, I love hiking, and this adventure has been everything and more than I hoped it to be, but the amount I sacrifice for it day-to-day means that, with the end still not in sight after one 2,500 km chunk, I need to at least feel I'm making my own decision to be here. It's true that every walk has meaning, and to me this one has many, but I think I'm at peace with the fact that those meanings have been realised for me already, even if there hasn't been the glory of the finishline. While it's a strange thing to feel disappointed in myself for feeling this way after such a long time spent on the road, failure is only a part of success, and one thing's for sure. I'll be back. Whether it's in a few days or in a year. One day, I *will* reach Istanbul by foot, either that or I'll die trying, but when I do, the feeling *will* be unimaginable.

    Last couple of days: once a hiking mission, this thing has currently mutated into a hitchhiking bonanza. Yesterday, I took the journey out to have a gander round the island of Rab, with the help of a lovely Hungarian couple to skip out the boring bits. To be honest, didn't really pay much attention to the island itself as my mind was elsewhere, but it seemed nice enough, definitely more temperate than the mainland. Perhaps more dramatic, though, was the dodgy hitchhike back; I had to hitch a ride to reach the ferry back in time, only about a 3 minute drive, but boy, did I feel uncomfortable. Guy put his hand on my knee in a very unsettling way not once but twice, and I was a very relieved man to be out of that van once at the ferry terminal. Today, I hitchhiked again; an Austrian couple in a campervan kindly helped me on my way down into Starigrad Paklenica. I had no idea where I was planning on going from there (told you I was a mess), so I've just gone, well... nowhere. I've decided to settle in a cheap campsite here, where I've had the sheer delight of meeting Judith, a Swiss girl so kind that she shared a fancy Swiss freeze-dried meal with me over an evening of chatting, and even bought me beer and a dessert. What did I do to deserve that?! The kindness of strangers always amazes me :)    Leer más

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  • JJ WeeksAn Afternoon StrollViajero
    See ya
    JudithNicoPaklenicaJablanac sunsetKonjic💀

    Konjic

    14 de septiembre de 2023, Bosnia y Herzegovina ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Day 97: 2,561 km and out.

    It's been a chaotic past week; from nearly being touched up while hitchhiking; to meeting the incredibly kind and generous Judith: a Swiss police officer, and then Nico: a Canadian masseur; to admiring bullet casings on the ground in Bosnia; to having to venture into deep dark tunnels; to meeting up with some old friends in Split; to avoiding strays; to walking yet more A-roads; to becoming ill; and all sorts of strange things in between.

    I think I'm done. I'm sorry we couldn't make Istanbul, at least not in one go. I have a list of reasons, but I won't write about them here, and I have no regrets about the decisions I've made up until now. I just wanted to say a huge thanks to everyone who has helped me along this journey in any way whatsoever. If you've followed my trip, then in many ways, you made the journey yourself too. And to anyone looking for an adventure, all I'd say is: go for it; the landscapes have been special, but the people have really been everything. And I hope to one day be back to see this to the end. I also wanted to say a massive thanks to everyone who has donated; I can't believe it! £1,455 is ridiculous, and if you'd still like to donate, then you know where to find the link. The money goes to a great cause.

    See ya around :)
    JJ    Leer más

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  • Fin del viaje
    15 de septiembre de 2023