We finally made it happen! We had planned this stage about five times before, but we always had to postpone it due to unsuitable weather on the ridge or other issues. And so, we finally ran from Telgárt all the way to Čertovica.
We park in Telgárt near the church, at the exact spot where our previous stage ended. We jog through the town and soon reach the turnoff into the woods. It rained yesterday, so the grass and trees are still wet—which, of course, means my feet get wet after just a short while. We climb first through dense forest, then pass beneath power pylons up to the mountain pastures; the weather shifts between sun and fog, warmth and cold.
On the way to Kráľova hoľa, nature put on a magnificent spectacle for us, but at the summit itself, everything was shrouded in an impenetrable fog that clung to us for quite a few kilometers more.
At Andrejcová, we took a break for a beer and a bite to eat, and refilled our bottles at the spring. I had been looking forward to the view of the High Tatras—which is magnificent from there—but we weren’t granted that sight today, so we carried on.
The sun shone for the rest of the journey, and thanks to yesterday’s rain, the springs were full.
However, from the Ramža shelter almost all the way to Čertovica, the trail was quite overgrown, so running was more or less out of the question, and we made slow progress. Personally, I enjoyed the first half of the day much more than the second, despite the strenuous climb up Kráľova hoľa.
