More New Friends

After our rafting trip we were very hungry, so we found ourselves a pleasant Slovakian restaurant to try a traditional meal of bread dumplings and goulash. It was hearty fare and it went down very well. It certainly stopped us being grizzly bears. After our refuelling it was time to make some new friends. First had to be a local bear. He was giving one of the locals such a big bear hug that we had to sit patiently and wait our turn. He was a lot bigger than us but we reminded ourselves that 'size isn't everything' and so we didn't feel in any way inferior. Were we wrong not to be scared, given how close we were sitting to those teeth?


The next friendly looking local who we stopped to greet, was one of the boatmen. He didn't look quite as modern as the two chaps who had poled us an hour or so earlier, but we bet with his age and experience he had a tale or two to tell.


Unfortunately we didn't have time to hang around to listen to his tales, as it was time to cycle along the Pieniny Way, a cycle path carved out of the cliff running the whole length of the Dunajec Gorge which we had seen from the raft earlier. Only cyclists and walkers can use the path so it was great to cycle away from the traffic and have time to stop and enjoy the spectacular scenery.

At the end of the way, we crossed back into Poland. There were some border guards at this crossing point but they were too interested in their conversation to give our bearports more than a cursory glance and no stamp was offered.

That evening we stayed in a spa town with another rather unpronounceable name - Szczawanica. Here we found a great squirrel - he was great not only in personality but also in size. We wasted no time making his acquaintance in the hope he would tell us the best places to visit and the best restaurant to eat in.


Lots of love, George, Yorkie and squirrel xxx