My idea was to drive from the car service in Plovdiv south in the mountains. But because the friendly mechanic recommended me the area and lakes/ reservoirs from Batak to Dospat, I went there. It was just a little further west and I felt like it would be nice to stay sometime at a calm lake in the mountains.

The lake was really beautiful and its appearance and the weather changed every day. It was so nice to witness these changes and I had a very calm time there. After I had faced my boredom and experienced kind of a liberation from whatever I somehow felt I should do and not do, and getting rid of the stuff, I felt very easy.

During my time at the UFO, I had got more and more into writing a lot of micro and short stories and I kept doing that. My love for writing, especially with making up all sorts of universes and the simplicity of writing got deeper and deeper.

At the lake I did come up with a story, that I only built in my mind: I did not write anything down. I just repeated it over and over again in my head and every time I did so, it was changing. I feel, that all stories are somehow alive and keep on changing but that one was and still is as alive as a story can get, I think. If you like to have an experiment, just try it. One of the good things about it: you don’t need anything apart from yourself and you can do it everywhere and every time. For me, it felt like having some kind of a pet or a weird type of companion. Now that I’m thinking about this story, I feel like it is more a real memory than a story I’m remembering.

In addition to writing, I did make more music on my iPad, again. This was super nice as well and both, writing and making music, felt very free to me.

But the most beautiful at that lake was, that I met a lovely and gorgeous family. They were living in their big van and traveling around for months. We had an awesome time together and a lot to share and feel. Playing with the kids was so creative and free. I loved it.

One day, they told me that they had been at a festival about music, nature, and spirituality some weeks ago. I had been looking for exactly that kind of festival in Greece and Bulgaria as well. I missed it just for a couple of weeks. But they told me, that in just two weeks there would be another festival of the same kind at one of the smaller lakes just a little further south and up the mountain! I was super happy about that and appreciated how things were developing/ flowing.

And this festival… Let’s say it will have some impact on me and my journey…

After I saw Mount Dirfi from the top of the mountain I’ve hiked before, I really wanted to go to its top in the beginning of June 2022.

I left my super awesome spot in the mountains to get to the bottom of Dirfi. Still not used to how camping is done in Greece, I was a little worried if it would be possible to camp on the foot of the highest mountain on Evia. When I reached the spot I had chosen, there were already two tents and of course, it was no problem to camp there.

I planned my hiking route and decided to just go straight to the top of Dirfi. I always prefer to do a round trip, but the only one that stuck to the path is about 50 km long and I didn’t feel like wanting to do that one. So I started my way to the top. Most of the path did go along the ridge you see in the photo behind Rosinante. It was a nice path that included some easy climbing of big boulders. When I reached the top at 1743 m, I had a great view and met another hiker.

He didn’t have the time to do the round trip but I didn’t want to return the same way and so I decided to do the round trip. I figured out, that I could be able to shorten the distance to about 25 km if I cut the paths at two points. But if that wouldn’t work out, I would have to do about 60 km. I’ve never done 50 or 60 km on that point.

I started my descent and although it was super windy, I enjoyed the view and got all into finding my way down. At first, it became quite difficult because I tried to stick to the path and there had been barely any markings. Once I stopped searching for the official path and just started choosing my own, it got a lot easier and more fun as well. Eventually, after some detours, I made it and reached the foot of Dirfi on the opposite side of where I started my hike. From here on, it was easy to stick to the path and when I met a guided hiking group, the guide was pretty surprised that I wanted to go the walk around because it’s very long.

Next, I met a beekeeper. When I asked him about the shortcuts I would like to take to cut the distance to 25 km, he didn’t really understand and finally told me to turn around. For a moment, I thought about if I should ask him to take me with him on his scooter, but then I decided, that I wanted to try the shortcuts.

After continuing my way for an hour, I finally arrived at the first assumed shortcut. I entered the undergrowth, searched around, crouched through bushes, and found a small and low goat track. I followed it and after half an hour, I made it. The first shortcut worked out pretty well.

I hiked for another hour and finally got to the next potential shortcut. This one got a bit more difficult than the first one: this time no luck in finding a goat path and more climbing. But in the end, it worked out and from that point, I just had to hike along the official path back to Rosinante.

After seven hours I got back to Rosinante and felt like always after hiking: satisfied, vitalized and free.