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This post is about a walk from Pirot to Klisura. I pass the 14,000km mark of The Longest Way, and I get into a bit of rain.

The clouds are Simpsons clouds. They’re hanging lazily from the sky. No: they’re sitting there, piled up on the horizon. They look like they’re not moving at all.

the sun is out

I take my first break after an hour of walking, and I sit in the sun, eating bananas and watching the clouds.

There’s a bit of a sunburn on my left arm. What I said to a friend two months ago, it’s coming true: winter is the time when you look for the sun, summer is the time when you look for the shade. I like looking for the shade.

I have a number written on my hand: 13.9. This is the amount of kilometers that I have to walk until the 14,000 km mark. I’m not prepared to dance. In fact my doctors explicitly forbid me to dance. “Your knees should be fine for walking,” they had said, “But don’t do any twisting movements. No dancing!”

the non-dance

When I get to the 14,000 km mark I get out the camera, and I dance a little bit. Well, I mostly just shake my arms around. Then I sit down, pour some tea, and look at the world around me. The cicadas are in the fields, and the birds are in the trees, but the clouds have piled up on the horizon. I think it will rain soon.

For some reason the kilometers don’t seem to mean that much anymore. A thousand more, a thousand less – all that counts is that I’m still out here, walking. One day I will be sitting around somewhere, and I won’t be walking anymore, and I will miss this.

the rain

I walk on until the rain gets me, and then I walk some more. The rain stops eventually and my shirt gets dry in the evening sun. I find a spot behind a field and some fruit trees, and I put up my tent. I am near a place called Klisura, which means “gorge” in the South Slavic languages.

The night sky is filled with stars, but there are still some clouds on the horizon. Sometimes I see some flashes of light in the clouds. I hope they don’t come here.

pictures

the walk from Pirot to Klisura

13.9km until the 14,000km mark

houses near Pirot

the road to walk from Pirot to Klisura

storks

the road to walk from Pirot to Klisura

small tunnel near Pirot

old bridge

lunch break near a vineyard

the Serbian countryside

the 14,000km mark

The Longest Way at 14,000km

the Caboose at 14,000km

a rainbow on the walk from Pirot to Klisura

shepherd near Klisura

the Caboose after the rain

memorial to Milena

looking for a campsite