I am Sandra an EVS volunteer in CID. I have lived in Kumanovo, Macedonia for 8 months and by now I really feel at home here. I have had a chance to see a bit of the country and believe me – it is a beautiful place. Amazing nature!
On the 9th of September I had an opportunity to attend the annual event to climb Mount Korab (part of Mount Korab lies on Macedonian territory and on its northern and western sides has the borders of Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, and Albania, respectively) Korab’s highest point is the peak Golem Korab and that is exactly where we headed: 9 km up and 9 km down! Believe me – it was not easy!
We had to leave Kumanovo at the early hour of 4am to start our challenge on time. Every year many people attend this event and one needs to be aware that it can be quite crowded over there.Traffic in the mountains!
We started our journey around 7:30am. From the very beginning the road was just going up.. and up.. No flat walking what-so-ever! I was not totally prepared for this. But we did it! We had our rests in between, we enjoyed the view, took photos, let the sun pet us … I have to admit that the last part was literally painful – I was just looking all these people who already rested on top, tried not to think too much and kept my legs moving. We reached the top around 12:00pm. 4,5 hours of hard work had paid off – the view up there was indescribable.
But that was not all. After climbing up – one must go down too, right? Going down has always been harder for me and it can get a bit boring at some points. Luckily we had the amazing view giving us company the whole way.
Got back home late in the evening – tired and happy!
It was a perfect day and I could do it again every year. No doubt about that!
More photos you can find here
Sandra an EVS volunteer in CID