i forget how long, a bit over a week... and i discovered that skipping across train sleepers was easier than normal walking, and conveniently they had turned off most of the train services, until i got to Kurshumlija, which is close to the "border" with kosovo
and then i persuaded a conductor to give me a free ticket to travel to the border with Bulgaria, i forget the name of the stop
my observations about the difference between country people and city people was heavily influenced by that walk
oh yeah i also learned that a tub of lard and picking stale bread from wherever i saw it was the best food, and the lard doubled as balm for my feets that got quite damp from such long walking every day... i pretty much was doing like 14h a day, with 10 minute rests here and there whenever i felt the need or it was hot and i needed time out from the sun
oh yeah, that trip was long too... i mean, i must have trucked along ... 400km or so on foot, probably managing 30-40km/day most of the time
it convinced me that a human can probably walk 2000km if they have a big tub of lard and some biscuits and plenty of places to refill the water bladder
that reminds me of hiking with a classmate from Czech Republic who introduced me to sardines on baguettes. my silly granola bars were no match for the energy output of sardines.
