Luke and I went out for a walk this morning and tried to find the ‘river trail’. How hard could it be? It follows a river! We walked to the other end of town, which is uphill all the way, and crossed the road to the ski fields. We found the end of the forest walk, which we’d tried to do yesterday but failed, but no sign of the river trail.

We struck off across the muddy, grass slopes in what we hoped was the right direction, but I didn’t last long. Water seeped into my shoes and I decided to turn back. Luke keep going but didn’t find the trail and turned back later on.

I really think we’re here too early in the year. The higher mountain trails only open for walking around the first of July and right now every path is full of running water or boggy with mud. Disappointing, but there’s not much we can do about it. Danka, the manager, suggested bike riding to another town and then catching the bus back. But having seen the tiny, packed buses I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the idea of hoping that there’ll be room for two bikes.

Anyhow, the day’s excitement really started when I got back to the hostel to find everyone in a flap. The two Canadian girls had taken Wally for a walk and he’d been bitten by a snake. He’d come most of the way back with them but then disappeared when they got close to the hostel. The girls and Danka went out looking for him and there was no sign for ages. We looked up the snakes (they’d seen two) online and thought that it was probably a European viper, which is venomous but not usually deadly.

Danka eventually found Wally and brought him back. Half his face was swollen and he was shaking dreadfully. We all patted him while we waited for the taxi and now they’re heading to the nearest big town and hopefully something can be done for Wally. If his facebook page is any indicator, he’s a very popular dog who’d be very sadly missed.

Fingers crossed!