I Walk, Therefore I Go - Spring Celebration of Solitude...

I Walk, Therefore I Go - Spring Celebration of Solitude and Silence in the Trnovski Gozd.

On March 20, we entered spring just before sunrise, on World Happiness Day, World Poetry Day was already knocking at the door, and March 21 is also International Day of Forests. How could we better celebrate together with nature than in its bosom - with the book I Walk, Therefore I Go from the masterfully sharpened pen of Marjan Bradeško, published by Planinska Založba. The journalistic presentation of the book on the solitary path to Vrh Skopice between Trebuša and Čepovanska Dolina was also joined by the editor of the book and the publishing house, Vladimir Habjan.

The book I Walk, Therefore I Go is a true hymn to nature, an invitation to the mysterious and solitary world of mountains that one cannot resist, while also a friendly reminder to approach the mountains with respect and prudence. Bradeško's writing reads like poetry and awakens all the senses in the reader. "You experience the mountains most intensely alone, because you are responsible for everything yourself, especially if you walk on such pathless areas or over severe abysses, there is also greater responsibility to yourself. At the same time, you can stop whenever you want, and you see the most, feel the most, smell the most, experience colors and tastes and everything around you. When I'm in a group, which was never larger than four, so with friends or with my wife and daughter, the intensity of the experience is slightly less, but it's more relaxed, although due to the responsibility for a safe return to the valley, you feel a bit of tension, which really subsides only when you're in the valley," said Marjan Bradeško about experiencing nature and mountains in the solitary Trnovski Gozd.



In his literary debut I Walk, Therefore I Go, in 32 stories, he describes his paths from the karst barelands of Slovenska Istra to Triglav, from the gloomy gorges of the foothills of the Julian Alps to the Haloze hills. He lingers among the home Polhograjski hills, and invites the reader across the border, to the Western Julian Alps and the Gailtal Alps. In between, he adds impressions from hikes among lavender fields in Provence or among lakes in the Pyrenees, and at the end, he sets off on a few multi-day hikes along the Slovenian Mountain Trail. Through Bradeško's descriptions, early spring smells, the reader feels the shine of white rocks in the hot summer, retreats from winter storms, fearfully waits for a bear where there is none, or smiles at interesting adventures, for example, rescuing a dog from the iced Velika Dnina or at the sight of a mountain girl in Beli Potok.

This is his first literary work, while he has already signed two travel guides and two business manuals. For almost a decade and a half, he has actively co-created the magazine Planinski Vestnik, and it was while writing the editorial for the oldest still published Slovenian magazine that the book title was born. "When in 2003 one evening I was writing the editorial for Planinski Vestnik, and during the day I was at the doctor, I encouraged myself that if I walk, I will be healthy. I titled this editorial I Walk, Therefore I Go and ended it with I Go Like Clockwork. What does the title mean? If I walk, I am healthy, so happy that I can walk around on my own feet. If I walk regularly, I always want to go. So I also invite to regular walking, regular visiting of mountains. When we return to the valley today, we will already be thinking about where else to go."


He was encouraged to write the book precisely by the editor of Planinski Vestnik and Planinska Založba Vladimir Habjan, and the author of the afterword Andrej Mašera places him alongside the giants of Slovenian mountaineering literature in terms of aesthetic experience of nature, such as Julius Kugy, France Avčin, Marijan Lipovšek, and Tine Mihelič. How was his writing honed in content and style? In the third grade, for St. Nicholas, he received the book From My Backpack by Janko Mlakar, which ignited a love for books in him - and even today he reads more than 40 books a year. "Reading is the basis for vocabulary, good observation helps you to verbalize it."

Many would stereotypically seat a master's in computer science in front of a computer, but for him, it seems that he uses almost every free moment for an escape into nature, as far as possible from screens. "The computer is quite dry and nails you in front of the screen. Nature is for me a counterweight to a demanding job - you need it to breathe. Nature returns energy, views, optimism. From the hills, I always return optimistic, even if there were so many problems in the valley, when you sweat for five hours, many of them sweat out, and when you look at them from above, they seem less severe," many can find themselves in Bradeško's words.


Because walking keeps spring in us, and in the hustle of everyday events and obligations, we often wish for silence and solitude, Marjan Bradeško presented his book to journalists where it (among other things) was created - on forgotten paths, on a wander into the past. Like a kind of peninsula, a narrow ridge extends northward from the Trnovski Gozd between Čepovanski Dol and the Trebuša valley, which is already concluded above the Idrijca valley by Vrh Skopice (863 m). The path from the Drnulk pass was experienced as a unique journey into history. The hamlets of Velike Vrše and Male Vrše once had almost a hundred inhabitants, today only ruins stand there, actually falling. Only the former home of Brezavščkov Luk has recently donned a new appearance. They were impressed by the solitary and scenic world in the beautiful spring sun, the beautiful path past Cvekarjev's beech avenue across a solitary meadow, past the gloomy sink of Kozijska Grapa to the top, which shows what the world of gorges and "govcev" (northern steeps of the Trnovski Gozd) is.

His greatest gorge adventures also root in the Idrija area. He began discovering gorges with his best friend, the late Dario Cortese, and before them, locals Rafael Terpin, Rafael Podobnik, and Jože Čar explored this world. "In 1989, in the book Waterfalls in Slovenia, I read about the second worst gorge in Austria-Hungary, about the Gačnik gorge, and so Dario and I set off into it, without really knowing where we were heading. This is a gorge with huge waterfalls, where you crawl over rocks, climb a bit, walk above and behind waterfalls, it's actually a kind of alpinistic act. To date, I have collected 40 such gorges. Why is it so beautiful in gorges for me? Because there is no one there, because you see incredible things, in each I met some owl, the waterfalls in them are wonderful, the flowers unusual - this is real wilderness, but not for everyone. One must approach gorges responsibly and get out - therefore with respect!" he lays on the heart to potential gorge visitors.

The added value of the book I Walk, Therefore I Go is that it makes the reader's soles itch and they would want to set off on solitary paths, wild pathless areas, and into remote gorges. But still, one must first go on the path with the head, only then with the feet: "Tours in gorges are really for the chosen ones, the others also for the average mountaineer, who must be good with a map. As you see, there are no markings here, but on the map, the path is still drawn, which you can follow. An experienced seeker will find with my descriptions where I write. Many tours in my 'guide' are described as I walked, also for example the entire traverse of Poliški Špiki, where everything is marked, likewise Triglav. But they must pay attention to the length, as some are quite long. Otherwise, what they teach in all mountaineering schools, and respect is necessary: you must take the tour with respect. I always say; take my book in hand, but along with a map, also maPZS, also a guide of this area. After all, we had in Planinski Vestnik the insert With Us on the Path, where paths for these tours are already described. Anyone can set off if they prepare well and really want to go on the path."

"The cross-section of tours in the book are solitude, speciality, and silence. Even on Triglav, I had silence because I went in the evening and early in the morning. On most tours that I did alone, I practically didn't meet a person. In autumn, I was in the Carnic Alps on a ten-hour tour, and didn't meet anyone, on the tour over Poliške Špike, say only one person," Bradeško strung memories and added: "The speciality is seeking solitude. A bit of Primorska is also described, a bit of Idrija area, peaks where there are no crowds, so that we don't all walk to Viševnik in columns, or in a column to Grmada, but perhaps also go to Skopica or somewhere else. Likewise, here we also have a completely different view of the Julian Alps."



The Mountaineering Association of Slovenia has for years intensively encouraged dispersed visits to Slovenian mountains to relieve the Triglav range, the central part of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, and other (over)crowded peaks, and under the umbrella of the action On Foot from Valleys to Heights, it advocates for more frequent use of public passenger transport and other nature-friendly ways of visiting mountains, such as walking, using bicycles to the starting points of mountain excursions, and carpooling.