Photo Blog | Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet

Yesterday marked a year since our first Croatia SUPxHike adventure. The idea for a new trip hatched in winter of 2018 after spotting the Velebit mountains from a paddleboard on my first visit to Croatia. 

After fine tuning a week that would combine island hopping by paddleboard, rock  climbing and hiking in one of Croatia’s national parks, we were ready to welcome 9 Gutsy Girls on our newest adventure. 

You may recognise our enticing drone shot of our guests paddling in Croatia from September 2017, with beautiful blue waters and tropical lush greenery on the islands. The shot that has been shared in The Times, The Metro and Stylist magazine.

With this image in mind, our 9 Gutsy Girl guests packed their bags with litres of suncream and a strong collection of swimwear. A few days before their departure, a reminder was sent through to pack rain coats ‘just incase’. 

Croatia in May normally sees 8 hours of sunshine, with warm but comfortable temperatures of 22 degrees; ideal conditions of paddling and hiking. However last year Southern Europe’s springtime was particularly wet; receiving 3 times more rain than normal, we had hoped we’d seen the last of the rain in April...but it continued into May just in time for our ‘sun soaked’ adventures.

Rain hasn’t been a stranger on Gutsy Girls holidays, and I’ve learnt the wetter the adventure, the stronger the bond for our guests. Whilst we always hope for perfect conditions, those where mother nature gives us a bit of a beating are definitely filled with even more laughs and lasting memories. 

The trip started with 4 days of paddling on the islands, dodging the rain, paddling into the wind, getting a little stuck in a cave (more on that another time) and a few glimpses of sunshine too. 

As we arrived at the mountains our luck had changed! We had an afternoon learning to rock climb in the sun soaked gorge of the Paklenica National Park, before hiking up to our home for the next two nights, a mountain hut with stunning views! 

During our evening briefing we discussed the plan to hike to the peak the following day; if we were up early and pushed hard, we’d make it to the peak and back down dry…With no phone signal to check the forecast, we had to rely our our trusty mountain hut owner ‘a man of the mountains’ who we now think probably gets his weather forecast from his mule. 

So we were up early; moved fast and hiked hard, ready to be rewarded with the epic views. The mule had got it wrong! Half-way up the mountain the heavens opened and the winds picked up, we put our heads down and powered through to the mountain shelter. 

There was no visibility and no ‘triumphant we reached the peak’ photo (because we only got half way). 

In the dark mountain shelter, we tucked into a quick lunch under the lights of our head torches with rain hammering heavy on the roof above. Changing into dry layers and wringing out our soaking leggings, whilst laughing at how this wasn’t ‘like it looked in the brochure’.

Rather than pushing onto the peak where there was no visibility, we unanimously voted to head back to our base. Our path, now ankle deep streams, with the rain still coming, we were thankful our mountain hut had hot showers and cosy bunks. 

Our mountain hut owner kindly let us dry our soaking wet clothes in the same room used to cook the ‘peka’ which had an open fire. A ‘peka’ is a traditional Croatian method for cooking meat and octopus; a bell shaped dish is covered with the embers from the fire; a pressure cooker and bbq in one!  A firm favourite with our non-veggie Gutsy Girls for it’s delicious tender meat and great for warming up after a wet day in the mountains. 

I hung our clothes around the fire, the smoke was heavy and hung low in the room, smoke that had lingered here from many, many years cooking for the guests of the mountain hut. Whilst our clothes and boots dried from the heat of the fire, they were perfectly marinated in the smells of that meaty room. A smell we learnt, that would stay on our clothes for long after our return to normal life. 

Whilst the mule may have got the weather wrong, his weekly treks down the mountain did keep the bar well stocked with beers, the perfect accompaniment to ‘peka’ and an evening filled with belly laughter.

On this adventure, the photos didn’t quite match the ones of our past trips; but it was such an incredible experience and the tales will be remembered for a lifetime. 

The whatsapp group from this trip is still very active; the ‘happy anniversary’ messages came through last night.

I can’t wait for another reunion with all our guests once this is all over. Until then, I hope you’ll enjoy the photos from Tav one of our guests. I think you’ll agree they are filled with laughter and great memories…and we did manage to get a couple of dreamy drone shots too.