Solo Hiking 192 km on the Peaks of the Balkans Trail
// h i k i n g g u i d e
I developed my own in-depth, no-nonsense hiking guide of the Peaks of the Balkans Trail! Find it here: floordenil.com/en/product/pea...
// w a n t t o h i k e t h i s t r a i l i n g r o u p ?
You can hike this trail with others, if you want! Travelbase offers these holidays: I know them, and trust them a lot.
Dutch speaking option: thebalkantrail.com/nl?a_aid=f...
French speaking option: thebalkantrail.com/fr?a_aid=f...
German speaking option: thebalkantrail.com/de/?a_aid=...
// m u s i c i n t h i s v i d e o b y
Bandler Ching ('You Call It', 'Smooch', 'Dag Na Naamdag')
Mahina ('Think I Like You')
UMM ('Sun', 'Rubberband', 'Come Undone')
Rosa Butsi ('Avia')
(check out their music, they're my friends and they make beautiful stuff!!)
// o t h e r m u s i c i n t h i s v i d e o b y
Epidemic Sound
// F A Q
// What did you take with you and how do I hike this trail?
A gear list and 'things you should know before hiking the POTB and Skye Trail' is coming up, give me some time! :)
// How did you film/edit this video?
I filmed this video on a Sony A6400 with a Røde microphone and used Premiere Pro and Garageband for editing.
// Why do you hike solo?
I made a video about this subject because I get this question often!
• Why I prefer to hike a...
// Do you have other hiking plans coming up?
Right now I don't have any hikes planned, but if life allows it, I'll be back on trail next summer!
// Where can I contact you for business inquiries?
The easiest way is to email me at ikwilzakendoen@floordenil.com. Thank you!
Пікірлер: 115
Girls and guys and theys! Just want to give a quick (but thorough) shoutout to the makers of the music used in this video: Bandler Ching, UMM, Mahina and Rosa Butsi. I’m very proud to be able to call them my friends and I would absolutely love it if you would check them out if you loved them in this video. They deserve every bit of recognition they can get. Enjoy!! See you on the next hike xxx
@LennartSchoors
10 ай бұрын
I always make music discoveries in your videos - thanks! Bandler Ching is great.
Another fantastic video, Floor! Your filming is excellent, and as usual your choice of music too - such good vibes! I'm already looking forward to your next adventure!
To anyone hiking with a Garmin Inreach on your shoulder strap: turns out they are only water resistant- not waterproof. Look up Taylor the Nahamsha hiker and her inreach failing on the AT recently. Might be worth at least keeping it in a shoulder strap pocket or something, where it gets damp at most, not soaked :) Thank you for an awesome video as always, Floor!
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Oh that’s a good one, wasn’t aware! Kept it in my fanny pack on my last trip when it started raining. Thank you! 🌸
The quality of this video is insanely well done. There are too many silent hiking videos, and it's just so awesome to see your amazing character shine. Well done! Hopefully, you can do the Highlands in fall (much better, less flies, fewer people, and beautiful brown-ish landscapes with snowy peaks).
Great, as usual!
Always great to see a new vid
Nice to see you're back on the trail
Weer een mooie wandel video. Bedankt
Looks like a great hike!
Great footage definitely on my list to do
Great hike, great lady, thank you Floor.
Thanks for a wonderful, funny and great film!
Missed your videos! Cheers from norway!!
come across this vid, love the energy! new sub
U R AMAZING!!!
That brightened up my day no end, Floor! Amazing scenery, but I think you must have walked an extra 50kms setting up your camera for all those shots. Look forward to seeing your next adventure.
Yayyy floor!!! Another trail❤ Really happy to watch the video, thank you for sharing😊
your energy is fantastic. the video puts you in a good mood. Thanks for sharing ✨😊
Woww amazing beautiful View 😇
Looks like a nice hike indeed.
JUHUUUUU!!! Floor as a breakfast company 🤩 Thanks for another amazing video filled with so much energy!!!
Your so funny I love it 🥰 great views!
Some exquisite shots of wildlife,the mountains.Glad you were able to try this trail
Great Video as always. I admire how you always manage to show all these emotion that you go through during a long distance hike. Having this Trail on my list for a while now and probably gonna do it in September and thanks to your Video the motivation went up again =) All the best Floor!
Thank you Floor for another beautiful video of your adventures. You are truly an Inspiration. 🙏🏼 I‘ll will start on the Kungsleden tomorrow after I have seen your video of it last year. 😁 Keep hiking!
Beautiful video.
Wow Floor! ik geniet super erg van jouw hiking video's💚 Keep up the good work en de groetjes uit Overijssel, Nederland ☺
Wow, a superb video and beautiful hike. Love your joyful and positive personality. Your work on this video is clearly top-shelf quality. Thanks for sharing. Definitely subscribed and looking forward to following along for more journeys. Happy Trails
I like!
Another Nice video, always like to see them. Great landscapes and your funny Sense of humor. Looking forward the Next. Have fun and enjoy.
Peaks of the Balkans trek as a consolation! The weather could have been less cruel for you, but what trek. Well done again Floor.
@klang180
10 ай бұрын
Yeah think it's probably a bit of an upgrade in truth. It would have been just as rainy in Scotland and midges too
Thank you so much for all oats, chocolate bars and ready meals! We really needed those calories later on. It was a pleasure to meet you on top of the Albania mountains! - Ciaran (one of the seven)
I know that feeling when you get the blues because the trail is over. Looks like you had an amazing time though. Love the videos as always. Hope you have better luck when you try and visit Scotland next time and look forwsrd to see the video. Also... Just want to say thanks for showing me the Massiv trail. Just got back from it and it was so beautiful
Wauw zo cool dat je een Aeropress meenam! En zelfs een koffiemolen..? Zalig ^^
You are a brave Soul going into Kosovo. 😮
Aeropress and 1zpresso Q2? I love that your videos mix my two favorite things! Coffee and mountains! Looking forward to seeing the gear video, you always make them entertaining!
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Haha thanks! I have to disappoint you though, the grinder isn’t as fancy as a 1zspresso Q2, it’s a cheap thing I bought online. Does the job for filter coffee, though!!
Hey everybody! In the meantime, I created my own in-depth, no-nonsense hiking guide of the POTB. You can find it here: floordenil.com/en/product/peaks-of-the-balkans-set/ Have a looooovely trip! 🌼
Echt respect dat je de beklimming vanuit Theth naar Vusanje gedaan hebt, vond die een paar dagen geleden echt al heeeel pittig om te dalen!!! Groetjes vanuit een guesthouse in Milishevc :))
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Hahahaha zwaar afgezien, inderdaad. Moest je er nog zijn: veel plezier!!
Hi Floor, nice video! Can you show us what do you bring whit you in your backpack? Thanks! Michele from Italy
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Hey Michele! Yes, I just filmed a gear list :). Will try to put it up within the next weeks!
I love you, I love you, I love you, I LOVE YOUE, I CANT GET ANY LOUDER.
Hello Floor, this is Nadine's brother! Thank you for being so nice to my sister and making her coffee! She enjoyed the break and the whole trip! Keep hiking ;)
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Oh my god that’s amazing!! Well, equally as many thanks to her, it was a highlight of my day to meet her at the top, and my pleasure to make a coffee for her :). I hope her wrist has fully healed in the meantime, give her many hugs from my end! 🌸
@elreyrubio7179
10 ай бұрын
Yes has fully recovered and is planning to finish the trail this fall :) @@floordenil
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
That’s great to hear! Apparently the trail is beautiful with the fall colours, so definitely interesting to see the trail in such different seasons, I think!
I have been to Macedonia. The mountains there look equally impressive.
Finally a hiking video where you are not crying 😜 Well doen, Groetjes
Floor, respect mooie tocht en vaak hilarisch, trouwens niet een keer gehuild??😃
Definitely similar to British Columbia in Canada! but then if you go more east it's the great plains- very flat. XD It starts to get bumpy again from Ontario all the way to the Maritimes.
Thats a very wild trail.. The mountains are really good. You were probably a bit early there in the year. While waiting for the video i was worried something mught have happened to you.. I olan tmb next year, then nz in 2025 with a return to gr20:,possible if fitness snd weight loss continues . Down 16 kg 23 lg to go.
Great to see you back and on an amazing trail. The WHW will be there when you’re ready. 🏴 🇧🇪
@JonnoDoesStuff
10 ай бұрын
Floor's done the WHW before iirc
@dougieranger
10 ай бұрын
@@JonnoDoesStuff I remember, tears and haggis.
@JonnoDoesStuff
10 ай бұрын
@@dougieranger Much like my WHW adventure
@dougieranger
10 ай бұрын
@@JonnoDoesStuff Mine too. Blisters, chafing, two toenails lifted off, snow, torrential rain, 45mph winds but no tears. 😂
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
😂😂😂😂😂 I love how everyone’s experience on the WHW is somehow similar hahahaha
Dude, June 2023 I did the TMB (because of your TMB video) I watched a couple of years ago!! So inspiring you are! This one looks .... hard? :)
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Aaaaaah I love that!!! Hope you enjoyed it :). I’d say this one isn’t necessarily harder than the TMB, I just went too early. If the snow is cleared and the weather is fine, I think it’s quite the same in terms of difficulty :).
You missed out on Scotland. Good weather this May and June. Another time.
Hello! Great video, thank you for filming for us :) Are there any bears or shepherd dogs on the trail? Thank you:)
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Hey Janis! There are bears, although they are brown bears so chances are really small you’ll encounter one on trail. Shepherd dogs are there sometimes, although I don’t think they walk loosely without the shepherd around :)
Really enjoyed your video, like to do this trail in future too got same book . Did the book facts help ? Take care
I've just stumbled upon you, Floor. What entertaining videos!! Super filming, editing, music...How do you charge your devices on those long hikes?
Welcome back Floor. Remember, God is good!
OMG, you video is so nice!! I impressed your editing and the way of fliming. I would like to ask your major. Is it related with making movie?😮
Zalig, zalig, zalig. Muziek keuze is toop! Had je micro spikes bij?
Hey Floor, not sure if you can remember but we (me and my friend) met you on that trail when you were coming over the mountain pass at guri y kuq where there was a lot of ❄️ you almost did not see us, becaus we were consealed in our rain ponchos hahaha We were supposed to meet again but somehow did not see you along the way. Really excited to see this video now and look at the trail from your perspective Greetings, David :)
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
DAVID!!!!! Omg I was so much on the lookout for you guys but we did indeed miss each other 🥺 I was really bummed by that. I hope you had a great trail that didn’t involve too many rain ponchos, and maaaaaaaybe soooooomeday we might have another rain-poncho-meeting on another trail. I’m manifesting it 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼
@davidhildebrandt4891
10 ай бұрын
@@floordenil Hahah yeah, in hindsight I think we were quite lucky with the weather, seeing your video. Really hope to bump into you randomly on some trail haha and get pushed by your energy :))) And also - now that I have seen the video, I've got to say, youre so gifted. Your storytelling is so beautiful and I loved the music choices. Really brought back a lot of the memories of the trail. Thank you so much for that!!! :)
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Aw thank you so much for your kind words, that touches me dearly :). If you’re ever in Brussels, hit me up through Instagram, I’d love to meet up and get jealous about ✨ the wonderful weather you had on the trail ✨ aaaaaaargh!!!!! 😂
Thanks for the video! which time of the year you did this trek?
New Atom Pack 👀
Been looking to do this hike before Covid and we kept postponing. It's so beautiful. I think is time to finally go for it. How did you find the border crossing? I heard you have to stick with the days you choose. Is that true?
Well, that was nice .... a good bit greener and more varied in habitat than Scotland (which has it's own type of 'je ne sais a Quoi') ... and it undoubtedly saved you from being eaten alive by the Scottish midge! ... :)
Hi Floor! Thanks for your videos and your enthousiasm! What trek where you planning to do before discovering that your passport was expired?
How did you get food and water?
Hi Floor. I'm going to hike this trek in May. Though to start in Theth but the transport from Podgorica isn't great. And then I saw your video - of course, it can start from Plav. Thank you. Tell me, where did you buy a camp gas? Regards, Kris
Hallo Floor, mooie video! Wat moet je doen om het papierwerk in orde te brengen voor de drie grensovergangen op de trail ?
@floordenil
6 ай бұрын
Hey Stephan! Dankjewel. De makkelijkste manier is om de hulp van Zbulo (reisorganisatie in Albanië) in te schakelen - zij nemen zelf contact op met de plaatselijke autoriteiten om het nodige in orde te brengen. Bespaart je veel gedoe, want de andere optie is om zelf naar de politiekantoren te bellen, wat niet altijd even simpel is als je de plaatselijke taal niet spreekt... :)
Hi Floor when was this and what were the temperatures like? Thanks
@floordenil
4 ай бұрын
Hey! This was end of May/beginning of June. Temperatures didn’t rise above 12°C and there was still a lot of snow at the top of the mountains and on mountain passes
Hey Floor, welke tijd van het jaar heb je de route gelopen? En bekend met comboy coffee? Wil u het plezier van de Aeropress niet afnemen maar het zou weer wat gewicht schelen, en de koffie smaakt heerlijk
@floordenil
4 ай бұрын
Hey Daan, ik wandelde deze eind mei/begin juni. Net iets te veel sneeuw - midden juni is meer aan te raden!
Up to day, 2, I have to do stuff so I'll return. Hope the trip was great for you, looks a bit dangerous but you must be okay so spoiler alert! I got 6 days to hike the Kerry way, coming up, not very high up but after GR20 nearly killed me (dehydration hour 2 to 9 of 11 hour day 2) I need an easier one definitly and some miles under my feet.
Nice atom packs 🤗
Jippie
but how did you cross borders?
I'm glad you got to see Serbia
love the video! Ik wilde zelf graag begin mei gaan. Wanneer ben jij gegaan, denk je dat het in mei te doen is? Ben benieuwd of de hutten dan open zijn. @floordenil
@floordenil
4 ай бұрын
Hey Ina! Ik heb hem eind mei/begin juni gedaan. Best veel sneeuw, dus niet ideaal. De hutten waren wel open!
Hoi Floor, ik ben ook van plan om deze hike te gaan lopen binnenkort. Ik weet alleen niet wat de beste manier is om van Tirana airport naar Theth te komen. Hoe heb jij dit gedaan?
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Hey Lars! Er gaat elke ochtend (heel vroeg, rond 7 uur geloof ik) een minibusje van Tirana naar Theth. Is aan een rond punt, maar vraag je best nog eens als je daar bent :).
Guy was riding a horse up a hill…checking his phone😂 cellphones really are an addiction eh.
first!
Im sorry if I missed it but wht time of the year you did this?
@floordenil
3 ай бұрын
This was at the end of May/beginning of June! I’d recommend not starting in May, too early with all the snow 🫠🫠
@Milkkiboy
3 ай бұрын
@@floordenil ahhh shit, i was kinda hoping i could do it in the end of april 🤭
Do you remember what size and temperature is your quilt?
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
I used the Hyberg Loner Lite 450 for this trail (with a sleeping bag liner that add some degrees to it) :)!
@carlosslim4916
10 ай бұрын
Ооо not your EE one? Thanks for getting back to me! I bought EE -6 degrees C and used it while summer camping in Scotland, the weather wouldn’t have been less than 10c at night, but any less and I would be not comfortable (used it with merino wool thermals!!)
@markcummings6856
10 ай бұрын
@@carlosslim4916But, did you have a proper sleeping pad? Any rating of a quilt/sleeping bag is only proper if there is also a properly rated (r-value) sleeping pad for the season. ATB - Happy Trails
@carlosslim4916
10 ай бұрын
Hey Mark, I used the thermarest lite matt, rated R2. It was my first time testing this sleeping set up, I did expect to be warmer. I saw some hikers online saying that to get a proper warm rating, you also need to layer up. It was a good experience, I am glad I tested it in the Scottish summer
@floordenil
10 ай бұрын
Yes, your mattress is equally as important indeed! If you’re still too cold then, I could recommend a sleeping bag liner - I bought one on the trail in Norway and haven’t gotten rid of it since (bonus: it keeps your quilt-mattress clean!) :).
usually these kind of videos are boring, and i turn them off after few minutes. this one i watched all and it felt like 3 minutes, not 27
Heel tof! Mijn vriend en ik zijn net terug van de Tour du Mont Blanc, onze eerste meerdaagse hike. Het kriebelt alweer om de volgende te plannen. De peak of the Balkan had ik nog niet eerder van gehoord, maar het ziet er prachtig uit. Wie weet wordt dat de volgende uitdaging! Ik ben altijd onder de indruk van jouw positiviteit op moeilijke dagen, echt inspirerend.
The video we didn't know we needed, danku Floor!! 🥹🥹🥹