Things I would like to share with you, reader, are fragments of my -  in the true sense of the word - experience of a lifetime. My dear friend Šime and I attended this years' HIGHLANDER Velebit expedition/challenge that has a special place in my mind, therefore my heart.

Full of enthusiasm and energy, he and I started our adventure on Zavižan, located in the National park Northern Velebit. Premužić's trail was ahead of us for the next 58 km. On that beautiful road, we've seen some wonderful nature – landscapes and mountain areas. During that whole part of the journey, we had one more companion on our East side - sky-blue Adriatic sea.

After this part of the journey, we came to Baške Oštarije, a place where we had our first hot meal – mmm. That was the place where my friend Šime saw his feet for the first time since we began our expedition.

His feet were swollen and injured because he hadn't worn his hiking shoes enough before HIGHLANDER! We tried to continue after a good night's sleep, but after 300 meters he just wasn't able to continue due to the combination of his feet condition and the shoes he wore.

We thought this was the end of our mission.

We decided to first sit in the closest dining place, order a beer, relax for a bit and decide on our next move in the situation we were facing.

We said: „Alright, so the problem are these ''not enough worn'' hiking shoes, so let's just try with another pair!“

After this, the kind people at the dining place we were in helped us find a cab that could take us to the nearest civilization, where we could buy new shoes.

That place was called Gospić, and we finally found the shoe store.We entered and my barefoot friend asked for any women's shoes (because in the store's collection these were the only soft ones), in size 42.

Lady working there and her friends bursted into laughter and brought us all shoes they had.

My friend chose one pair, and with nearly 6 „lost“ hours, we came back to Baške Oštarije, thanked the kind people working in the dining place and continued our adventure!

After all, we came to the Finish on time, where our story was already spread among warm and kind people of the HIGHLANDER family, and they awaited for us full of motivation, trust and kindness.

In conclusion, I would like to encourage you, reader, to try it for yourself and live your own HIGHLANDER story. Who knows what universe has written for you if you decide to indulge yourself in the experience like HIGHLANDER Velebit!

P.S. Most amazing thing about this expedition, besides the mesmerizing nature that's with you for the whole duration of the trip, are these beautiful people that are waiting for you on every organized checkpoint. With sincere joy, enthusiasm, kindness and warm smiles they welcomed everybody who came, and you feel so much delightfulness and inspiration every time you manage to solve a part of this complete adventure!

HIGHLANDER Vanja Žunić