Once the sun had burnt off the wisps of mist hanging over the bay I dried everything and ate a bunch of bananas with kefir while chatting to a Polish couple traveling in a pop top camper van.

I hadn’t gone far when I was surprised to see a group of surf skis on the water – epics no less! I paddled over and could see from the way they were kayaking that they were tourists. On the shore Milusa and Vojo were equally surprised to see me and wanted to hear all about my trip. Milusa ran off and came back with a cup of coffee and bottle of home made pomegranate juice and they invited me to stay the next night.

I paddled on to Kotor, taking in the incredible scenery and feeling joyful after this chance encounter.

The Bay of Kotor is dotted with beautiful medieval towns, and the most celebrated is Kotor itself, a designated UNESCO site. I left my boat on a patch of scrubland where a few campervans were parked, including my Polish friends, and walked through the town and up hundreds of steps to the top of a Venetian fortification that zigzagged it’s way up the steep mountain side.

Tourists gave me condescending looks as I passed them on the steps, or so I imagined, and I smiled at the irony – with my tattered, dirty clothes, odd shoes and scraggly beard I may look like a vagrant, but I can walk up some steps without being reduced to a panting, sweaty mess. You choose what’s more important, but I think people have got their priorities wrong, they’re so superficial.

Back in the town, I wandered the cobbled streets then went in to a hostel and had a beer with the travellers staying there, mostly Americans, a couple of Canadians, three girls from Australia, a girl from Iceland, a guy from Spain, guy from Sweden. The group that had been out kayaking was there and I told them about my trip.

People are impressed by my trip and give me a lot of praise. I can see why people are interested, it’s unusual to travel by kayak, my trip is getting to be fairly long, and it conjures up a highlight reel of adventure, danger and freedom.

But while it may be unusual, I deserve no credit for this – that’s just a result of my privilege and a bit of chance. Sure it’s long, but do a little bit of anything everyday and it starts to add up. I think people are more curious as to what motivated me to do this for so long rather than impressed by my determination and endurance. And I know that vision is way off the mark – yes I’ve had great adventures, but most of the hours in my day are dull.

It’s important that I remember this truth, because if I’m not careful I could start to believe other people’s perceptions of my trip, and start taking their praise to heart. Indeed, it feels good when people say how wonderful my adventure is, and I fear that this is what keeps me going.

The guy from Iceland started a drinking game that no one really wanted to play and we chatted about nothing and everything. They discussed what bus to take and what to see in that city and I felt glad I’m not backpacking because at least when I’m feeling lost I have the daily sense of achievement from having paddled somewhere. You don’t get that on a bus.

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