Kristen
This is it. This is really it. Our last day on the Via Dinarica. You’re probably as relieved as I am.
(A joke).
(I think?).
Day 66: Thethi to Valbonë
3 Replies
Author Archives: kristen and callum
Day 65: Liqjentës e Jezercës to Thethi via Maja e Jezercës
Callum
All things going according to plan, this should be the last blog post I write on the Via Dinarica.
We’re two days out from the finish line in Valbonë, but there’s still one lumpy obstacle between us and it: Maja e Jezercës, the biggest, baddest mountain on the Via Dinarica. At 2694 m, not only is it taller than anything we’ve climbed so far, but it’s also more difficult, typically requiring crampons and ice picks to summit – or so we’ve been told. We have none of those things, but, just maybe, if we leave early and get some good weather, we might fluke our way to the top. That’s the plan, anyway.
Day 64: Gusinje to Liqjentës e Jezercës
Kristen
It’s all a bit of a mess this morning, the main reason being that we’re not actually in Gusinje, but still in Plav. Instead of getting up early (ish) and setting off into the mountains as per usual, we wake a little later and set off on a shorter, but equally challenging mission – to the Border Police Station in Plav, to pick up our border crossing permits (attempt two).
Day 63: Lepushë to Gusinje
Callum
Four days to go!
We’re almost at the end of the Via Dinarica, but, as if to give us one final challenge, this last section of trail goes from valley to valley, climbing up and down the ridges that separate them. If you imagine that you’ve dragged a garden rake through some sand, and then an ant walks perpendicular to the furrows, you might get some sense of what this section is like. We are the ant.
So it’s pretty much a mountain a day around here.
Day 62: Rikavačko jezero to Lepushë
Kristen
At the water’s edge, we’re only a kilometre or so from the Albanian border. We’ll duck back into Montenegro in a few days because our route is fairly convoluted, but the fact remains that we’re about to enter our last country of the Via Dinarica. We’ve hiked across Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and now Montenegro is done, too. We only have five days left of walking. How on earth did that happen?
Day 61: Crkva Svetog Ilije to Rikavačko jezero
Callum
Yesterday, Kris radically changed the face of bushnuts by having four photos in a row.
Naturally, I now have be to one-up her, so today’s blog post will be presented through the medium of a slide show.
Sorry if it takes a while to load.
Day 60: Katun and Eko Dom Trešnjevik to Crkva Svetog Ilije via Kom Kučki
Day 59: Šiško jezero to Katun and Eko Dom Trešnjevik
Callum
Do you ever get that feeling like you’ve slipped into limbo? When you’re washing the dishes and the pile refuses to get any smaller, or when you’re writing an essay and the word count just doesn’t seem to budge?
Today is a bit like that. We’re walking through the early morning mists of Biogradska Gora, with visibility limited to just a few dozen metres on any direction, and I can’t help but wonder if I’ve ever done anything else. Is this little patch of tussocky grass all there is? Will we ever leave this ridge?
Day 58: Mojkovac to Šiško jezero
Kristen
Some days, the blog posts feel like they write themselves. Today was one of those days.
Day 57: Zabojsko jezero to Mojkovac
Callum
The Via Dinarica is advertised as a cultural experience, but usually we’re just in it for the mountains.
Not so today.
bushnuts 