Today I saw one of the trip's highlights, the Iron Gates of the Danube, where once the full volume of the Danube rushed through a narrow gap in the rocks. Now the rapids are no more, the Djerdap dam has created a lake.
Waking early I climbed up to the top of Veliki Strbac following one of the classic Serbian hiking trails. By 7:00 am I was at the top watching barges steam through the Iron Gates. From Veliki Strbac I walked to Mali Strbac, lower but with a path closer than I liked to where the cliff dropped down to the Danube far below. The weather was good. White fluffy clouds in a blue sky, but the gorge of the Iron Gates was too deep for the sun to reach. Occasional gusts of cold wind made for more difficult clothing choices.
Then it was all the way down through the trees, steeply in places, to the road at Golo Brdo. Golo Brdo consisted of some scattered farms near the edge of the Danube. There is a famous tablet of stone commemorating Emperor Trajan somewhere near but I could not find it, maybe you need to be in a boat to see it. In approaching the road I noticed a "No Admittance" sign referring to the track through a farm I had just walked down. Assuming this is meant to include hikers, future walkers may want to avoid this farm by avoiding Golo Brdo altogether as there is little reason to visit and there are other footpaths marked.
Climbing out of the valley two things upset me. First that I had left my walking stick somewhere, it was not essential so I did not reclimb the Strbac summits to find it, I brought it to fend off dogs, now I would have to focus on behavioural tricks my wife told me to use. Secondly a fluffy little dog followed me for several kilometres. I worried that it would forget its way home, or that it wanted to start a new life with me or that it was a stray. Shouting at it to go away and throwing stones in its direction did no good, it just moved out of range.
Once I had again climbed to the top of the mountains beside the Danube it was time to find the way down to Tekija. I followed a path on the Djerdap map which appeared to correspond to the route in "Rambling through Serbia", but it proved difficult to find the path among the fallen trees and undergrowth. There had been a footpath sign to Tekija but maybe it referred to one of the side trails I passed.
Reaching Tekija I planned to find a room for the night. The Tourist Information office at Donji Milanovac said ask at the restaurant which I did. The waiter there said walk to the centre of the village and ask anyone, which I did. While I was looking helpless a man who spoke English offered a bed in his house.
First he had to visit an old friend for a massage. An old injury had disabled his arm to a significant degree. His friend gave me coffee and fish soup, and gave him an arm and upper body massage. I gave his friend a postcard of my home town.
Then it was off to his house for the night, he chatted with other friends on the way, it seems a close knit village. His house was like many in that it had three rooms. A bathroom, a combined kitchen and dining area, and a sleeping area. A wood fired range heated the house and was used for cooking. He offered me his bed but I chose to sleep in the dining area in my sleeping bag so I did not disturb him.
30.7 kilometres walked today, with an ascent of almost 1200 metres. A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com and wandermap.net. The route can also be found on my.ViewRanger.com as johnpon0028.
Waking early I climbed up to the top of Veliki Strbac following one of the classic Serbian hiking trails. By 7:00 am I was at the top watching barges steam through the Iron Gates. From Veliki Strbac I walked to Mali Strbac, lower but with a path closer than I liked to where the cliff dropped down to the Danube far below. The weather was good. White fluffy clouds in a blue sky, but the gorge of the Iron Gates was too deep for the sun to reach. Occasional gusts of cold wind made for more difficult clothing choices.
Then it was all the way down through the trees, steeply in places, to the road at Golo Brdo. Golo Brdo consisted of some scattered farms near the edge of the Danube. There is a famous tablet of stone commemorating Emperor Trajan somewhere near but I could not find it, maybe you need to be in a boat to see it. In approaching the road I noticed a "No Admittance" sign referring to the track through a farm I had just walked down. Assuming this is meant to include hikers, future walkers may want to avoid this farm by avoiding Golo Brdo altogether as there is little reason to visit and there are other footpaths marked.
Climbing out of the valley two things upset me. First that I had left my walking stick somewhere, it was not essential so I did not reclimb the Strbac summits to find it, I brought it to fend off dogs, now I would have to focus on behavioural tricks my wife told me to use. Secondly a fluffy little dog followed me for several kilometres. I worried that it would forget its way home, or that it wanted to start a new life with me or that it was a stray. Shouting at it to go away and throwing stones in its direction did no good, it just moved out of range.
Once I had again climbed to the top of the mountains beside the Danube it was time to find the way down to Tekija. I followed a path on the Djerdap map which appeared to correspond to the route in "Rambling through Serbia", but it proved difficult to find the path among the fallen trees and undergrowth. There had been a footpath sign to Tekija but maybe it referred to one of the side trails I passed.
Reaching Tekija I planned to find a room for the night. The Tourist Information office at Donji Milanovac said ask at the restaurant which I did. The waiter there said walk to the centre of the village and ask anyone, which I did. While I was looking helpless a man who spoke English offered a bed in his house.
First he had to visit an old friend for a massage. An old injury had disabled his arm to a significant degree. His friend gave me coffee and fish soup, and gave him an arm and upper body massage. I gave his friend a postcard of my home town.
Then it was off to his house for the night, he chatted with other friends on the way, it seems a close knit village. His house was like many in that it had three rooms. A bathroom, a combined kitchen and dining area, and a sleeping area. A wood fired range heated the house and was used for cooking. He offered me his bed but I chose to sleep in the dining area in my sleeping bag so I did not disturb him.
30.7 kilometres walked today, with an ascent of almost 1200 metres. A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com and wandermap.net. The route can also be found on my.ViewRanger.com as johnpon0028.
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| The Iron Gates from the top of Veliki Strbac |
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| Barge heading upstream through the Iron Gates |
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| A flower in the trail like a Lenten rose |
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