A long day of navigation challenges that can be split into three parts.
The first stage was to get from my campsite on top of the mountains to the road at the small village of Jalovik Izvor. Having watched the sunrise pink and orange above the Stara Planina mountains I walked down the valley. The planned route seemed to have disappeared but with the help of my map I found a route to Jalovik Izvor down another track, but not before after I attempted a path downhill that did not go anywhere, forcing me into a steep climb back up.
Having descended all the way to the village I viewed the locked up church with its separate bell tower. Then it was a climb up the other side of the valley for the second stage of my day to a settlement called Baldic, which did not appear to have anyone there, not even a dog, but it did have a spring where I filled up with water.
Then along a track through woods beside a mountain which ended at a junction. I had planned two possible routes from this junction but the upper route had the best track, so I took this. After a kilometre or so it ended in a meadow surrounded by trees with dense undergrowth, I pushed through the trees in one direction without reaching any path so I turned back and tried the other route. That ended in impenetrable thorny bushes of various types. There were the remains of an old stone building and the map had sheepfolds marked. It looked like pasture land that had been abandoned and taken over by vicious shrubs with sharp thorns. However I could see across the valley back to the previous track. Rather than ending in a meadow it looked like the track continued downhill into fields. So I returned and again tried the upper route and this time found a way out of the meadow through the trees to the farm of Glavcina below (not quite sure where I found that name but I had entered it in my GPS as an important waypoint during my planning before the trip). This farm had a few hens clucking and some freshly tilled fields although fortunately no sign of a dog.
I had spent over an hour and a lot of energy searching out the route, so from Glavcina I headed down to the main road by an obvious track. A kilometre south on the road was a pretty good waterfall with a stall selling homemade produce. Some Bulgarians on a day out from Sofia were buying some smoked(?) meat. Just beyond was a turn off for a monastery, some 1.2 kilometres away, but I was keen to start the third stage of my walk which involved crossing mountains to the Ćuštica road.
Here I met me nemesis. I followed my planned route for a few kilometres including some steep uphills. I then discovered that I had again picked a stream on Google Earth instead of a track. The woodland was dense with thorny shrubs, there was no means of following the stream and there was another 4 kilometres to reach the Ćuštica road. I had no alternative route planned and I had accommodation booked for the night, leaving no time for following random tracks that may or may not lead anywhere. So, very disappointed, I was forced to retrace my steps back to the road. To reach my B&B accommodation in the village of Batla Berilovac it was then a long, hot and dusty walk along roads. A coke at the large village of Kalna helped keep me going, where a few people practiced their English on me. The thought of a cold beer at the Villa Babin Zub (my B&B) was also an incentive. Altogether I walked 39 kilometres and climbed over 1100 metres, far more than intended.
In compensation, the said Villa Babin Zub proved very pleasant with a number of English speaking people staying. An Englishman among them was an excellent raconteur, keeping me amused with stories of his work, their walks in the mountains etc., his Serbian wife helped arranged a very welcome and absolutely gorgeous cold beer and dinner for me. Some American visitors commented on the amount of food at dinner but I seemed to have little problem cleaning my plate after a long day.....helped by a glass of red wine and a walnut rakia with my coffee (the walnut rakia was a little on the sweet side, the plum was great).
Up to to Jalovik Izvor a gpx file of the trail can be downloaded from wikiloc.com, or the route can be found on ViewRanger as johnpon0031. For the trail after Jalovik Izvor village a gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or the route can be downloaded from Outdooractive.
The first stage was to get from my campsite on top of the mountains to the road at the small village of Jalovik Izvor. Having watched the sunrise pink and orange above the Stara Planina mountains I walked down the valley. The planned route seemed to have disappeared but with the help of my map I found a route to Jalovik Izvor down another track, but not before after I attempted a path downhill that did not go anywhere, forcing me into a steep climb back up.
Having descended all the way to the village I viewed the locked up church with its separate bell tower. Then it was a climb up the other side of the valley for the second stage of my day to a settlement called Baldic, which did not appear to have anyone there, not even a dog, but it did have a spring where I filled up with water.
Then along a track through woods beside a mountain which ended at a junction. I had planned two possible routes from this junction but the upper route had the best track, so I took this. After a kilometre or so it ended in a meadow surrounded by trees with dense undergrowth, I pushed through the trees in one direction without reaching any path so I turned back and tried the other route. That ended in impenetrable thorny bushes of various types. There were the remains of an old stone building and the map had sheepfolds marked. It looked like pasture land that had been abandoned and taken over by vicious shrubs with sharp thorns. However I could see across the valley back to the previous track. Rather than ending in a meadow it looked like the track continued downhill into fields. So I returned and again tried the upper route and this time found a way out of the meadow through the trees to the farm of Glavcina below (not quite sure where I found that name but I had entered it in my GPS as an important waypoint during my planning before the trip). This farm had a few hens clucking and some freshly tilled fields although fortunately no sign of a dog.
I had spent over an hour and a lot of energy searching out the route, so from Glavcina I headed down to the main road by an obvious track. A kilometre south on the road was a pretty good waterfall with a stall selling homemade produce. Some Bulgarians on a day out from Sofia were buying some smoked(?) meat. Just beyond was a turn off for a monastery, some 1.2 kilometres away, but I was keen to start the third stage of my walk which involved crossing mountains to the Ćuštica road.
Here I met me nemesis. I followed my planned route for a few kilometres including some steep uphills. I then discovered that I had again picked a stream on Google Earth instead of a track. The woodland was dense with thorny shrubs, there was no means of following the stream and there was another 4 kilometres to reach the Ćuštica road. I had no alternative route planned and I had accommodation booked for the night, leaving no time for following random tracks that may or may not lead anywhere. So, very disappointed, I was forced to retrace my steps back to the road. To reach my B&B accommodation in the village of Batla Berilovac it was then a long, hot and dusty walk along roads. A coke at the large village of Kalna helped keep me going, where a few people practiced their English on me. The thought of a cold beer at the Villa Babin Zub (my B&B) was also an incentive. Altogether I walked 39 kilometres and climbed over 1100 metres, far more than intended.
In compensation, the said Villa Babin Zub proved very pleasant with a number of English speaking people staying. An Englishman among them was an excellent raconteur, keeping me amused with stories of his work, their walks in the mountains etc., his Serbian wife helped arranged a very welcome and absolutely gorgeous cold beer and dinner for me. Some American visitors commented on the amount of food at dinner but I seemed to have little problem cleaning my plate after a long day.....helped by a glass of red wine and a walnut rakia with my coffee (the walnut rakia was a little on the sweet side, the plum was great).
Up to to Jalovik Izvor a gpx file of the trail can be downloaded from wikiloc.com, or the route can be found on ViewRanger as johnpon0031. For the trail after Jalovik Izvor village a gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or the route can be downloaded from Outdooractive.
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| Waterfall (Vodopad Bigar) with stall selling home made produce |
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| Impenetrable thorny bushes blocking my way |
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