The sound of some animal around the tent woke me at 5:30 am. I thought a deer but as I reached for my glasses to check the time it started barking followed by all the dogs on all the farms within a few kilometres. Not being sure if it was a vicious biting dog I decided to stay still until it lost interest and wandered off. 45 minutes later all was quiet and I thought it safe to start decamping up. I had finished packing and was just checking I had left nothing behind when I saw two dogs looking at me, one a dirty yellow and the other larger one with a bit of husky in him somewhere. Fortunately they were not the biting kind and I cautiously headed on my way.
After several turns at various junctions by farms and through woods I was feeling relieved I had researched the route on Google Earth. A later track seemed to be an old railway line, with embankments and cuttings through volcanic rock. My planned route took me below the dam that created the lake of Borsko Jezero ("Jezero" means lake), however I had now been told by two different people that I would not be allowed to go that way. So as I neared the lake I switched to Google Maps for navigation and went around the north side of the lake (I had downloaded the map so that I could use it offline). One incident with a black dog on the loose barking and baring its teeth at me made me nervous. I picked up some stones in case he came too close.
At 10:00 am I was far too early for the room that my kind host at Negotin had booked for me at Villa Ljubicic, but with little to lose I called at the house and after some calls to Negotin for translation (the owner's spoke no English and I no Serbian), I had my room, coffee, breakfast and later at 4:30 pm also a meal of lettuce, cheese, soup, grilled pork, onions, rakia and beer. The best possible outcome.
Borsko Jezero is an artificial lake with many headlands and inlets, trees adding to its beauty. It had some fishermen, cafés (most still closed for the season) and a 4 star hotel (apparently full for the weekend). Outside the hotel was a statue of a miner, the nearby town of Bor being a mining area. One of the nice things about former socialist countries is that they are not afraid to glorify working people. Pathways go around part of the lake, with some neatly cropped grass, benches, picnic tables and some pleasant trees, their bright green leaves just appearing.
Only 11.4 kilometres walked today, so effectively a rest day! A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or can be downloaded from ViewRanger short code johnpon0030.
After several turns at various junctions by farms and through woods I was feeling relieved I had researched the route on Google Earth. A later track seemed to be an old railway line, with embankments and cuttings through volcanic rock. My planned route took me below the dam that created the lake of Borsko Jezero ("Jezero" means lake), however I had now been told by two different people that I would not be allowed to go that way. So as I neared the lake I switched to Google Maps for navigation and went around the north side of the lake (I had downloaded the map so that I could use it offline). One incident with a black dog on the loose barking and baring its teeth at me made me nervous. I picked up some stones in case he came too close.
At 10:00 am I was far too early for the room that my kind host at Negotin had booked for me at Villa Ljubicic, but with little to lose I called at the house and after some calls to Negotin for translation (the owner's spoke no English and I no Serbian), I had my room, coffee, breakfast and later at 4:30 pm also a meal of lettuce, cheese, soup, grilled pork, onions, rakia and beer. The best possible outcome.
Borsko Jezero is an artificial lake with many headlands and inlets, trees adding to its beauty. It had some fishermen, cafés (most still closed for the season) and a 4 star hotel (apparently full for the weekend). Outside the hotel was a statue of a miner, the nearby town of Bor being a mining area. One of the nice things about former socialist countries is that they are not afraid to glorify working people. Pathways go around part of the lake, with some neatly cropped grass, benches, picnic tables and some pleasant trees, their bright green leaves just appearing.
Only 11.4 kilometres walked today, so effectively a rest day! A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or can be downloaded from ViewRanger short code johnpon0030.
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| Borsko Jezero |
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| Borsko Jezero |
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