Quite a variety today, including a hefty 1430 metres of climbing according to my GPS.
Today started by continuing around the lake, passed a house close to my campsite, no doubt the source of the noise yesterday evening. Many such houses dotted the hillside at this end of the lake, all with good views. I shortly reached a junction with a track going back to the tarmac road that I would be following later. Possibly I should have taken it, instead I continued following the track around the lake as it became progressively less used. It was a shorter route by distance but as I left the lake and climbed up towards the road it became completely blocked by branches from some logging operation. I climbed a steep slope to get around them, struggling from one tree stump to another then worked my way back to the path higher up. It was then a few hours walk along the tarmac road. Cars passed with a frequency of one per hour. The lake was not visible from the road which was higher up the valley side but there were plenty of trees, meadows and hillsides to look at.
Reaching the village of Paklestica I topped up my water at the communal tap while inquisitive locals asked what I was doing. I have just about mastered the word for hiking and usually attempt to say the name of the place I am going, in this case a canyon (same word in Serbian). Seeing a British hiker around here is virtually unknown although an English cyclist on the Iron Curtain trail was reported. The village had some picnic tables by the river, with their conical sunshades looked like they belonged on a beach somewhere. I sat down on one and ate my breakfast enjoying the scenery, watched by an attentive dog who checked I did not leave any crumbs.
Some steep uphill walking along a path up a densely wooded slope followed. Rare red and white waymarks gave me some confidence that I was on the right path but were too few to stop me wasting a lot of energy climbing a steep, forestry track that ended abruptly forcing me to descend and pick an older, less obvious path. The path was meant to lead to the Visocica gorge but I was beginning to doubt I would see it through the trees when suddenly there it was. The path followed an old road built into the edge of the steep slope. Too steep and rocky for many trees allowing me to see the gorge far beneath me. It was an incised meander with steep, tree lined valley sides and some large cliffs.
After the overlook the path was more difficult to follow. As I brushed through trees my head, clothes and rucksack picked up tiny green caterpillars or grubs of some kind off the leaves.
My path joined another leading through fields to the village of Rsovci. I heard someone calling on my way but realised it was a shepherd trying get his flock to go somewhere and not addressed to me. I was hoping for a shop in Rsovci to stock up a little, there was one but it was closed with no opening times marked. A helpful man fetched the owner and I bought some snacks and an ice cream for myself and the helpful man. Unfortunately there was some confusion about money. I should have got the shopkeeper to write the amount I owed down, instead I gave more than enough notes and he returned some of the higher denominational ones. Then they confused me with a mixture of Serbian and German. There was a discussion about 2 Euro, 200 dinar and 20 something. I could not understand so after a while the shopkeeper just said OK. Not sure if I underpaid but the shopkeeper had a draw full of change so he could have accepted one of the larger denomination notes I offered. All very embarrassing.
The helpful man then showed me a chapel cut into the cliff on the other side of the river to the village. It included a fresco painted onto the side of the cave as well as numerous icons. It must be an important, local site of interest as a Bulgarian man on his motorcycle was also visiting.
Returning to the village and saying goodbye to my guide, I headed along the road to the villages of Visočka Ržana and Slavinja. After Slavinja I climbed out of the valley on some tracks, a long and (coming at the end of the day) a tiring climb. Once the track had zig-zagged its way to its highest point I turned off to walk up a grassy ridge to a nearby summit with a panoramic view to the north and south. Finding a flat spot, free of many rocks and with a few trees to break the wind I set up camp for the night.
As I finished my tea, waiting for the sunset, the sun which had been shinning for most of the last few days was blotted out by clouds. Towering cumulus clouds followed by lower, black, rain heavy clouds. As I retreated to my tent after checking my pegs and guylines, the wind started blowing and the first shower of rain began. I remember thinking I will never get to sleep due to worrying that the wind will collapse my tent. That was the last thought I remembered before slipping into the land of Nod.
Today started by continuing around the lake, passed a house close to my campsite, no doubt the source of the noise yesterday evening. Many such houses dotted the hillside at this end of the lake, all with good views. I shortly reached a junction with a track going back to the tarmac road that I would be following later. Possibly I should have taken it, instead I continued following the track around the lake as it became progressively less used. It was a shorter route by distance but as I left the lake and climbed up towards the road it became completely blocked by branches from some logging operation. I climbed a steep slope to get around them, struggling from one tree stump to another then worked my way back to the path higher up. It was then a few hours walk along the tarmac road. Cars passed with a frequency of one per hour. The lake was not visible from the road which was higher up the valley side but there were plenty of trees, meadows and hillsides to look at.
Reaching the village of Paklestica I topped up my water at the communal tap while inquisitive locals asked what I was doing. I have just about mastered the word for hiking and usually attempt to say the name of the place I am going, in this case a canyon (same word in Serbian). Seeing a British hiker around here is virtually unknown although an English cyclist on the Iron Curtain trail was reported. The village had some picnic tables by the river, with their conical sunshades looked like they belonged on a beach somewhere. I sat down on one and ate my breakfast enjoying the scenery, watched by an attentive dog who checked I did not leave any crumbs.
Some steep uphill walking along a path up a densely wooded slope followed. Rare red and white waymarks gave me some confidence that I was on the right path but were too few to stop me wasting a lot of energy climbing a steep, forestry track that ended abruptly forcing me to descend and pick an older, less obvious path. The path was meant to lead to the Visocica gorge but I was beginning to doubt I would see it through the trees when suddenly there it was. The path followed an old road built into the edge of the steep slope. Too steep and rocky for many trees allowing me to see the gorge far beneath me. It was an incised meander with steep, tree lined valley sides and some large cliffs.
After the overlook the path was more difficult to follow. As I brushed through trees my head, clothes and rucksack picked up tiny green caterpillars or grubs of some kind off the leaves.
My path joined another leading through fields to the village of Rsovci. I heard someone calling on my way but realised it was a shepherd trying get his flock to go somewhere and not addressed to me. I was hoping for a shop in Rsovci to stock up a little, there was one but it was closed with no opening times marked. A helpful man fetched the owner and I bought some snacks and an ice cream for myself and the helpful man. Unfortunately there was some confusion about money. I should have got the shopkeeper to write the amount I owed down, instead I gave more than enough notes and he returned some of the higher denominational ones. Then they confused me with a mixture of Serbian and German. There was a discussion about 2 Euro, 200 dinar and 20 something. I could not understand so after a while the shopkeeper just said OK. Not sure if I underpaid but the shopkeeper had a draw full of change so he could have accepted one of the larger denomination notes I offered. All very embarrassing.
The helpful man then showed me a chapel cut into the cliff on the other side of the river to the village. It included a fresco painted onto the side of the cave as well as numerous icons. It must be an important, local site of interest as a Bulgarian man on his motorcycle was also visiting.
Returning to the village and saying goodbye to my guide, I headed along the road to the villages of Visočka Ržana and Slavinja. After Slavinja I climbed out of the valley on some tracks, a long and (coming at the end of the day) a tiring climb. Once the track had zig-zagged its way to its highest point I turned off to walk up a grassy ridge to a nearby summit with a panoramic view to the north and south. Finding a flat spot, free of many rocks and with a few trees to break the wind I set up camp for the night.
As I finished my tea, waiting for the sunset, the sun which had been shinning for most of the last few days was blotted out by clouds. Towering cumulus clouds followed by lower, black, rain heavy clouds. As I retreated to my tent after checking my pegs and guylines, the wind started blowing and the first shower of rain began. I remember thinking I will never get to sleep due to worrying that the wind will collapse my tent. That was the last thought I remembered before slipping into the land of Nod.
34.5 kilometres walked today, with a 1430 metre ascent. A gpx file of my route can be found on wikiloc.com or the route can be downloaded from Outdooractive.
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| Visocica canyon |
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| Path along side of Visocica canyon |
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| Partially overgrown track after gorge |
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| Shrine at Rsovci |
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| Gathering clouds |
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