I had slept pretty well even with the incredible cold that had obliged me to cover even my head under the blanket. It’s time to move on.
The usual procedure starts and we are ready around 8.
Time to say goodbye. To Manuela, who goes on towards Milisevc (also my original plan) and to my mum, who will stay here for another day and then get a car ride to the valley and from there take a ferry and another ride back to Shkoder.
The weather is nice and sunny and we climb the hill right next to the guesthouse through the blueberry mountains (in German: Heidelbeerge. Haha). With some wayfinding trouble we make it to the pass by 11. This is also the border to Montenegro. We leave the “Three Peaks” (The border point between Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo) to our right and continue. From here on, it’s mostly downhill towards the mountain lake of Hridsko Jezero. The lake showing up in front of us is one of the most beautiful moments until now. The landscape is stunning and even though it’s not that warm, we cannot resist a bath. It is not too cold.
After some rest, we descent further through a magical quiet and beautiful forest of pine trees, blueberries and soft ground with some grey rocks and a few small rivers towards our destination for today. I am not very fit today and don’t feel completely fine, so I am happy to have such an easy hike. We stop for a longer lunch break at the edge of the forest and have another break shortly after because we cross a bar that is too nice to ignore. Everything is very quiet and empty today. Probably because this treck is not officially part of the Peaks of Balkans trail. The bar is a very nice hut with a huge terrace with views, flowers and tables. We get drinks and a real toilet and would almost like to stay here for the night. But to Babino Polje it’s only another 4 km or so and we arrive after one hour, around 5 at the “Eco Lodge”.
This night’s accommodation is a little Camping-like compound of small wooden houses in the forest next to a small river. I have a room for myself that is just as big as the bed, there is a warm shower (even if it switches between either 60°C or 8°C), electricity and towels so I am very happy at this cozy place. As a cherry on top of the day and after two days of very poor cuisine and little love for details at the last place, we get fabulous food with filled wine leaves, chicken, vegetables potatoes, cucumber, tomato and vegetable soup and very good service.
I feel really sorry that my mum had to give up and has not been here for the lake and the views and this cool place. 🙁
This is the third day without phone connection, but I don’t mind the digital detox. You people will have to read a lot once I get some signal to upload all there posts.
