Walk to Lukomir, Bosnia’s highest village A 4 hr walk to an old summer village, evening in Sarajevo.

We started with an hour long transfer past the village built for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. Samir is very proud of these Bosnian landmarks.

Our walk started next to a group of old wooden mills driven by water.

We walked through the beech forest and then came to the edge of a canyon, then up and along a ridge to a small ancient village. The village had been there since the 14 c, outside the village were typical ancient tomb stones, these date back to pre-Ottoman times here and are pentagonal in cross section and weigh about 2.5 tons and nobody knows how they are made or what the represented. They are typical of the Bosnian, Serbian Croatian region and may yet be granted UNESCO protected status. The village comprised about 30 stone houses with wooden shingle roofs, but now many of the roofs are protected with tin instead and this is rusting and lacks the beauty of the wood. The houses are very simple inside, one woman cooked us lunch of a typical potato and cheese filed filo pastry like pie. we also drank coffee from tiny cups. The village is now abandoned in winter and the inhabitants move-down to stay with children who live in the outskirts of Sarajevo. I wonder what the children make of the move and how they cope with the arrival of sheep and hens. The village still feels very self-sufficient, there were potato patches, sheep grazing and hens pecking around. The women knit socks and I bought a pair of multi coloured socks with a geometric pattern on them which I can show off in winter. The men carve wooden items. The village is growing in different ways, some new houses are being built, a bar has opened and the mosque is being repaired and there were about 20 people there on the building site , inside and beyond the building was a working prayer hall with a mirab, green pulpit and carpets facing Mecca. The village is opposite an area of heavy forests but also quite inaccessible. We then drove back over the bleak rocky landscape. it was also v hot., it has been the first day when it has not rained.

In the evening we then walked down to Sarajevo for an excellent supper in an old brewery where the beer was better than anywhere else so far; it has been very bland and I also enjoyed a dark beer, the only one I have seen in Bosnia. Also had nicer beer than before. We ended the evening with Sarajevan ice cream.

Today’s contrasts were between the socialist architecture of the 1960s Olympic village and the stone buildings in Lukor. This village had the timelessness of high mountain locations. It was especially interesting to see this village because there were no villages in the Sujtska national park.

The beauty of Sarajevo contrasts with the horror of Srebrenica

We left the beautiful rocks and forest of the Sutkksa park, drove through a Middle European landscape with small villages and farms to awards Sarajevo. The many rocky canyons also illustrate the mountainous terrain. Sarajevo is bigger than I expected and lies in a valley; we had fine views of the red roofs of the houses the old centre of the town feels Turkish in the centre, with large mosques and old caravanserais. We also went round the ottoman library. A notice outside said that this had been destroyed in the 1993-5 war by Serbian criminals and 2 million documents destroyed and it has just been rebuilt with exquisite decorations but sadly no books. I also visited the spot where Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated with an old fashioned museum but I understand the event better and learnt that there were several potential assassins.

As one walks along the main Street in Sarajevo one can turn at one point and the vista changes from being Turkish to 19c Austro-Hungarian with high stuccoed buildings, shops, boutiques and both orthodox and catholic cathedrals. I also saw the synagogue.

The afternoon was sobering because I visited the gallery 11/07/95 which is a gallery devoted to remembering the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo. The Srebrenica massacre took place in 1995 and was done in a town that the UN had designated a safe area but the Dutch peacekeepers were unable to protect the people and the Serbs separated out the men and massacred 8000 with Ratko Mladic saying this was to avenge a previous Serbian defeat. There was a very powerful film showing the events leading up to the massacre mixing film footage and comments by people who lost relatives in the massacre. The task of identifying the dead is only partially done and despite even decades of work will never be finished. The photos of the events are in black and white and are high quality and well curated and create a powerful and saddening story.

I came out feeling sombre and sat in a cafe wondering how further massacres can be prevented. In am sure there are going to be massacres in Iraq.

In the evening we were sans guide for our meal so I found a cafe in the Turkish quarter that could take 13 and suggested to everyone that we went there, it avoided the problem of a large group being unable to decide where to eat. Sarajevo is heaving with people out enjoying themselves on a Sat night, maybe even more because of Ramadan. After enjoying an excellent ice cream in the throng we sat at an open air bar drinking beer and feeling as though we were in Vienna.

It was a day of contrasts, the Ottoman versus Austro- Hungarian aspects of Sarajevo, the horror of Srebrenica and festive throng on the streets of Sarajevo.

Climbing Mt Maglic (2886m) and lunch in Montenegro

This was the big hike, 9 hours circuit round M Maglic in Sutjeska Park. The omens were not good because we woke up to thick mist in the park and then drove up to the starting point. As we set off there was no sign of the peak we were ascending. We walked for an hour or so through scrubby forest. Then we started to ascend and had a long climb up. This also involved doing hand to hand climbing over rocks and three pieces holding onto a wire cable. Joann and I were right at the end, both struggling. When we reached the point below the summit we were in thick fog, so we let the others go up for a peak view of cloud. I knew that I needed to conserve my energy for the next six hours walking and I wanted to avoid any further climbing.

We then descended across rock and grass, with beautiful clumps of alpine flowers . After an hour's descent we stopped for lunch and the mist cleared to reveal a stunning view of high mountains with stone valleys, patches of snow and a steep drop down to a green lake. It was magical to have this suddenly revealed. We then had a very difficult descent across the scree, first time for me using two sticks and not a good place to learn, I also felt cautious and ended up dropping right back to the end of the group with Sujan, the other guide. The descent seemed very, very long, endless jumping over stones. We rested by the lake which is used as a summer residence by locals staying there fishing and living off the land. We then walked up and had another long descent, this time through forest, and came out at a sunlit valley but also full of mosquitoes. We crossed and climbed slowly out for the ninth hour of the walk which ended with a 45 min ascent . We were rewarded with stunning views of the light breaking up through clouds onto other mountains. Shafts of light piercing the clouds and illuminated the rocks and trees. Then had a hour slow bus journey back to the park hotel, I really could have done without that long transfer.

We had supper in a local restaurant, again a disappointing veggie option, same veggies as the main course with three slices of cheese and a semolina cone.

This was the biggest walk many of us had done and people are saying it will be their benchmark walk. The other long one I have done is the Larig Ghru through the Cairngorms but that was easier without these technical sections.

Pleasant group of people to walk with, though we don't encourage each other much, all a bit too individualistic. The youngest is a Dutch doctor who lives in London and is about to start training as a haematologist. There are many retired people.

The weather here is very variable, but there had been a pattern even from Berlin. The morning is bright and warm, then the cloud builds up and there is a storm and the evening is then cleared.

Walk in park, views of panorama and Maglić mountain

Our transfer took us up through the mountains through areas of rocky landscape with only short Mediterranean oaks trees as vegetation. The landscape flattened out into plains where sheep and goats grazed.

We stopped at the national park hotel, a large building from the socialist era. We drove on for an hour into the first meeting a logger (possibly illegal) coming down which required pretty good reversing skills by our driver.

We then set off on our walk and started through trees, mixed types we then crossed meadows full of Alpine flowers pinks, yellows, blues. We climbed up a ridge to a peak from which we had amazing views of the landscape, mountains, beautiful rocks sediments visible, walked along the ridge to the point where we had a close view of mount Maglić and also views of the forest, rivers that start up here and other mountains. It is a beautiful landscape, it is very deserted, very little evidence of human habitation. No nomads. Got drenched by a ferocious thunderstorm that penetrated most of our waterproofs.

Had a nice walk back across the meadow and then fantastic views of the ridge which we had just walked on.

5 hours walking

Bosnia, Dubrovnik and Trebinje

Took a taxi to the airport and saw the vastness of new Zagreb with endless socialist flats and more being built.

Zagreb airport is tiny. I had beautiful views of the Dalmatian coast with azure blue sea small cluster of red roofed house and long peninsulas. I could also see how rocky the ground was.

I took a taxi to Trebinje, our first town. More beautiful views, first of Dubrovnik and the bay, then of the landscape here, vineyards on the valley floors, small trees, dominated by bare mountains with their lines of sediment visible.

Trebinje is a lovely town which shows off the different styles of Bosnian architecture, there are old Ottoman gates, a bridge , an old town with a mosque, small houses , two churches and then a modern gate that leads into the Austria Hungarian part of the town with larger houses, and cafes around a plane tree filled square. In the evening this was filled with Bosnians with 80s music playing.
I had the afternoon to myself because I arrived ahead of the group. I really appreciated this and wandered around the town by myself enjoying the cafes.

The group arrived about 6.00; 16 of us and we seem a typical Exodus mix with a couple of couples and an abundance of single women. The oldest is a wiry man who lived in Islington all his life and moved out to St Albans and now comes back to London the whole time.

In Trebinje one could also see the socialist style buildings, I found a large medical outpatients and a very light airy modern post office.

Bosnia is visibly poorer than Croatia with poorer quality goods and not such a range, lots of local produce especially water melons.

Nice guide Samir who has been doing this tour for some time.

Surprised to see Cyrillic script on the road signs and hotel.