Chapel on the way
September 6 '09- the big day when I met up with a local Montenegrin friend of mine, Veselin Obradović, to go on a full day of offroading in the mountains of central Montenegro.
The day started out from Podgorica, the capital, and we headed toward the country's 2nd largest city, Nikšić. It was here where we started our spectacular journey into the highlands and mountains beyond the city.
Weather Report: Cloudy with a high chance of precipitation
With Vesko's reliable Jeep, some candy, a couple drinks, and Rade (Tane) Minić's handy "Montenegro - Mountainbike Guide" offorad book, we were all set to go... the rain was not gonna stop us.
Our intended route was Nikšić - Kapetanovo Jezero (lake)- Kolašin, with mostly gravelled terrain.
We had finally reached the highland valley of Lukavica. The plateau is dotted with shepherd villages full of katuns (their traditional huts) with dramatic backdrops that surround them. We had in fact become lost a couple of times too busy admiring the scenery. It never rained a drop, neither was there barely any cloud cover. We were really in for a treat.
We had finally reached the beautiful glacial lake of Kapetanovo Jezero (Captain's Lake) - the "summit" of the trip. Words cannot describe its true serenity and laid-back setting of its shepherds' settlement that sits peacefully by the crystal clear blue-green waters.
Towards Velje Duboko village
The drive back down the mountains was just as spectacular... if not even more. Here, the mountains remind me of the Rockies of Canada or those of Norway. We headed to the beautifully situated village of Velje Duboko ("big deep") nestled deeeeep in the valley & canyon of Mrtvica. Deep it was! We were even lucky to get some sun down here. This was also when we discovered we were running out of fuel too (oops were so excited we forgot to fuel up in Nikšić!). Just as we thought it was gonna be okay, we knew we were going downhill anyway, back toward civilization.
Of course, we were wrong - again. The macadam road winded way up into the mountains once again. Trying to forget the fact it was starting to get dark - and that we were low in fuel, we cranked on some good ol' Country music and enjoyed the magnificent scenery from up above. The scenery coming down near the end of our drive, where miles and miles of valleys and silhouettes of distant mountains reminded me even more closer to home, the Yukon. It was definitely the untouched part of Montenegro that I had waited to see!
We finally ended up at the junction of the main highway along the Morača Canyon (still enough fuel left, whew!), but as it was already getting dark, we had to head back to the big city. We had only completed barely 3/4 of the suggested 1 of 17 routes in Minić's Montenegro Mountainbike Guide book after all... a barely 4% of the book that we actually covered! I look forward to completing the another 4% in 2010 ... getting lost and back on track again, as long as we remember to fuel up first ;)
Thank you Vesko, thank you Jeep, and of course, thank you gospodine Miniću - for a magnificent journey.
