After a delicious and extensive breakfast on the camp site we set off a little after 9 to leave Bosnia (well, technically Foca is situated in the Republika Srpska) and check out Montenegro. The camp site turned out to be pretty expensive for Bosnian standards, but the warm welcome and absolutely gorgeous food make up for it.
The road out of Bosnia is in pretty bad shape. It is full of potholes and big rips in the tarmac. Kind of reminds us of good ol’ Belgium. But that just makes the crossing into Montenegro all the more pleasant, as the road on the other side of the border is in a lot better shape.
This bridge is somewhere in no man’s land between the 2 border posts.
And this is the road on the other side.
First impressions of the country are pretty good. Shortly after the border post we are treated to the magnificent Piva Canyon.
Immediately after the bridge in the above picture we need to make a sharp left turn into a black hole. And you can take that pretty literally. Montenegrins do like their little tunnels, but don’t really bother with setting them up with lights. Moreover, they enjoy the odd hairpin corner inside those black as night tunnels. Keeps it all interesting.
We’ll hear later on that those tunnels sometimes have even more interesting surprises in store. When it gets really warm in summer, the cows come chill out in the tunnels.
We ride out of the canyon and start a nice climb on a pass towards Trsa and across Durmitor national park. The views are nothing short of breathtaking . We just can’t get the pace up above 30km/h because we are constantly looking around, trying to keep are jaws from dropping tool ow. The landscape is totally deserted and pretty rough, the overcast skies make it even more impressive. Hard to do it justice in a photo.
After Zabljak we dive into Tara Canyon towards Kolasin. We don’t realize it at the time but it turns out Tara is the deepest canyon in Europe and the second longest in the world after the grand canyon. It’s a big favorite with the rafting crowd and the water is so clean you can just drink from it while you’re rafting.
It’s 1PM by now but the HUBB meeting camp ground isn’t far off anymore so we decide to skip lunch and ride on. The gravel road up the mountain starts a few clicks outside of Kolasin. There’s HUBB meeting signs every few kilometers, just in case you’d wonder whether you were still on track I guess…
The signs even conveniently tell you how far you still have to go. Funilly enough there’s about 4km between the sign for 8km and the one for 6km. And the rest of the signs aren’t entirely exact either. But the road itself is pretty fun. Until suddenly the sign points to nowhere while the road continues along the mountain ridge.
But the camp site is just a stone’s throw away from the road.
The location and the views are definitely acceptable.
The eco camp site is located on a small alpine meadow. There are a few wood cabins that serve as kitchen and dining room. And a few smaller ones that can be used to sleep. The entire site is pretty much self-sufficient with solar panels, solar water heaters and a wi-fi hotspot!
Kitchen:
Dining hall:
Boiler for the shower water:
Washing facilities:
Beer stash:
Fridge:
I’ll let you guess where the Wi-Fi hotspot is located:
We get a warm welcome from Blazo and Tonko, the meeting organizers and find a spot to put our tent.
Today’s route:
