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In search of the Walnut Valley

You may have noticed that we’ve been very active throughout our trip in Montenegro, and our second day in Lake Skadar was no different. We had had a hike to the Walnut Valley scheduled and booked with Ben, but due to forecasted storm on the next day, he had to bring forward another excursion and our walk was cancelled. Moreover, another couple who were supposed to be on the walk with us decided to rescind their booking, effectively left us with less than minimum number of persons required.

Walnut Valley

Walnut Valley

Nonetheless, understanding that we’d still like to give the walk a go on our own, Ben stopped by our cave apartment with a map and instruction on how to locate the trail ourselves. Armed with these two pieces of paper, we set out for the Walnut Valley, in the direction of Dupilo.

Despite Ben’s instruction, after a short-ish walk, we took a wrong turn and ended up in an overgrown field. Sensing something was not quite right, we back-tracked a little but not before F saw a snake slithering away among the wild grass. I still get shivers thinking about it. Up to now, it was already quite bad to be seeing ginormous spiders and their wide-extending web in between trees. Snakes freak me up…

Walnut Valley

Walnut Valley

Walnut Valley

Walnut Valley

We hiked up the mountain a bit more, and found the actual turn we were supposed to take. However, right there and then, the grey cloud covers opened up and it started to pour. Not relishing the idea of walking for hours in the rain, I suggested heading towards the village of Dupilo and rejoin the trail from there. Sadly, we didn’t find a single soul in this village, and there was a very fierce dog which would not silence its growl. We backed away slowly, and thought it would perhaps be more prudent for us to take the initially indicated path.

All these little quirks aside, we were treated to more mountain views, with the peaks and troughs, that was just stunning to look at. From time to time, the sun ray pierced through the thick cover of clouds, allowing us to bask in the combinatorial fights of nature vs weather. As we descended near our supposed walking trail, however, the rain started to pour down again. I guess this could be the valley’s way of warning us off. Sadly, it also meant we won’t be able to see a natural spring and a hidden waterfall in the valley.

Walnut Valley

Walnut Valley

Walnut Valley

Walnut Valley

However, We did well for not pushing along this time. A few hundred metres on, we were just stepping into a hut so we can have our picnic lunch when the sky opened up. The rain lasted for quite a moment, enough for us to finish eating while not getting a chill. When it finally broke for a while, we were legging for it back to the apartment but the rain cloud found us nonetheless. It proceeded to pour buckets of water on me, leaving me chilly and wet. We got back to Virpazar soaked like a sorry pair of puppies.

Things didn’t exactly improve either, as it rained rather heavily on-and-off throughout the day. For once, we were stucked indoors since we started our holiday; all we had to do were either to entertain each other or to read. We couldn’t even capture the wifi very well in the cave apartment. Did we regret not locating the natural spring and the waterfall? A wee bit. Did we regret have a light-and-easy day? Not at all. Afterall, even without these features, where we hiked between Virpazar and Dupilo was worth noted for its beautiful views. We’ll take all that come our way, whichever it may to be ;) And having a break was not completely a bad idea too!

 

All posts in this series:
Montengro: Postcards: Herceg Novi | Flickr Photoset
Montengro: The medieval town of Kotor | Flickr Photoset
Montengro: Up, up, to St John’s Fortress | Flickr Photoset
Montengro: Postcards: Perast
Montengro: Kayaking the Boka Kotorska
Montengro: Kayaking in Lake Skadar
Montengro: In search of the Walnut Valley
Montengro: The ruins of Stari Bar | Flickr Photoset



Category: Europe, Montenegro, Travel

Tagged: , , , , ,

4 scribbles & notes

  1. medca says:

    Oh yes, light and easy definitely good…especially after so much kayaking n with such weather as well zzzzzz ;)

    • Lil says:

      Yeah, we were not particularly lucky with the weather down in the south… Still, it was good to have that break since we were busy again for the next few days ;)

  2. gareth says:

    doyou still have the walk notes? We would love to give it a go!

    • Lil says:

      Unfortunately, with the rain, the notes were pretty much destroyed so we don’t have a copy of it anymore.

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