I came full circle on the Peaks of the Balkans, after walking ~200km in twelve days, to return to Theth via some of the most spectacular scenery on the trail. The Vusanje to Theth section had some of the largest and craggiest mountain views, a great way to finish a memorable hike.
The first 5km or so was dull 4WD road walking though so I caught a 20 minute jeep transfer from the guesthouse out to this impressive private house under construction. Above it was a taster of the sort of scenery to come.
There was still a bit of road walking to do though, followed by a steep shortcut through pleasant forest.
I emerged out to more towering cliffs with clouds hoovering around their peaks.
Ropojane Lake was more of a large shallow puddle. Apparently it is rarely filled with water, and the marked track goes straight through it, but in late June there must have been sufficient snowmelt, plus quite a lot of recent rain, to fill it to some degree.
At the end of the lake was a marker post denoting the border between Montenegro and Albania.
The cloud enveloped cliffs were quite eerie.
There were lots of beautiful wildflowers, a bonus walking the trail in June.
The sun started to make an appearance.
There was another substantial climb through forest, providing welcome shade.
Which brought me onto the Fusha Runices meadows, which made for pleasant walking.
There were some shepherd huts, which you can apparently buy fresh produce from, but presumably later in the season.
There were also rather a lot of stinging nettles, the curse of a hiker in shorts.
The scenery just kept getting more dramatic the further I walked along the valley.
Particularly with the mix of sun and cloud on the landscape.
Looking down the valley was a communist era observation post from when the Albanian border was sealed.
There were equally epic views looking further up the valley.
This unusual 2,218m mountain is known as the “Albanian Matterhorn” or Harapi Peak.
Though there were plenty more interesting peaks nearby.
And interesting rock formations closer by.
The track then headed down toward the small and somewhat stagnant looking Lake Pejёs.
This was surrounded by some of the most unusual rock formations I’ve seen anywhere. They looked like something had been demolished.
A final uphill push took me up to Peja Pass, and huge views down into Theth Valley.
Which I had to descend down into, more than a thousand metres of switchbacks and often loose rocks, with little shade in the hot early afternoon. It was an exhausting end to the Peaks of the Balkans, but at least the views were good.
These pink flowers were beautiful.
The final section was through trees and over more rocks before finally reaching coffee bar Kroni for transport back to Shkoder, where the trip started a fortnight previous.
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