Friday 14 June

 We are woken in the night by heavy rain and thunder. I worry about our trek up into the mountains. 

It’s raining when we have breakfast and the tops are enshrouded in mist. The large group are from Finland and they are heading to the ferry today at the end of their holiday. 

At 8am we’re picked up in a 4x4 which will transport us, our bags and various other supplies up the mountain to our route start at Cerem. It’s an incredibly rough uneven track challenging even in a 4x4. The rain eases as we get higher and after 30 minutes we’re dropped off. Our bags will be carried by horse!

We start our climb initially struggling to find the start of the route of course. Our journey takes us through beech woods, pastures filled with wild flowers, conifer forests all with stunning mountain scenery. And it is dry, clear and sunny for most of it. We even stop at a shepherd’s hut / cafe in the middle of nowhere for Turkish coffee, cake and delicious freshly made yoghurt. 

We chat to some German lads who are on their 5th day of walking the trail. It’s not too crowded but there is a steady stream of people although we can walk alone most of the time. It is far from undiscovered however and tourist development is happening at a pace. 

Our destination at Doberdol is at 1800m in a mountain pasture and we arrive after 6 hours of hiking. They are constructing buildings as we arrive so not quite the peaceful idyll that we had hoped for. We are however in a 2 bed wooden hut so I am relieved not to be sharing a large dormitory. All very basic with a cold shower and basic toilets but amazing to be in such a location. We are certainly among the oldest here and feel a little out of our comfort zones