Gravel Bike Adventure in Serbia on the Trans Dinarica Trail
sarahjwm
Most of the gravel tracks were in good condition
We have been cycle touring in the Western Balkans following one of the Trans Dinarica routes since mid-May and it’s now 11th June. We started in Albania then headed through Northern Macedonia, Kosovo, briefly to Montenegro and have now arrived in Serbia. The scenery along this steep mountainous route has been stunning as we travelled through forests and pastoral land full of wild flowers and visited towns and villages. By the time we finish our cycle in Sarajevo, Bosnia, we will have cycled 1755 km and climbed 30,000 m in 40 days. As we are just either side of 70 this is no mean feat!
Campanula, one of many wild flowers growing here.
The map below shows our routes through Serbia. See previous blogs for the start of our trip.
Cycling from Tutin to Novi Bazaar
We set off from the town of Tutin in lovely sunny weather on a varied ride, with some steep bits and some gentle climbs, up through rolling pasture. We had several nice off-road sections that were gravelly on packed mud, although there was one section where I was really glad of our wide tyres. It was steep, heavily rutted and the gravel was more fist sized rocks, and what mountain bikers like to call rock gardens.
A half cut, flower filled, hayfield. The roadside was lined with wild roses.We often passed cows grazing along the roadsideFeeling a bit shook up after dropping down a section of track that was more large rock than gravel.
The first kindness if the day came when we stopped in a cafe in Delimede. They were just finishing a farmers market and the cafes were full of farmers with weather beaten faces, dark bushy eyebrows and incredibly blue eyes. We sat outside with them drinking Sprite as they drank their strong black coffee and chain smoked, but when we tried to pay the owner wouldn’t hear of it, insisting it was on the house.
The hundreds of wild roses smelt divine.The minarets on this Mosque in Delimede are 77.2 m high, apparently the tallest in Serbia and possibly in Europe, outside of Turkey.This gives a good idea of how steep the Balkans are
The second kindness of the day was as we were entering Novi Pazar in heavy traffic. As we stopped at a red light a young man on a motorbike came alongside and started the usual chat with Bernie. Where are you from, do you like Serbia, can I help with anything. Bernie said that what we really needed to find was somewhere to eat. Follow me he said, so we weaved through the traffic like someone on a motorbike! Bernie was fairly close behind him, but I kept finding people wanting to cross on pedestrian crossings, I can only apologise for not stopping. After about 10 minutes he pulled over next to the river where there were some tables. He put our bikes against a tree and told us to make ourselves comfortable, he would order. His only worry was did we like onions. He disappeared across the road into a small kitchen, we had no idea what was coming. He then popped back, wrote down his name and number in case we needed anything and was away on his bike. A few minutes later a couple of plates full of Ćevapčići, Serbian sausages with chilli, onions and homemade bread arrived and was delicious. While we were eating Hassan returned to give us two Serbian colas, called Sultan Cola which contains Cumin. He said it was delicious, then he was off again. I was just thankful he hadn’t also paid for the food.
Old and modern Novi PazaarTurkish Delight and Halva. Who knew – Turkish Delight is fantastic cycling food!
Novi Pazar is an ancient city that many trading routes came through, hence its name which means New Bazaar. Being in such a strategic location it has also had many armies through here, burning it to the ground on more than one occasion. But there are some very old buildings left, so we spent a morning visiting a couple of them.
Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, one of the oldest in SerbiaStone in the Church from 1740. Just love their moustaches and glasses
We also cycled a couple of kilometres out of town to visit the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, which is one of the earliest in Serbia. The church itself is around 9th Century, but archaeologists we chatted to alongside were working on finds from 5th Century BC.
Bits of the remaining frescoes still visible in the churchThe archaeological dig being carried out next to the church before they build the new priests house. They have finds from 5th century BC
Then we headed back into town and walked up the old walls of the original town. We chatted to an organiser of the Eco Fest up there and he talked about the area now and how difficult it is for them, as they are mainly Bosniaks living in Serbia. He feels the area is like a tinderbox at the moment. Their biggest problem is that they don’t have a leader with any charisma who can get anything done. The city has a 50% unemployment rate, the highest in Serbia. This explains the number of beggars we have seen here. There have been child beggars in previous towns but here there are more as well as women with babies and young children.
The ancient watchtower in the city wallsInside the restored watch tower being given a Bosniacs view of the history and the tinderbox current affairs of the area
Novi Pazaar to Sjenica
We were on the road by 8 that morning in an attempt to beat the heat. It was going to be another very hot day, but as we were climbing all day we hoped the altitude would help keep us cooler. It didn’t!
The restored Monastery Sopocani
We wound gently up hill to the 13th Century Monastery Sopocani and its beautiful frescoes. It is amazing these have survived as the Ottomans had set fire to the Monastery , and it was deserted for 200 years with the frescoes exposed to the extreme elements. They were restored in 1925-29 and 1949-58.
The incredible ancient frescoes inside the Monastery Sopocani
On upwards from there, forever upwards. There were quite a few off-road sections today, mostly on gravel roads that reminded me of Australia. They were wide and used by local traffic, leaving us in a cloud of dust.
We started the day right at the bottom of that valley. It was definitely a big climb day!Getting a face full of dust. Luckily not many cars use these roads
We stopped in a very small cafe as we went back through Delimede, immediately opposite the Mosque with the tallest towers. A young girl had been left in charge, probably about 16, with her 7 year old sister. Although she only spoke one or two words of English she was delighted to see us. We were sat down and bombarded with questions via Google Translate. Every now and then she would ring her friends and boast about having English people there. These friends would then turn up and giggle or ask us questions.
Heading higher on the gravel tracksFinally at the top on the plains surrounded by surprisingly boggy ground
After that the day got hard. It was very hot and we had about 1480 m of climb, quite a lot of it off-road, although thankfully not all of it.
Farming wise everyone was out in the fields cutting and bailing hay by machine, or scythe, turning it with pitch forks and building haystacks. A traditional wood and thatch barn
Right at the end of the ride, when it looked like we couldn’t go up any further we came to an extremely steep and very long hill. We finally made it to the top with pedals only just turning. But it wasn’t finished with us as we still had to undulate down the other side. Eventually we made it to Sjenica.
Some quiet roads, here under overhanging rock
Sjenica to Vilovi
Leaving Sjenica, as we started high, just over 1000 m, it was cool in the brilliant sunshine. We had a gentle start to what would become a day of very big and steep climbs.
A field of blue Nigella flowers in the valley before we start climbingAfter passing a dry lake we turned onto a smaller road and started to climb steeply.Luckily we were still on tarmac at this point as the climb was between 9%-14%.The Trans Dinarica route took us out on a dead-end spur to look down on the spectacular Uvac River and canyon. It was worth the effort of the additional climbs although Bernie’s vertigo kicked in before he could see it.Getting back on track we set off on a nice gravel roads. We were high so had wonderful views of hay fields, flowers, small villages and rolling hills. It was strange, we were at the same height as we had been in the rugged Albanian mountains, but here, because the hills were green and rolling they didn’t seem like mountains, yet the last hotel had a garage full of ski equipment.The smells today were of new cut hay and all the herbs and flowers that had been cut with it. Somehow it reminded me of Earl Grey tea.We had a steep and slightly technical descent into the next village which was fun, but I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with thinner tyres. There was a shop there with a shaded table area so we bought some bits for lunch before tackling the next big gravel climb.Luckily this was not as steep as the descent, only 9%. This took us up to our highest point today from the lowest. Again it was stunning at the top, full of flowers and great views. Our official route ended in the small village of Vilovi, but we weren’t sure if we could stay there as we hadn’t been able to contact any of the homestays. We turned to cycle up to the village. It was only 100 m but at 15%, and at the end of the day, I just ran out of steam. I managed to eventually make it but there were no signs on any of the houses.We cycled up to a farm and asked a lady feeding her chickens. After a difficult Google Translate conversation, I wasn’t wearing my glasses, it turned out we could stay in a flat above their house and get supper. Deal done!We sat and chatted to the lovely old couple (actually it turned out they were younger than us) through Translate while she made us Turkish coffee and gave us some delicious home made Turkish Delight, which was just the sugar hit I needed. The milking was all mechanical with the milk going into a clean diary room.Watching them milking their 5 cows. Supper was great, home grown pork and veg, home made cheese, butter and bread and some home baked sweet biscuits. Then, along with their adult son, we had a really long chat using Google translate. Pleasant end to a lovely day.
Vilovi to Ljubis then on to the Zlatibor ski resort
The next day after an enormous breakfast we set off on our already tired legs. It was immediately off-road and very steep and resulted in our first hike-a-bike of the trip. But before long we were at the top with the view as a reward.This young dog decided to attach himself to us, barking at any vehicle that came near us, and rounding me up if I fell behind. We were worried about taking him too far from home so we lost him on a fast downhill section.There was different farming up here. As it was higher and cooler there were fields of raspberries.We had originally been going to cycle straight to Zlatibor today, but it was steep and our legs were tired so we stopped at this Alpine looking lodge in Ljubis which conveniently also had a restaurant. As we were leaving before the kitchen opened in the morning they put up this very stodgy, greasy cheese and egg roll with yoghurt for breakfast. It didn’t make the climbing any easier! Thankfully it was a short day, not only because it was steep but it looked like there was a mountain storm rolling inWe eventually made it to the very touristy, upmarket ski resort of Zlatibor. There were a lot of restaurants and a fun fair. The storm arrived after dark and after a lightening strike all the lights of the fun fair went out. Hope there was no one on the big wheel
Zlatibor to Bajina Basta taking a slight detour
Chicory flowerThankfully the rain had cleared this morning and the early fog had lifted by the time we set off. The first 10 km were deceptively easy, just a gentle roll down the hill. Then the climbing began. We were on tarmac initially, up through the trees, then along the top. After the rain all the aromatic herbs growing in the rocks beside the road smelt wonderful, having being baked for weeks in the sun. Once up above the trees 100’s of skylarks were very rowdy in the grassland. But it rapidly got steeper and the stones got deeper and larger, so we were soon walking. The rest of the day continued like this. It was hard and slowBut the views up here were amazing as alwaysA Purple Fragrant orchid. There were fields of them up hereA Wolf spiderStopping near the top for a pic-nicThe road turned to packed stone and loose rock. It was OK at first then the track plunged down steeply and the loose rock got deeper. Even our thick tyres were sinking in making it difficult to steer and the larger rocks that needed avoiding made it an interesting experience. This is definitely not my favourite terrain.Getting back on after a spill. One of the reasons that I walked much of the dayStill pushing, but this gives more time to enjoy the surroundings, although pushing up a steep hill for 3 km in 30 C heat is not ideal.Taking a slight detour which meant we could go under the mountain rather that over itThe amazing Tara National ParkWe passed lots of old barns like thisTossing the hay with a wooden pitchforkWonderful views over flowering meadows
We really enjoyed the variety of off-road cycling that we did in Serbia, although some of it was very challenging. The beautiful flower filled countryside and the lovely people that we have met along the way have made Serbia a great place to cycle. We are heading now across the border to Bosnia, which will be the subject of my next blog.
