PPT: Stari Bar – Rumija

Day 1: 18,2km. (+ 1698m. uphill)

‘Sama’. ‘Ja. sama’. According to the guy I meet outside the tiny village of Stari Bar it’s about 16km. (or is it 21? he’s kind of fast pointing out fives on his fingers) to mount Rumija. Sama means solo. Sama is fine. ‘No problem’. ‘ Russia?’ he asks ‘No, Holland’ I answer. ‘Have a nice day!’ He’s the only person I get to meet the next three days.

Oh yeah! I’m back in Montenegro hiking the Primorska planinarska transverzala, the Montenegro Coastal Transversal. PPT for short.

This +/- 180km. long trail leads through the mountains parallel to the coast. Roughly from the Croatian to the Albanian border.

Today’s hike starts at sealevel at a very, very slow pace. It’s half of may and already blazing hot. My backpack is fully loaded, since the upcoming four days there won’t be any town, restaurant or other resupply stop.

These mountains are karst, meaning a dry and rough terrain. I put a lot of work in getting all information about springs and cisterns using old maps, Google Earth and Google Translating other hikers’ blogs and track notes. It’s also the reason why I’m out here hiking the trail in late spring.

At this side of the mountains there are a lot of springs running. The icecold water is a welcome treat!

At around 14.30 I arrive at the base of mount Rumija. It’s a beautiful day with blue skies, so I set up Tarptent and leave behind my gear.

Without the backpack it’s a fast 600m. hike to the top of Rumija. Bam! The first summit at day #1. 1595m. In the pocket.

The chapel is prefab and flown in by helicopter.

About the PPT
Check this blog for more info about hiking the PPT – incl. GPS-tracks and waypoints of all watersources.

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This blog has been written ontrail and on my smartphone.