I was again unable to eat everything offered for breakfast (eggs, bread, cheese, cold meats, yoghurt, jam and a sort of cheese and potato pancake). Wisely I did not try as I had a hike to complete and an overfill stomach would not help. The first part was on roads, a busy one leaving town, then onto a quiet minor road through a few small villages. One of these had a small shop, so I bought a Coke to drink outside in the sun where two men with beers were having a friendly argument. The lady shopkeeper, lacking any custom, came out and joined them, contributing a few comments to the discussion. Her tee-shirt had the word "Romance" emblazoned across it and I wondered who the message was for.
The road turned into a track, which became two furrows in the grass after crossing a railway line. My path branched off to the left but there was no break in the vegetation where it should have been. I pushed through bushes guided by my GPS and found the track where it rose through low trees, their shade suppressing excessive undergrowth. A long climb followed, with one good view at a rocky promontory where I could see back to Knjazevac and the Stara Planina in the distance.
After the trees thinned I entered a high flower-filled meadow. The stony ground was covered in buttercups, white petalled Star of Bethlehem, and profuse yellow flowers from what looked like a low lying form of broom. Plants that looked like peonies were also common, their fat, spherical buds had yet to open but dark red petals were just showing. A meadow might not have been the correct term as the flower filled grassland was on high ground with views of surrounding mountain ranges becoming increasingly pale the further away they were.
My route then followed a track through trees, overgrown in places with thorny bushes hindering progress until I thankfully reached a quiet road, on which I walked a long way, broadly downhill. My mouth was dry with the heat. Drinking tepid water from my bottle, warmed by the sun, was not refreshing. Providentially I passed a piped spring which supplied me with cool, fresh water. A tractor stopped, the driver filling up his water bottle from the same spring, so I assumed it was wholesome, it tasted lovely. He offered me a lift on his trailer, which I declined, not only because I am on a walking expedition, it also looked a decidedly risky exercise balancing in the beams designed to hold trees.
A snake was sunning himself in the road, I have seen a few, this one plain brown others with a brownish yellow diamond patterns. There were also brown and green lizards and I have seen a fire salamander, easy to identify with its yellow spots on a black skin. As I stride by small creatures often scurry away, I do not see them, only hear the rustle of the undergrowth being parted. In woodland sections there were plenty of small red and black beetles, often two joined together. On grassland I see more big, black beetles. Once upturned they have problems righting themselves. I have occasionally helped to put one the right way up with gentle pressure from my boot.
My road walk ended in the village of Beli Potok, with the usual red roofed houses in various states of repair. There was then a climb back up to the plateau. I was apprehensive as I had previously placed a "waypoint" on my GPS at a point where I lost the path. The track did indeed peter out among thorny shrub, wild rose and small hawthorn trees. I had to find a way through, looking for gaps between bushes where I would not be snagged too badly by vicious thorns, going around expanses of blackthorn in white flower, while trying to approximate the route on my GPS. Eventually I reached two abandoned farm buildings. A calendar on the wall inside the one that looked built for human occupation was dated 2012. The land around here must once have been farmed. There are remains of old stone walls and I have seen terracing in similar places. The track seemed a little better after the old buildings. After following it a little way, having reached my planned distance, I set up camp on a patch of grass, sheltered by bushes from the wind that had blown up. Black clouds filled the sky and distant thunder grumbled. I could see vertical grey smudges of rain falling on the horizon, so I was keen to pitch in preparation for any rain reaching me. I was sad that erecting my tent squashed so many flowers, especially the blue grape hyacinths, but as they were everywhere it was inevitable. Tired, I was glad to rest my legs inside my little, nylon house, eating my rations and contemplating what tomorrow might bring.
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