Відео

@laurenbouchie2394 Thanks. We've really enjoyed our visits to Montenegro (BiH wasn't bad either!). Somewhat surprisingly, most of the people are really warm to us even after knowing that we're from the USA (NATO, led by the USA, bombed both Serbia and Montenegro in 1999). The one exception was the town of Kalinovik in BiH. That town gave us the creeps; we couldn't get out of there fast enough.

@joebow-tv9hg We were very fortunate to hit the blueberry festival (that lasts about 3 weeks) on the day of the parade. It was just random chance, making it all the more authentic. The apartment we were staying at in Plav was owned by a Muslim family. Every day the mother brought us home-baked treats. It was also between two mosques so we got to listen to the adhan (أَذَان) in stereo, but slightly out of sync., several times a day.

@lmalesci Always new BF Goodrich AT/KO

Yes, thanks, we're well and fit now. That was a mild intestinal ailment but a mere foretaste of what was to come. A week or so later, after eating at Peraz Guesthouse in Vermosh, Albania, we both suffered a really bad intestinal disorder. It must have been Giardia, or something like that, even though we were being careful to filter the water if we thought it was suspect. We relaxed our guard and then couldn't leave the Hotel Vermoshi for four days. That was quite a salutary experience.

@joebow-tv9hg It's a really nice loop hike. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling up to snuff so we didn't climb the last peak on the ridge, Terzin bogaz, 2306 m. Veliki meded (Big Bear), which was our primary goal, is 2285 m so it wasn't a total loss. I was afraid I might have to turn back earlier in the day as I was suffering from a mild intestinal upset.

@@OvertheHills Hi, thanks for the reply. I always try to comment because it's supposed to help increase the views via the youtube algorithim. I think a lot of hikers would appreciate your videos if they found them.

@joebow-tv9hg Maybe if we made videos about going on cruises we'd get a lot more views ;-) However, at present, just the thought of going on cruises is anathema to us. Thanks for watching ... and for commenting!

@ Thank you for sharing them. We look forward to them every weekend.

@laurenbouchie2394 Yes, it was a low water time of year. Still very pretty but that thunderstorm interrupting our lunch was a shocker! The lunch wasn't very good BTW. I neglected to mention that.

@joebow-tv9hg It was rather tame but made for an enjoyable change of pace. We were surprised to end up sharing the raft with two French families.

@diepausemacher At first when I saw your comment I thought you meant the Colorado Trail, but okay the Crnogorska Transverzala! It's a tough trek but very rewarding and the people in Montenegro are really welcoming, especially our friends at La Dolce Vita in Igalo (at the western end of the CT). We returned to visit Dragon, Nada, and Sanja last year. The most difficult aspect of the CT is finding potable water (i.e., potable after filtering). This year we're planning to continue hiking the Via Dinarica white route, starting south from its northern terminus in Slovenia. The section through Bosnia-Herzegovina is also great.

@diepausemacher I've been reading your blog (helpfully translated by Google into English). We have a *lot* in common. We have followed similar money-saving tips, we retired at age 50, and have traveled to many of the same places. Our bicycle trips are cataloged at cgoab.com/plilikoi (which were done prior to our making UA-cam videos). Since we hiked the PCT in 2018 we've been doing foreign trips on foot but we still bicycle a lot around home. We keep intending to do more foreign bicycle trips but just haven't got around to it.

@joebow-tv9hg Thanks for watching. That was one of our best days on this trip. It was such a fun peak to climb but we believed it to be the highest peak in Montenegro and it wasn't. A recent survey revealed that three summits on the Albanian border (in the Accursed Mountains) are slightly higher. Bummer!

@nicolamartinelli7248 Awesome! That was a fun climb. I assume you also managed to avoid that torrential downpour.

@laurenbouchie2394 What's amazing is that there was no one else camping where we were. Lucky too, because there weren't many site possibilities.

@@OvertheHills seems like you two are the only avid hikers on many of the European trails that you visit! Which is really suprising as I thought many Europeans like to hike as a leisurely past time.

@@laurenbouchie2394 At least half the people we met were Czech but we didn't meet many at all. Europeans (aside from Czechs) don't seem to like camping in a tent too much so, even in the more popular Alpine regions, the number of hikers is limited by the number of places in the refuges. It's a sort of informal quota because, unlike the USA, there are no quota systems. The secret is that the National Alpine Club refuges have a policy of never turning people away. We had to sleep once on a mattress on the floor in an Italian refuge but it was okay. At a French Alpine Club (CAF) refuge, we were prepared to sleep in our tent despite the awful weather. When I called them the guardian said they were full and we couldn't stay there but when we showed up asking where outside we could pitch our tent they said this was no weather to camp and, miraculously, they suddenly had beds available in an adjacent building!

@joebow-tv9hg I Yes, in many ways it's similar to the Dolomites, which we also like a lot. There are fewer people in Durmitor, but in Italy you can always stay indoors (and often, you have to) and the food's better! Italy is, of course, considerably more expensive. I don't recall ever seeing any Chamois in the Dolomites so seeing them in Durmitor was special. You get more of a feel that you're in the heart of Nature in Durmitor, at least on the west side. You see a lot more people as you approach the Black Lake on the east side.

@@OvertheHills I've never been to either mountain range, but the addition of Chamois make the Durmitor area very interesting, Thanks again for taking the time to share your travels.

@laurenbouchie2394 We're already making our plans for 2025, preparing to venture into some new territory. Happy New Year!

@@OvertheHills looking forward to seeing where you go! Happy New Year!

Awesome! Thank you!

@joebow-tv9hg Yes, it's quite impressive for what are relatively low mountains. It was an easy walk-up though. Bobotov Kuk, coming in two weeks, was much more interesting.

@@OvertheHills Can't wait!

You're welcome. Happy holidays!

@Livesoutdoors-c2v Foča is a super little town. They have a tourist information office but as best we could tell we were the only tourists. We had to tear ourselves away as it was so relaxing there.

@joebow-tv9hg We try. The mountains we're headed towards are in Durmitor National Park, Montenegro. We ended this trip in Žabljak, at the east end of Durmitor. There were quite a lot of people there, including a lot of tourists, but they only dayhike.

@@OvertheHills Well, you succeed!

@joebow-tv9hg We really lucked out finding such a great place to while away another day of pouring rain with such a hospitable host. Eldin was a star too. He drove us over an hour round trip so we could go to an ATM and then he wouldn't accept any payment. The people in Bosnia-Herzegovina are so nice. Most of them anyway. We did encounter a few we didn't like.

@@OvertheHills True. People that have been thru a lot of adversity are often the kindest.

@nelsonhunter7471 I use AlpineQuest but it doesn't matter as long as you use one that incorporates OpenTopoMap. What are you planning to do/go in Montenegro? I can probably offer some tips. We love Montenegro and its people.

@laurenbouchie2394 That's why they call the Prenj mountains the Himalayas of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The hotel was such a great place to wait out the storm. We lucked out again!

@ChichiPinch Thanks, I guess. We don't have any children but most people seem to refer to us as grandma and grandpa :-) We did keep meeting people on the Via Dinarica who would say they'd heard about us, the old couple hiking the trail. Yeah, that would have to be us.

Thanks. I mostly just use my phone (a Samsung Galaxy S23+) hand held.

@laurenbouchie2394 The trail was a beast to begin with but ending the day at the hut made it all worthwhile. Kudos to Viktorka for letting us know how to get in.

Alewalds in Stockholm, not far from the Central Station, but you can also buy gas at the Fjallstations.

Thank you. 😊

@joebow-tv9hg We'd forgotten how hard-going this was until we rewatched the video. Phew!

@dann7238 Not yet, sorry. I'm way behind on getting these videos up.

@laurenbouchie2394 Mostar, and the apartment we stayed in there, was the perfect place to wait out the heat wave.

It'll be awhile but it will appear. Stay posted! That was a super climb and an interesting previous night. Last night we survived another thunderstorm, this time in.Utah.

After seeing the hotel prices in Lisbon, I decided we'd fly into Porto. Hotels there cost half of what they cost in Lisbon and Porto's pretty nice. We didn't use any water taxi. Is that for the Spiritual Variant?

@laurenbouchie2394 Yes, that was a rough day. Hot, lots of flies, and tough route-finding. What a day! If the lodge hadn't had power we were going to walk, or hitch, to the town about 3 miles north and stay in a hotel for the night. It was another two days before we would get to a hotel in Jablanica, the town that was just yesterday devastated by flooding. www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5elll48lo The Via Dinarica is officially closed now in this region.

@@OvertheHills oh how devasting for Jablanica, I'm glad you guys were not there at the time. North Carolina an other states in the south were hit hard by the Hurricane ,very heartbreaking. Over 200 people have lost there lives.

@laurenbouchie2394 The fires and the rains are devastating so many places. It's heartbreaking. UC San Diego is pioneering a requirement for all students to take a climate change-related class. www.kpbs.org/news/education/2024/10/03/uc-san-diego-launches-climate-change-course-requirement?fbclid=IwY2xjawFue_hleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHcYrZpVq69NnXZS5yLEsCmcgEU1bnd33eeX8MNtLaoxlnKHjDPn7VDrAVQ_aem_kAtBWIV6F27QSCl-gmG1UQ

Thank you!

@peiakthanarat8440 STF Abisko Turiststation. We booked lunch, dinner, and breakfast there. It was rather expensive, I thought, 3,295.00 SEK (~US $320) but was well worth it for a possible once-in-a-lifetime experience. Especially since we camped for free most of the time. I don't know though, we may return :-)

After we both contracted the horrendous bronchial infection on the Camino Primitivo from staying in a crowded Albergue dormitory in Spain we were anxious to find a path less trodden. The Via Dinarica fit this bill splendidly. Plus it featured a great mix of camping and (inexpensive) indoor stays. Finding water was our biggest issue.

It's been a while but I don't recall seeing any.

@@OvertheHillsthanks for the reply! Again your video was awesome! Mostly it moved me to hope that my wife and I would be able to enjoy adventures like this through out our life.

@@87K5BLAZER Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. We just returned to civilization after a 6-day backpack in the Yosemite high country, ~ 10,000'. We didn't see anyone else for two consecutive days. We started out feeling a bit weak (the heavy backpacks didn't help) but ended already feeling quite strong. You just have to pace yourself.

@@OvertheHills Legendary!

Thank you for taking the time to leave this critique. It hadn't occurred to me that I was being rude.