Lakatnik 2025

Last Friday we had our 5th in a row  March hike on the Lakatnik rocks. Lakatnik is a village with a train station in the gorge of the Iskar river, popular for its beautiful limestone rocks, carved by the mighty river on its way to the Danube.

The day was amazingly hot for early March, it was a workday and the place was almost empty - ideal for a peaceful and relaxed hike.

Hike info:

Date: 07 March 2025

Destination: Lakatnik Eco Trail

Mountain: the Balkans

Total length: 9.6 km

Elevation gain: 300 m

Total duration (plus rest): 3 h

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

Our visit to Lakatnik was a week or two earlier than usual, so the trees were still not in bloom, but some of the spring flowers were in abundance.

We climbed gradually up the trail to the plateau on top of the rocks, soaking up the view from above towards the picturesque gorge of the river

As usual, the dogwood trees are the first to come to blossom.

"Our" picnic spot - every year we have our lunch on this tiny piece of flat rock, overlooking the river and the mountains across.

The mountaineers' memorial

"Temnata dupka" cave - this time we were in a hurry to catch the train, so we only went near the entrance, without going further into the cave.

The rocks of Lakatnik this year had a big 40 m long martenitza, hanging from above - a temporary adornment, celebrating Baba Marta and the coming of spring, which I found quite nice.

Kopitoto, February 2025

Today's was a quick, but very satisfying hike from Zlatnite to Kopitoto and back through Momina skala. The round trail is one of my favourites, when we are looking for something short in the higher parts of the mountain. 

The day was cloudy, but warmish, even at the 1500 m altitude. To my surprise the snow at the skirts of the mountain had completely melted, at the higher altitudes there's still plenty of it, but the trails are well trodden and easy to hike.

Hike info:

Date: 28 Feb 2025

Destination: peak Kopitoto (1345 m), lowest point of the hike

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 9.5 km

Elevation gain: 140 m

Total duration (plus picnic): 2 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

Although the trail is easy and fairly popular, there were no other people but us on it. Maybe because it is Friday, a work day, maybe because of the forecasts for rain, which turned completely false, maybe because it is the long weekend here in Bulgaria and most Sofia residents are travelling further to take full advantage of the holiday.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

Husband: men's boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda longsleeve, Orange Hat

I:  lingerie, socks, Sinclair Lotte blouse, CC copycat hat, gloves

Without blue skies, the pictures look mostly black-and-white :)

We had our picnic on our favourite bench on the meadow, with a view to the city down in the distance. It was so satisfying to be back in the mountains, I hope the cold weather is behind us and I'm looking forward to our spring hikes.

Urvich 2025

As planned, this week we travelled to Kokalyane again, but this time we hiked across the road, in the Lozen mountain, around the Urvich fortress.

The day was sunny and even pleasantly warm (6-7 C). Because the gorge of the river Iskar there lies in the shadows of the two mountains, the river was still frozen and the ground was still partly covered with snow.

The path at the beginning of the trail was cleared of debris and fallen trees and easy to walk. I believe this is the path that most visitors to Urvich know and walk and I wouldn't be surprised that a lot of people do not even suspect the existence of other walkable paths around.

After the detour for the monastery, the path seems abandoned, with lots of fallen trees, blocking it and requiring going around. To be honest, it had a very Blair witch vibe today and gave me a bit of the creeps.

Hike info:

Destination: Urvich

Mountain: Lozen

Total length: 6 km

Elevation gain: 90 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 2 h 30 min

Average difficulty: 2.5 / 10

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

 

Husband: men's boxers, Burda cargo pants, Burda longsleeve, Burda hoodie, hat, (scarf in the backpack)

I:  socks, lingerie, Grasser sweater, Central Park hoodie, CC copycat hat, gloves, (scarf in the backpack)

I was just commenting with husband, that there were still no spring flowers on Kokalyane and Urvich and we came upon these snowdrops and hellebores :)

After doing the full circle around the hill and returning back to the river we followed the hidden path along the rocks to the Urvich fortress. We found this path last time we were here and it is probably the most exciting part of the hike.

The excavations of the fortress were closed and covered for the winter season, but the works have gained some progress over the past three years since we were here.

The grounds of the Urvich fortress are now like a museum in the open, with a number of information boards, elucidating the history of the place and the unearthed artifacts. This was definitely the most interesting and informative part of the hike.

After visiting the excavation works we went down and then up the opposite hill to the functioning monastery, where we had our lunch on one of the sunny benches. It was a short but nice hike and I am so glad we chose Urvich for our visit today.