I decided it would be a good idea to go for a hike whilst I am surrounded by all of these stunning mountains. My goal was to reach Vrmac Fortress, but alas, those plans changed on a whim when conditions became unbearable. Instead, I ended up hiking to a church on Vrmac Mountain.
Vrmac Mountain
A beautiful tall mountain that has a distinct ridge, and juts out into the Bay of Kotor. There are many hiking trails all over Vrmac mountain. Some are extremely difficult and others not so bad. Originally, I wanted to explore the old Austro-Hungarian fortress which google tells me would have been a 2 hour and 20 minute hike each way. I am not in great shape anymore, so I was expecting this to take much longer. But I was okay with that. My goal was not necessarily to reach the fort, but to see how far I could get, for most of the hike is uphill of course.
Unfortunately, in The AllTrails app, hiking to the Fort was not one of the recorded hikes, so I was winging it. Not good for someone with several navigational challenges.
Photo’s: All are pretty bad. Most were taken while moving. They are what they are.
The Beginning
I left the flat at 6:30 am. It was a beautiful sunrise, blue skies, however very poor air quality which created a thick haze over the mountains. All I had with me was one Band-Aid, two squares of toilet tissue and a bottle of water. And of course, my old iphone.
I followed google maps directions and walked for about 20 minutes to the road that would lead to the trail head. With no signage, I walked right by the entrance into the bush but realized my error quickly.
First part was quite gentle, with a clear trail through the bushes. After hiking for about 10 minutes the terrain became rocky and the trail less visible. Luckily for me, sprayed markers were left along the way, so I knew at least that I was following a trail of some sort.
The Middle
It became quickly apparent that I should never have left the flat without dousing myself, nay drowning myself, in bug spray. Not only did I turn into an absolute feast for mosquitoes, but these huge flies or bees I think, were swarming my face and were relentless. Mostly trying to get into my ears but landing on my shirt as well.
Anyone who knows me will now know that I was fighting the odds of having an enjoyable time. I don’t do bugs. At all. Especially when I am physically exerting myself, huffing and puffing my way up a mountain.
Getting Lost
At one point I lost the trail and got lost. Yes I did. Of course I did. After walking in various directions and running out of what looked like trail, I decided to call it quits and leave the mountain. When I got back to where I thought I had made the error, I looked around in one last ditch effort to see if I could find a marker.
Low and behold, straight up the mountain, I could see a sprayed dot. Google, dude, you did me dirty, your trail directions suck. I changed my mind, tucked in, and headed up to the dot.
Resuming the trail, I was now huffing so hard from the exertion of the climb. I could not stop for even 2 seconds to catch my breath because of the bug situation. If I could have at least stopped to gather my whit’s and slow my breathing, I would have had quite a lovely time.
I could see the church on my map, and I was determined to get there at least. I was hoping for a view point as well, seeing as I had climbed 1000 feet.
The End
Reaching the church, foggy glasses, bites and all, and what did I find? Absolutely no stinkin view! What the heck? The little stone church was surrounded by dense brush. I took one bad photo, turned tail and stumbled/ran back down the trail. It had been about one hour since leaving the flat.
By this time the bees were so bad, I was swatting in front of my face continually and fiercely. So much so that I ended up knocking my glasses off. My face was drenched and my glasses would not stay in place, so I ended up using my two squares of tissue to place on the bridge of my nose and under the glasses, just to provide some friction.
Running like a mad woman, and trying to keep my footing, the forest creatures could hear me cursing at the bugs, and telling myself repeatedly that I would be okay.
Getting Lost….Again
Of course, I got lost again. Where did I end up you ask? Why at a bee farm!! What the heck? There were so many bees around me!!
And I was off course. All I could do was run out of there, follow any path that led downwards and hope for the best.
I got out, unscathed except for a bruised ego, and many mozzie bites. I was so overwhelmed, my legs were jello, but at least I was back on pavement and out of the bugs!
Lessons learned? Don’t go on any hike without bug spray, ever. Take four squares of TP rather than two. Be proud of yourself for attempting it in the first place.
