Volkovo to Kuckovo, poor man's day hike

   Before I start, winter is finished and summer has arrived, express delivery.
 Yeah, that's the way it goes in the Balkans. Rapid, but nice change after a long winter.


 When I went to live in Volkovo (a village, part of Skopje, just about the last village north west of the city center), I was aware that I wasn't far from Kuckovo and it's surroundings, which I did not know very well but had greatly appreciated from my few visits there, it was pretty, varied and in particular, close to Skopje.
  Every day I could see all those hills, mountains and the big cross above Kuckovo from my room, and I often wondered what it was like in the vicinity.
  But of course, that didn't last long.
  So, one day I just had a look at Google Earth and off I went.


  I have to say that I was surprised by what I found, a very varied landscape, coupled with some fantastic views. A great place to explore and chill out. And explore I did.


  I have been almost everywhere around Kuckovo, even went to Gracani , which is the last village before getting into Kosovo. It's a place where nobody is supposed to go to, the border police doesn't want anyone hanging around there.
  But you know me, I don't comprendo ...so I went.
  Amazing place, the village itself seems to have suffered from the war a few years back, but a few houses have been refurbished, even saw a few new ones and a new Mosque, and all this in the middle of absolutely nowhere! The only people I came across were a trio of freezing sheep farmers in an old barn who were  wondering what the hell I was doing there! 
  Ok, so it was on a very cold winter day, and the only dirt road that goes there was iced up. 
  Below is a pic I took of the place the first time I saw it, I was just coming out of the woods after a long hike and wasn't expecting anything like this.  To me it looked like one those future colonies on far away planets that you used to see in the original Star Trek series from the 60's. 
  The hills behind are in Kosovo.

Gracani, on a cold, arctic  febuary day in 2011.

    There are many things to see around Kuckovo, and you can just spend a nice day there or hike, camp, ski, whatever...you can do it all up there.
  Now the good thing about the place is that it is easy to get to. I just walk because I don't live far, but otherwise here is a suggestion on how to get there if you don't have a car or live nearby.
  Take the number 22 or 22A bus and get off at Volkovo center. It's the last stop in the village before the bus turns right and continues to the Lepenec bus depot, the last stop. If you're not sure, ask someone or the driver for the road to Kuckovo.
There is a bus that goes from here to Kuckovo, but it is too infrequent to be of any use, and anyway, walking a bit never killed anyone.
  Once in the village center (which consists of a Hedi's supermarket, a couple of vegetable stalls outside, Toni's restaurant and that's about it)  take the road going up to Kuckovo, it is on your left when you get there, and clearly marked. That is, if the signpost is there. Sometimes it mysteriously disappears LOL.
  Then start walking up till you get next to the cemetery. There is a dirt road going up on the right, it is the last  one before going under the highway, follow it  until you get to the highway , turn right and follow the highway.

The dirt road with the church on the left and the cemetery on the right. Go to the top, and turn right along the highway.

The top of the dirt road, turn right, walk about 100 meters, then turn left and follow the path going uphill.

Another view.

Once you pass under the highway, just follow this dirt path up, it zig-zags for a while and then brutally stops.

View from the path. You can see the cemetery and Volkovo in the background.  

   From here, there is no path to speak of, you have to go in the north-west direction from here till you get to the top of the hill, where you will find a path after a while.

The end of the path. Go right, up, and in the north -west direction.

  Okay, so you don't have a compass. They are rather hard to come by in Skopje. 
Well, if you can see the sun and you have a watch with traditional hour and minute hands, you can find the north, here is how;
Hold the watch horizontal. Point the hour hand at the sun; then, bisect the angle between the hour hand and the 12 o'clock mark, this will give you a north-south line.
It isn't the most accurate method in the world, especially due to daylight savings time and the "true" time, but is sufficient in this case. And of course, don't forget that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. 
And, uh, don't do this in the southern hemisphere, or you'll end up where you came from!

Easy system for finding North-South with a watch.

You will have to find your way through the shrubs and bush, until you eventually get to the top of the hill and can see the cross in the background and the houses along the road to Kuckovo on the keft.  It gets easier after, and you will stumble upon bits of what look like paths, but forget them and keep in the same direction until you get on the proper path shown below.

The top, with the road to Kuckovo on the left and the cross in the background. You can see what look like paths, but they won't lead you in the right direction.

The vegetation gets less dense and you stumble upon the path that leads you into the right direction. Yeah! At this point, you are basically following the path that is parallel to the road to Kuckovo. Still going North-west.

After a while, you get to an intersection, go right. The path is larger. 

The second intersection, go right again. If you go left, you will end up in Kuckovo. You will  go past a garbage dump unfortunately (it happens). After that, you will find a private proprety on your left (not sure what it is) and then, you are entering what I call the "good" part. 

On your right, the village of Nikistane.And in the background, Skopska Crna Gora mountains (literally the Black mountains of Skopje), culminating at Ramno at 1561metres . Below, a little music from the area...to get you in the mood.

The trail then takes a left, going downhill, then back up on the opposite ridge. Very peaceful around here. Good place to have a break.

On the way up to the ridge, there is a hunting cabin on your right (Lovecki dom  No.1). I have encountered some of the hunters on several occasions, nice dudes, they usually ask if I would like to go there to have some coffee or possibly something stronger. They don't seem to catch much around here, just a few rabbit and fox.
And the occasional indigestion and hangover.

At the top, you get to another larger path, go right. 

At the end of this path, you arrive at the Kuckovo to Gracani road. Gracani is on the right, about 2.5 KM away.

  There is a path going through the woods in front, but that will be the subject of another entry in the near future.  Just follow the road on your left until you get to a water spring. There you can fill up your water bottles and have a chat with the local dudes, if there, who are always friendly. From there, you can follow the road that will lead you past Sv. Gorgija monastery, and to a crossroads; left you go to Kuckovo village center, right you go to another crossroads-left goes to the cross, and if you go straight on, you end up near the last houses of upper Kuckovo, most are week-end houses and are empty during the week. I usually skip the asphalt road bit, and take a short cut;  Across the road from the water fountain, there is a dirt trail going up (you can see it by the marks left by the local sheep)  follow it and you get on the flat part in the picture below. At the end is a path with a fence along it, follow it to the end, and you get to the last houses of Kuckovo.

The flat part, with the monastery on the left. Follow the red line till you see the path going up with a fence along it.

The end of the path; left will get you to either the cross or Kuckovo. On the right, it takes you on dirt roads that  are scenic, but the one going up leads you to a telecom tower and a dead end, and the bottom one leads you to the border with Kosovo. It is regularly patrolled by the border police, who do not want to see anyone close to the border. I do not know why, but that's just the way it is. On the Kosovo side, they don't give a hoot.Very pretty though. Just be careful in the winter, lots of hunters in the area, and they shoot a lot (at what, I have never seen).
By the way, my best friend, the stray dog, joined me at this point.
And he never left me after that. 

Right goes towards the telecom tower, left goes down towards the Kosovo border.  I go left, and  you will see a couple of week-end houses there. There is a trail there, just take it and follow it. 

The path after the two week-end houses. Keep on following it..

The view on the right, you think that you are anywhere except a few kilometres away from Skopje city center.

In the background are the "Sar mountains "(about 80km long and 10-20km wide ), that share the border with Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania. The highest peak is "Titov Vrv" at 2748m. You can also see the dirt road leading to the Kosovo border on the right.

Below is a video I made after lunch, it was quite warm and sunny. I was preparing desert, which consisted of Touareg tea and Iranian dates.

Of course, my friend the dog had a little something also.

  After a good lunch, it was time to move on.
  The thing that blew my mind was the difference in weather. Last time I was here a couple of weeks ago, it was snowing as much as it could, real badass winter stuff, and the kind of cold that makes it difficult to do your pee-pee because you can't find your Mr. Muscolo, who has retreated to warmer places. Son of a bitch.
  And now I was sweating in a t-shirt!  
  Spring doesn't last long here, it's straight to hot, brother. You have to get used to it.
  I then went back on the path, and followed it through a pine forest until it gets to another intersection; go left, east.

After a while and a couple of bends, you get to this intersection, go left. It will take you past Sv. Ilija monastery (on your right), then to another larger path.

Sv. Ilija monastery, empty most of the year, like many small monasteries.

At the end of the path, through a nice pine forest, you get to a main north-south path that goes from the cross to Kuckovo. It continues in other directions after, but for now, we find ourselves on this path, which has a house of some sort on your left in front of you. If you go straight, you will find a path that will take to Kuckovo directly. Otherwise, turn right, the ride ain't over yet...

The main path going from the cross to Kuckovo. This is the house on the left, I have never seen anyone in it, but we want to go right, as in the pic below

The path on the right, just follow it through another beautiful pine forest.

A bit more of the Sar mountains.

Here, turn right. The idea is to get to the top of the hill in front of you, but there are cultivated fields there, so you have to avoid them to get to the top. Never walk through a cultivated field, it is imperative to respect others work and nature. Talking about that, it is amazing how fast nature develops here in Macedonia.; a couple of weeks ago, the fields in the pic were covered in thick snow, today they were green and growing fast. I am not sure what the dudes have sown, nor if they have used fertilizers of any sort, if anything maybe natural fertilizer such as cow/horse poo, which is common here, but I am amazed nonetheless.

I had lost track of the dog for a while, who knows, maybe he found a nice, pretty girl dog somewhere and decided to abandon me.

Nope, he came back running, his tongue almost to the ground!!!

From the top, you have a great panoramic view of the area, you can see Kuckovo and the cross above it, Skopska Crna Gora mountains, Skopje, Vodno and the Millenium cross, Matka canyon, Solunska Glava mountain (2540m) behind, Osoj (or Rasa, 1354m) and Zeden (1260m) mountains to the south west, and the Sar mountains.

  From here you have to continue east across the plateau, until you get to a rocky part. 

                             You are heading towards the rocky part at the top of the pic.

  Enjoy the nice views of Vodno and Solunska Glava mountains on your right. On a clear day, it is said that from the Solunska Glava summit, you can see Skopje, Thessaloniki (Solun in various Slavic languages) and the Aegean sea.

  Once at the rocky part, you have to go towards the left, you go through a bit of shrub  and bush and you will eventually find a path going down in the eastern direction.

Go past the rocks, turn left and then the idea is to go at the bottom of the hill. There is a path going down, you will find it near a pile of garbage (I do not know how this garbage got there, but it did, so if you see it, the path going downhill starts next to it).

  The path going downhill, go down until you reach a larger path, go left .

Here is the larger path, go left and follow it for about 140m until you see the water spring on your right. Then get off the path and cut through the hill to the other side on the north east. You will see some cultivated fields, next to them is a path going up (left takes you to Kuckovo right to Skopje). Be careful, there is another path going downhill. This one goes in the direction of Novo Selo-Kisela Jabuka (There is a small path that leaves from it and that goes to where we are going, but in a twisted way). 

The water spring. I have drunken from it a couple of times, with no apparent problems but I must stress that like all springs, this can change for whatever reasons. So, be warned; if not sure, boil it first or  don't drink it at all.

 The path going uphill - follow it for about  1.5 km, it is uphill a bit at first, then flat, and finally downhill.

  You will eventually see a building on your right, it is part of an abandoned mine or quarry of some sort. Very interesting, check it out if you have the time. There is even an old bulldozer you can play with...
  The idea is to go in the direction of that that building, as you will then find the path that goes down towards Skopje. There are two, take the one on the left. The one on the right goes to the same final destination, but is longer and difficult to walk through in some parts.

You will go through another small pine forest, then you will be face to face with Skopje; keep on following the path, it zig-zags a lot. You will see the highway (and it's two underpasses), some houses and a few commercial buildings; continue and go past the houses and buildings and take the path to your left, just before getting to the  first highway underpass. This will take you to the other highway underpass and to Volkovo  center directly.

The path leading to the second underpass (on the left when looking from the top of the hill), with of course my friend the dog showing me the way.

However, if you mess up and go under the first underpass, it's ok, just take the first path on the left,it will lead you to the same multi-sports field. It is just longer.

  Once you pass under the highway, just continue and you'll eventually get into Volkovo. You pass a multi-sport court and turn right, continue downhill and you get to the same place you left from, Volkovo village center.


  This was the first time that I hiked without any snow since december, and it was real easy, no snow to slow you down and make each step harder, nope, just easy trekking in the sun.
  This hike is about 15km long, nothing too difficult, and as you can see, you get to see some nice and varied sights along the way.
  You will rarely meet other people, apart from sheep herders and the occasional dude on a donkey, but that's it. So if you wish to see loads of people, better to go some place else. Here, it's peace, quiet and nobody.


  There are quite a few variations to this trek as there are many different paths along the way. I'll show you some.
   But the rest is for you to figure out and explore, more fun that way. Use Google Earth, it is very useful and the only map of the area, with Bing maps also). 
  Just as long as you know where this trek is, you're ok, anyway you can't get lost, at the worst you will just add a few kilometres to your hike.  
  Good for the health.
  If not, wait for the dog, he knows the way to Volkovo . 

  But after a few times there, you will figure things out and you will undoubtedly know the landmarks, so it will make exploring the area much easier. And interesting.
  

  Here is the GPS map of the hike. If you wish to have it (or any other information) please contact me by going in the "comments" section at the bottom, I shall be happy to oblige.


  Well, there you go, a good days hiking in Skopje for just the price of a bus fare. Not bad.


  Hope to see you one day there, you can't miss me, I'm the guy with the dog following him....

What end to the cold spell? A dog day afternoon

  Seems like winter doesn't want to go home this year.
  In my last entry, I mentioned how the cold spell was supposedly coming to an end, according to the local meteorologists. 
  And for a couple of days, it seemed so...but it didn't last.
  What? The meteorologist dudes got their predictions wrong? no way...


  Yes, way. 


  I went out hiking yesterday, just to move a bit and get some fresh air, and fresh air I got.


  When I left, it was a grey, dull day, no sign of any precipitation or snow as far as I could make out. As I was heading to higher grounds, I had the usual foul weather clothing in my backpack, since the weather can change very rapidly in the mountains.


  And it did.


  At the beginning of my hike, It actually got too warm, I had to take off my pullover. 
  No sooner had I done that, it started to snow. 
  And it never stopped.
  So I put my foul weather clothing on (rain and windproof top and bottom)  and I kept  them on after that. 
  It even got quite cold. Camera froze up again.
  It snowed big time, it was beautiful, a little bonus for an otherwise unexceptionable hike. 

  Along the way, I encountered my best friend up there, a stray dog that has taken a liking to me.
 I took a liking to him too, naturally.
 I always find him in the same area, I don't know where he comes out from but for some unknown reason, when he senses my presence, he comes to greet me, albeit in a cautious way. 
  He then proceeds to follow me everywhere I go. 
  For every metre I walk, he does 10. He apparently seems quite happy around me and loves the snow.
   
  I do, however, appreciate his company.
  In the video below, it was the first time that I actually got to touch him. He doesn't seem too sure about all this, but he let me do it. And we both appreciated it.

  He has a great memory because he knows all the trails I take.  I could follow him if I ever got lost. 
  He usually accompanies me all the way home.
  Then he goes back to his mountain dwellings, wherever they may be.  
  I suppose he's just looking for company, and maybe something to put in his stomach...   
( aren't we all? )
  I shared some of my lunch with him.
  We are of course best of friends.
  Normal.
  

The dog keeping a watch out in the fog. I am not sure what he is looking, smelling or listening to, but it is more than I can do for sure...

  Around 3.30 pm, the snow ceased somewhat and was replaced by freezing fog. 
  Man, I couldn't see anything! Hardcore mountain stuff. The way I like it. Yeah.
  Visibility down to 30 metres at best.

  It was time to start my way back home and in some parts, I actually had to use my compass to confirm the direction I was heading in. 


  The dog didn't seem to mind the fog, nor the cold. He doesn't need a compass either, his nose and  memory are sufficient.


  That's a lot more then I can say about myself.

   

I eventually got home, accompanied by the dog of course, we then parted company as gentlemen and both went our separate ways.


No doubt I shall see him again.


And snow.


It is in the weather forecast for the next few days.                Believe it or not.


Welcome to winter in the Balkans.