Gorna Belica-Radozda on Jablanica mountain

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With 35 km in length, 1360 m ascent and 2100 m descent this is a very demanding hike between the villages Gorna Belica and Radozda. Although most of the climbing is done in the first 6 km from Gorna Belica to the Chumin Vrv (Chumin Peak), the next 7.5 km to the E38 peak are quite a bit of up-and-down, making it quite challenging. But this tough first part is also the most beautiful part.

I started around 07:00 h in the mountain village Gorna Belica, where I parked the car at the Church of St Petka. Note that to get to Gorna Belica, you have to drive via the village Vishni. Google Maps tried to route me via Vevchani, but I don’t think that road is asphalted!

After about an hour walking uphill I suddenly heard panting behind me. To my surprise there were two puppies! I had no idea where they came from, maybe they had been following me already since Gorna Belica, maybe they lived somewhere on the mountain? Anyway, they decided to follow me and there was no way to make them stop.

Soon I reached the mountain church St Trojca, located on a place referred to as Parumba. The church was closed.

From here on, the trail sometimes follows a clear path, sometimes is freestyle without a clear path. It continues like that until after 17.5 km you reach the 4x4 road that goes to the village Vishni to the left and to Radozda to the right. If you keep an eye on the GPS track the right way is all quite clear and very well do-able. All the time you can enjoy great views of the Jablanica mountain range.

About 2.5 km after the Church of St Trojca you reach the Chumin Vrv.

Since the two puppies seemed to get quite hot and thirsty, I made a stop at an (artificial) small lake/pond. I had some sandwiches to share with them, but did not have enough fresh water to share during this long hike.

There were more of these small lakes along the way, likely used by shepherds for their sheep. Although I saw some sheep farms over the border with Albania, I did not encounter any sheep with their accompanying shepherd dogs. Always try to avoid the sheep because the dogs may be quite aggressive!

Under the last peak, marked with a stone marker as E38, there are the ruins of a building. Please let me know if you know what this used to be!

The first 17.5 km of this hike follow a roundtrip that goes back to Gorna Belica via the road towards the village Vishni (https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/gorna-belica-chumin-vrv-jablanica-mount-kokalo-kota-e-38-gorna-belica-50618138). I had just hiked from the village Visni to the Albanian border and back a few days earlier, following a quite boring 4x4 track (https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/vishni-to-albanian-border-54911426). So instead of going back to Gorna Belica via the road to Vishni, the plan was to continue this walk all the way on the 4x4 road to the village Radozda at Lake Ohrid. I was hoping for some good views of Lake Ohrid along the way, but that was quite disappointing. The vegetation alongside the 4x4 track blocked the view most of the time.

During the hike from Vishni a few days earlier I had spotted a cool watchtower that I planned to visit during the current hike. However, I lost track of the position of the watchtower, it was hot and getting late, so I decided not to pursue finding the tower. Maybe another time (I would recommend to have a look at Google Earth and make a waypoint for the tower so you can find it more easily if you’re interested. It’s not visible from the 4x4 track).

So, most of the 4x4 road to Radozda is pretty boring. And without shadow. After a long, long time you reach the official border crossing with Albania. I lost the two puppies here, I hope they found their way back to Gorna Belica, if they belonged there.

When you decent to Radozda, parts of the trail are marked on OpenStreetMap as the old Roman road Via Egnatia. It’s mostly a dirt trail, but I indicated with a waypoint where you reach the part that is paved with stones. It’s indeed easy to imagine that this is an old Roman road.

There is also a church that was still under construction, dedicated to Majka Bozja or Mother of God.

When I finally reached Radozda I was quite exhausted. I called my favorite English speaking taxi driver from Ohrid, Taxi Celo, +38970560544 or +38946253998 to pick me up and bring me back to Gorna Belica. He was not available but arranged for a colleague from Struga to pick me up and drive me to Gorna Belica. This was 1000 denars or about 17 euros.

If you still have the energy, definitely visit the Cave Church dedicated to St Michael in Radozda. You can ask for the key at the restaurant Dva Biseri (Two Pearls) since the church might be locked.

Retrospectively, the last 17 km of the walk on the 4x4 road to Radozda was not as interesting as I thought it would be. In addition, I did not find the watchtower I had hoped to visit. If you’re not specifically looking for a 35 km challenge, I suggest to do the 26 km roundtrip from Gorna Belica that I was initially following, or walk from Gorna Belica to Visni (estimated about 25 km in total). In addition, you can find GPS tracks for several other roundtrips from Gorna Belica or Vevchani in this area on Jablanica mountain that are less strenuous but just as beautiful!

The first 17 km of this hike gets the full 5 stars, the last 17 km just 3 stars. Overall, I would rate this hike 3.5 stars because it was too strenuous and the end not very rewarding.