Day 1 - Walk from Valbone to Cerem. Bags travel by car

Walk from Valbone to Cerem

Bags travel by car - July 16

Note: this is not the path that follows the "official" Peaks map. 

We started from Maja e kollates trailhead on the main road next to the concrete bridge, just at the entrance to Valbone.

We followed the white-red-white marks. At the beginning they go together with the new red and yellow stripes but at a certain point the red-yellow turns left and goes down, and the white-red-white marks continue to go up through a small valley with some huts' leftovers.

Around the first pass, Qaffae Prsllopi, the Albanian markings change into Montenegro markings which consist of white and red circles and straight red long lines. This continues all the way to the second pass (Berit pass) where it changes again to Albanian (next to the stone marking the border). From the second pass down to Cereme, it was harder for us to follow the path and we lost it a couple of times.

Our friends recommend to stop for coffee in the groups of huts that you will see on a meadow in the left side of the trail shortly after starting the descend. A very authentic Albanian experience.

This is a long day, around 9 hour walk. The walk to the first pass is steep and passes through a forest. Between the passes the trail is not easy and the terrain is bare and windy. For us in the middle of July - it required a warm hat and a coat.

In one of the caves along the trail - there was still snow (last years').

Very nice views, even though it was very cloudy when we were there.

The guest house in Cerem, "Kuztim House", was very basic, but as usual, very hospitable.

We were happy to squeeze with the other guests in the very small dining room cabin, where the cooking stove (operated on fire) was heating the room and  filling it with tasty smells.