Day one, you finally made it. This is an absolutely beautiful leg of the circuit and really starts the hike off on a high. Note that this leg is also the busiest as there are a lot of day walkers just going to Valbone. As a result, you may find the peak to be a little congested, however it still makes a lovely place for lunch.
We started the day by taking a bus from Shkodër first thing in the morning to Theth and making a quick pit stop to the guest house that we will be staying when we come back to drop off some unnecessary gear. Then we walked through the Theth village for about two kilometers to the turn off for the Theth to Valbone trail. This is very well signposted so you can’t miss it.
Very quickly you will begin to start the ascent to the top. It will start off gradual but become increasingly steeper over the first kilometer. Then it will stay like this until you get to the top. It really is lovely walking though. There is tree cover for most of the way as well as a few “cafés” where you can stop for a tea so take your time and enjoy this part.
We reached the peak just in time for lunch and walked a bit off track to find a lovely spot with a view of the valley down into Valbone. This is the first peak, so the views were absolutely jaw dropping for us. It suddenly made sense as to why it’s a popular day walk as well.
The initial descent is narrow, steep and less sheltered making it quite hard work. There were also still quite a few walkers coming up the other way which slowed us down a bit. However, this quickly dies off as you begin entering the valley and the walking becomes very pleasant again. There are few more “cafés” that you can stop at on the way down and get a cool refreshing drink.
Once you are at the bottom, don’t be fooled by the signs as Valbone is quite spread out. We realised quickly that there was still about 5 kilometers to go before we got to the main area where out homestay was.
We stayed the night in Jezerca Guesthouse which also doubles as a lovely restaurant. We treated ourselves to a lovely bit of traditionally cooked lamb here as we weren’t sure when we would next have the opportunity.