This is it, last day! This is the final leg back to Theth which ended up being very bittersweet for us. After ten days of walking we were definitely ready for a break, but it was still sad to see the end of the Peaks of the Balkans. This is also a busier day of the trek with a few day walkers between Vusanje and Theth.
The day starts of with a walk along a gravel road out of Vusanje until you reach a well signposted turn off onto the main trail to Theth. Here you will find the walk get progressively steeper for a kilometer or so until you reach a small clearing and dried up lake Ropojan. We really enjoyed this part as it was a bit of change in scenery as we walked between two mountains which essentially dwarfed us.
Once you get past the lake you will come to the steep ascent of the day. Its short but sharp and definitely took the breath out of our lungs. Once you get to the top you will find yourself walking through some farmland until you eventually get to a “café” that you can take a rest and enjoy your last cool drink of the trek.
From here you will continue the walk up to the top of the pass. Its not that steep and there are lots of old bunkers from wartimes that you can explore as you go up. Eventually you will make it to the top of the pass and there you will find lake Peja lake. This is a good place to stop for lunch before you begin the long 760 metre descent down off the pass. After the previous day we were very nervous about this bit, however we were pleasantly surprised by the well-maintained track on the way down.
After walking down what seems like endless zig zags you will eventually find the treeline, and the bottom. From here it is an easy two kilometer walk to the town of Okol, or the start of Theth. This is a great place to stop for a break before the final the three kilometer walk into central Theth.
We actually cheated a bit and called this part the end of the trek. We stopped off at a guest house there and had a couple of well-deserved beers before hitching a ride back to our guesthouse in central Theth. We stayed in Thethi Mountain there which is a small, but lovely guesthouse.
Congratulations, that’s it, the epic ten-day trek through the Peaks of the Balkans. It’s a rare gem to find such an untouched landscape still in Europe and I really hope that you found this guide helpful and get the change to enjoy the trek as much as we did.