Tag: Ofeliite

Posted on in Vitosha

Kladnitsa – Selimitsa – Ostritsa – Kladnitsa

Starting Coordinates: 42.5685, 23.19619

Distance: 8.2 km

Elevation Gain: 475 m

Time: 3¼ hours

Difficulty: moderate-hard

Transport: by car, or by minibus

  • The start of the ecopath, next to the road that leads from Kladnitsa to Kladnitsa Monastery and Selimitsa Hut.
  • At the start of the walk, the river has three crosses fixed in the stone.
  • Three successive bridges take you across the river.
  • Having crossed the river again, you reach a small clearing. Keep straight.
  • The path rejoins the road to Selimitsa Hut and continues up some steps on the other side.
  • Selimitsa Hut, which offers food.
  • The track enters the forest.
  • The picnic hut on the left.
  • One of the boulders that line the route.
  • The stone run.
  • The view of Studena Reservoir.
  • The path reaches the top. Ostritsa Hut is on the right.
  • Ostritsa Hut.
  • The descent back to where you started.
  • The depiction of the Trinity on the ceiling of the nave in Kladnitsa Monastery.

Kladnitsa, with a population of little more than a thousand, is the highest village on the west side of Vitosha. To get there by car, you must take the road from Sofia to Pernik, which passes through Knyazhevo and Vladaya before arriving at the crest of the hill and descending on the other side. As it reaches the bottom, in a village called Dragichevo, there is a set of traffic lights. Turn left here (it is signposted for Rudartsi, 4 km, and Kladnitsa, 9 km). If you continue straight, you will reach the motorway for Greece, the A3, and then Pernik.

In 1.5 kilometres, you enter Rudartsi. Stay on the same road. In another 4 kilometres, you enter Kladnitsa. 400 metres after entering Kladnitsa, the road veers left, signposted for Kladnitsa Monastery and Selimitsa Hut, and takes you uphill. After one kilometre, you leave the village of Kladnitsa and immediately enter Vitosha Nature Park. Keep going for another 500 metres. As the road turns left, you will see the start of the ecopath. 200 metres after the start of the ecopath is the slip road that leads to Kladnitsa Monastery. There is a very small area to park your car just after the start of the ecopath, otherwise people tend to park on the verge. It can be quite busy at weekends in summer.

There is a minibus that goes to Kladnitsa from the Russian Monument in Sofia once an hour, during the daytime. The 21 bus also goes there from Pernik. The buses stop in the main square in Kladnitsa, where the chitalishte (community centre) is. From here, you need to head eastwards, and soon the road will take you out of Kladnitsa and into Vitosha Nature Park.

The ecopath is known as the “path of health”. It leads straight up from the road. The river should be on your right. In 200 metres, you cross the river on three separate bridges and continue on the other side. In another 200 metres, you again cross the river, but this time the path leaves the river behind and soon reaches a clearing with a bench between two tree trunks. You continue straight here (signposted for Cherni Vrah and Selimitsa Hut). In 200 metres, a small bridge takes you over a stream, and you become aware of the road you were on up on your left. The path crosses the same stream again, and 1.1 kilometres after the start of the ecopath you rejoin the road at Selimitsa Hut. There is a car park further down on your left.

The path continues on the other side of the road, up some steps, and in a couple of minutes you arrive at Selimitsa Hut, which is a popular place for eating. If you don’t have food with you, you want to bear in mind that Ostritsa Hut is not working, so this is your only chance to grab a bite to eat on the route.

The path heads behind the hut (where the kitchens are) and joins a track. At the track, turn left and continue climbing past some wonderfully located houses. 300 metres after the hut, the track veers right and enters the forest. This track will now take you to Ostritsa Hut, the highest point on this walk.

I have marked the walk as “moderate-hard” not because of the distance, but because of the elevation gain (475 metres over 4.2 kilometres). You are constantly climbing. I always think it’s a question of not being anxious to arrive somewhere, but simply going at your own pace, putting one foot in front of the other. That’s all anyone does, isn’t it? And humans have achieved great things by putting one foot in front of the other and being patient.

Very soon on the left is a picnic hut, with a small fountain behind it (only trickling water). Fifteen minutes after the picnic hut, there is a stone run, one of those moraine rivers that are so characteristic of Vitosha (and of the Falklands, apparently). Another 200 metres, and there is a wonderful view to the south-west of Studena Reservoir. Another ten minutes, and there is another small fountain on the right, this one without any water. One more kilometre, and you reach the top, with Ostritsa Hut on your right. You are now not far from the walk that begins at Ofeliite.

Unfortunately, Ostritsa Hut doesn’t work, but I still ate my lunch, sitting by the hut and the grassy slope that leads to Ostritsa Peak. I then headed back down the way I had come. What makes this path so worthwhile is the beauty of the path itself, which is mostly shaded, the views to the south-west, and the numerous boulders that line the route. You are also on a less frequented part of the mountain.

Back at the bottom, do make time to visit Kladnitsa Monastery, dedicated to St Nicholas, which is only 200 metres further up the road and has a very distinctive depiction of the Trinity on the ceiling of the nave.

Posted on in Vitosha

Ofeliite – Zvezditsa – Konyarnika – Kumata – Ofeliite

Starting Coordinates: 42.59839, 23.23572

Distance: 7.5 km

Elevation Gain: 265 m

Time: 3¼ hours

Difficulty: moderate

Transport: by car, or by bus no. 63 to Zlatni Mostove

  • The T-junction at Ofeliite. The walk begins by going right here.
  • After 380 metres, a path leaves the road on the left.
  • In twenty-five minutes, you will come to the hut Edelweiss on your right.
  • Continue uphill until you come to the hut Zvezditsa.
  • Go through the garden here and take the wooden walkway on your left into the forest.
  • You will pass a small moraine field.
  • And cross numerous streams.
  • Once in the open, some rocks appear on the left.
  • These offer wonderful views north-west.
  • And back towards the summit.
  • The abandoned huts at Konyarnika.
  • The path from Konyarnika to Kumata becomes a sort of road.
  • The hut Kumata.
  • Vladaya River where it meets the path to Vladaya via Ofeliite.
  • The Vetrovala ski slope.

This is a lovely walk that forms an almost perfect circuit and takes you within striking distance of the summit (see the last walk in this section, Kumata). The starting point is Ofeliite, three kilometres after Zlatni Mostove, on the road that goes up the mountain from Boyana. The bus, no. 63, only goes as far as Zlatni Mostove, so if travelling by public transport you need to factor in this extra distance.

When you reach Zlatni Mostove, where the bus turns around, ignore the turning on the left and continue on the main road, which is partly cobbled, partly tarmacked. After three kilometres, you will reach Ofeliite, a kind of T-junction, with the road continuing on the left to Planinarska Pesen and with a turning on the right to Zvezditsa. There is a small car park on the left, a mountain hut opposite, and a children’s ski slope on the right. The walk takes us along the turning on the right and brings us back along the road on the left.

Take the turning on the right (signposted for Trendafila, Zvezditsa, Edelweiss and Advokati). Continue along this road for 380 metres until you reach a path on the left which leads directly up the mountain. Take this path. After ten minutes, it comes close to the road again, which is meandering along next to it. Keep going. In another fifteen minutes, you will come to the hut Edelweiss on your right. This is a popular place to have lunch, and there is also an excellent drinking fountain on the far side of the hut, which is worth a short detour. From here, a path goes left to the hut Kumata. You can shorten this walk by taking this path and rejoining the route at Kumata. It is very picturesque, but it doesn’t take you to within sight of the summit at Konyarnika.

So we will continue uphill, ignoring the paths left to Kumata and right to Edelweiss, and in ten minutes we will come to another hut, Zvezditsa, which is where the road from Ofeliite ends. This is another popular destination for lunch. There is a garden out the back with activities for children. Go straight through this garden and take the wooden walkway that appears immediately on the left, signposted for Konyarnika and Cherni Vrah.

This walkway takes you into a forest. Follow the path through the forest for about twenty minutes. You will cross numerous streams coming down the mountain and pass a moraine field on the right. On leaving the forest, there are rocks on your left, and then a wonderful view towards the summit, Cherni Vrah, opens up on your right. I suggest leaving the path at this point, once you are out in the open, and climbing one of the rocks on the left. People stop here to have a picnic and to enjoy the amazing views north-west from here. You cannot see Sofia (that is hidden by the mountain), but you can just make out the TV tower at Kopitoto.

Rejoin the path you were on, and in five minutes you will come to the main path between Kumata and Cherni Vrah. This is Konyarnika. There are several picnic tables, a disused chair lift, some abandoned huts on the left and Sredets Peak directly in front of you. I have had surprisingly warms days in November, sitting here, enjoying the view. Where the path you were on joins this new path, there is a black and yellow post with the number 180 on it. Go right here, and the path will take you to the summit (see the walk Kumata), but we are going to go left. To get to Kumata, follow this path, ignore the black and yellow posts that cut across the grass on your right and keep going. The path gradually becomes a sort of road. The posts rejoin the road further on. At post 194, leave the road and veer left. After post 196, you will come to a bridge over Vladaya River, a truly magnificent river that features in the walk Tihiya Kat, but here is much smaller. In fact, it has only just formed in the peat reserve between you and Cherni Vrah.

Cross the river and rejoin the road at post 204. Turn left. Continue along the road for 50 metres, then take the path on the right (post 206). This path will take you straight to the hut Kumata (post 218). Go past the hut on your left, cross the road in front of you and take the path directly opposite, signposted for Zlatni Mostove. (The shorter route from Edelweiss arrives here from the left, at the far end of the car park.) In less than ten minutes, you will come to the road between Ofeliite and Planinarska Pesen. Go straight across and take the path diagonally opposite. This path heads down to Zlatni Mostove. In three minutes you will pass a fountain on your right, where there is a sort of crossroads. The path ahead and the path on the right feature in the walk Zlatni Mostove, but we are going to take the path on the left, signposted for Vladaya via Ofeliite. This lovely path takes you over a stream, then over Vladaya River, which is already gaining in confidence, past the Vetrovala ski slope on your right, which has wonderful views off into the distance. In twenty minutes, you will again come to the road between Ofeliite and Planinarska Pesen. Go straight across, walk down the path opposite and rejoin the road no more than a minute later. Now turn left and follow the road back to Ofeliite.