We recommend this route for all seasons, though we liked it most in autumn, during the Indian summer, when the colors go crazy and leaves rustles underfoot, when shephers return from summer pastures the village meadows become noisy with the sound of sheep, when brandy making season starts and orchards are bowed under the weight of autumn fruits.
You can start your hiking tour from Berane, from the monastery of St. George – Durdjevi stupovi (XII century), but the trail is marked from the intersection Veliđe-Parike (868m), where you will see the starting mark CS3 (countryside trail number 3). We are heading for the hamlet Parike that belongs to the cluster of villages called Crni Vrh, and we walk along the gravel road. Another hiking trail overlaps with CS3 here, the trail 307, but this overlap is quite short, as just after the village school (895m) CS3 trail turns right while 307 route goes right through the village.
We climb easily all the way until we get out of the forest which surrounds this road, and at the top, on one curve (965m) from where you can see the first village houses, the markings show that we need to turn right, on a small meadow with a narrow hiking trail gong right through it. What comes next is brief climbing through oak forest, until we get to another meadow (1015m), and then, moving just above a small ravine we enter a much wider trail on the right. Very soon we find a not so strong water spring with a wooden water trough (1052m), and just after it, upon a short climb on a rocky ground, the trail widens again and enters a beautiful beech forest called Vidova suma. The real experience of this trail begins here! The sense of peace and tranquility in this forest, which will accompany us for another hour, is what gives the whole charm to this hiking route. If you are lucky, you might find some boletus (porcini mushroom) that was missed by the careful eye of the locals who pick them relentlessly and generate some additional income this way.
Once we leave the forest, we get to an overgrown meadow – in an abandoned spring katun (1126m). Nice place for a break. From this katun, we go through another hundred meters of forest onto the next meadow, a farm, where there are the ruins of an old stone house that is known here by the name of Grubovska tower (1143m). There is also a water spring here.
From the tower onward we move through a gravel road, which is obviously not often used, as it is no longer a gravel but grass road, surrounded by a beautiful birch alley. We continue to climb this way a little bit, and arrive at a place called Garevine (1205m). From these meadows you have a view that on one side extends over the valley of Lim towards Bijelo Polje, but also on the whole basin of Berane on the other side. After this break that will rest both your eyes and body, we continue on a macadam road downhill toward the village Veliđe, towards Fanjevice. We pass through woods, meadows, among pastures, orchards and apiaries. Just next to the road there are numerous apple trees, full of fruits, and we refresh ourselves with couple of apples, and continue further towards the village. We know that we have come to the village when we hear the usual everyday rural noise – calling of the locals, chainsaw, tractor. Here we pass on the asphalt road that leads us to the place where we started this hiking route.
This hiking circle is 8.5 kilometers long, and is not overly demanding. Some of us are not physically in best shape, but it was no great effort to hike this trail. It is ideal in summer for sheltering from the summer heat and the dust of the town, and while the daylight lasts long enough to allow you this walk after the hard day at work. The trail connects the villages of Crni vrh and Veliđe, and can further connect this area with all the surrounding villages, as well as with Bjelasica mountain. It goes through roads that have since long ago been paved by the villagers and their livestock. The trail was a little overgrown at some sections the ferns and bushes, but we have cut the obstacles down, and we highly recommend this route now!
Exploration of this trail has been supported by National Tourism Organisation of Montenegro.
