Along Vladayska River

Winter greetings!

A lot of hiking I did last week and it began on the previous weekend.

With a small trip up Vladayska River, starting from the village of Vladaya, right outside Sofia, Bulgaria. A few kilometers to the South-West. Sofia public transportation goes to the village at least once each hour, usually more frequent. It's bus number 54 a stone throw away from the final suburban station of tram number 5 in Knyazhevo District.

Then uphill from the center of the village and into Vitosha Mountain near the river...

This is how it all looks on a the map of Vitosha:

Sofia would be the ochre (learn the word, auto-correct!, I wouldn't call this yellow or brown) stain to the North

Now we see our starting point, Vladaya village (с. Владая) in the North-West corner.

I will shortly get back in time and to other seasons to show you where this path goes...

An area called The Golden Bridges - a stone river. Water runs below those huge stones.

And before it gets there, the river runs through the wood, a lot of rocks and trees thrown across its path. A few images from an autumn trip along it...

I believe Autumn fits it quite well, doesn't it?

I shall continue now with my latest visit last week and the sunny day I had.

Does it look familiar? I decided to post it Black and White, too.

In general I was blessed with the relatively warm weather and the long shadows.

The river, though, was quite hidden under a lot of snow. Almost invisible.

Here I try sharing a video footage of the first place I went down to the water. Unfortunately, the quality was somehow compromised but I will learn at some point. Anyway:

Did you hear the 'Argh!' at 00:02? That was me complaining about muscle strain while getting back to a standing position from the incredible lunge I had to use to put my equipment in place. I am on snow over the river. Only it being well packed under my feet holds my weight. And a few stones here and there do help.

Yup, a lot of balancing exercises made that day to be able to reach the spots I wanted some of my photos taken from.

Here you see the place from above before my approach. After that the snow around the dark pool was all stomped over.

And I did a lot of slow, meticulous and tiresome stomping. As I said, I tried to prepare my platforms of snow before shifting my weight for each more risky step. I did not want to go into the river in this season and with all my equipment. Which added maybe five or six more kilos... photo equipment only. Not the one I took the shots with but other dead weight I was sometimes lazy to leave behind on the trail.

Another window in the snow...

... and my attempt to lower a camera down so that I can show you at least some of the amazing shapes and angles. Not the best result but, well, I have to appreciate the exercise again.

Switching location once more. Same careful routine of stepping as a mouse and as an elephant at the same time. I have to check if the snow below my feet will carry me before taking the actual step. Going down slopes and onto invisible stones.

And further down...

Finally, I am leaving you with some easier shots, taken from the edge of the trail above the river and looking at it from the North. Then we're going back home. That was planned as a lazy Sunday walk, after all.

Yours,

Manol

Disclosure: Posts on TravelFeed may contain affiliate links. See affiliate disclosure.