I did a fair amount of poking around the Bay of Kotor looking for dirt. Given the limited real estate around the shoreline, all the trails are up in the mountains. Which, of course, makes it even more fun.
For the very quickest access to dirt from Kotor I set my sights on the Vrmac Mountains west of the city.
The map above shows the route to the peak of Sveti Ilija, the highest mountain on the peninsula. Taking the bike all the way to the very end is possible, but it’s definitely NOT for everyone. More about that in a moment.
Like most rides around the bay, the road to Sveti Ilija is peppered with overlooks, vistas and viewpoints. Hard to make much progress if one’s truly trying to take it all in.
The first visual treat comes right at the beginning while scaling the south hill toward the mountain pass. Beautiful views of Kotor, the Bay and usually a cruise ship or two await.
Tivat as seen from Vrmac.
Up at the pass, the road splits several ways. One path goes down toward Tivet, another goes up the east mountains toward Njegusi, a spectacular road I describe here. And another one breaks off to the right, up into the Vrmac Mountains.
The Vrmac road is narrow, but has nearly no traffic. I rode it three or four times and encountered 1-2 cars along the way each time.
Shortly before arriving at Fort Vrmac, about half way to Sveti Ilija the road leads through a forest and a few dirt trails break off to the side. I explored these in some detail on two separate occasions. The trails vary in difficulty from easy to medium the hardest section being a mix of roots and soft forest soil leading down a fairly steep hill.
Hidden deep in the forest, a few clearings suddenly open into sweeping views overlooking Kotor from the west.
Same site, closer to the edge.
And here’s how to get there.
Back on tarmac, the road turns into gravel and loose rock shortly after it reaches Fort Vrmac, once an Austro-Hungarian outpost.
From there, the road first follows the ridge to the radio antennas and eventually to Sveti Illija.
This section of the route is no ordinary road. It’s an old military road built back in the late 1800’s. The surface is stable, but can’t be taken for granted. My Karoo 4 tires plowed ahead with confidence, but a few quick slide tests proved that it wouldn’t take much to loose that confidence altogether.
At the very end of the trail, what’s left of the military road begins climbing up to the peak in a series of zigzags.
This takes some doing.
The road is in disarray and the boulders aren’t all that small. Whether rolling or embedded, the rocks have a way of changing the front wheel’s direction on a dime while the differences in surface height leave the rider without a toe on the ground. Pick a good line and you sail through. Make a mistake and a recovery is difficult. Some sections here wouldn’t be completely out of place in an Erzebergrodeo Light.
In the end, I took on half of this terrain before running out of steam. The twenty year old in me wanted to push on ahead, but a one year tour wouldn’t get far without a bike. Reluctantly, I rode back down without planting a flag.
If I had to sum up the riding around Vrmac, I’d say it’s a great playground. Just enough variety to keep one’s skills sharp and the gray cells entertained. If boulder fields are your thing, this might do the trick, just make sure to bring a lot of padding.
The next place I explored was a rocky service road breaking off of the P11 a couple kilometers past Njegusi.
Getting there takes a little while as one has to first navigate all the switchbacks and traffic shenanigans on P11 first.
This is the road to take if P11 somehow wasn’t enough. The trail does offer several new perspectives. And, unlike the tarmac, this option all but guarantees complete solitude.
Once again, the name of the game is loose rock. Most of the road is in a respectable shape and poses little challenge. The only tricky parts involve multiple layers of rock.
I probably wouldn’t bother coming out here multiple times a week just to reach the dirt, but combined with the P11 it was the perfect icing on the cake that day.