Zeleznitza - Kupena Hut 2024

It has been 9 years, since we last climbed the trail from the village of Zeleznitza to Kupena hut and back. This is probably one of the steepest trails on Vitosha, with over 800 m elevation gain over less than 6 km. Because of the significant slope, the trail is exhausting in both directions - much more, obviously, up, but the downhill traverse is a killer for the knees and leg muscles. Quite frankly, after yesterday's hike I don't feel an urge to repeat this climb any time soon. No wonder it took us 9 years since the last time :)

Despite the difficulty of the track, it is a fairly popular one, mostly because of its accessibility - the village of Zeleznitza is close to Sofia, with excellent public transport. A lot of the climbers rest at Kupena hut and then continue up ro Cherni vruh - Zeleznitza is one of the starting points of the tracks to the summit. We've done this extreme climb too, but yesterday our aspirations were modest - Kupena hut and back.

Hike info:

Date: 15 June 2024

Destination: Academic hut (1782 m)

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 12 km

Elevation gain: 830 m

Total duration: 4 hours

Average difficulty: 6 / 10

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxer shorts, cargo pants, hoodie

I: lingerie, Sabrina Slims, raglan Burda, hoodie

The trail was very green and the meadows were covered with wild flowers. June is probably one of the most beautiful months on Vitosha.

We had our picnic on the grounds of Kupena hut, recovered our strength and took the same trail back to the village and the car.

 

 

Konyarnika 2024

Yesterday, we hiked another loop trail on Vitosha that we had mapped out in advance. We started from Zlatnite Mostove, taking a new-to-us path to Hotel Boeritza. From there, we continued to Kumata Hut, then to Peak Konyarnika, and back to Zlatnite Mostove, passing by a few other huts. It was a very pleasant and fairly easy hike, despite the significant altitude gain.

The day was unusually hot for early June. In fact, one of the hallmarks of this year's weather has been the label "unusually hot." Coincidentally, the annual mountain run on Vitosha was held on the same day and along the very trail we had chosen to hike. So, on our way up, we constantly passed by runners going down, which was kind of fun.

The trail took us up to Mountaineer's Song Hut

and then to Hotel Boeritza, two places on Vitosha we hadn't visited until yesterday.

Konyarnika is one of my favorite spots on Vitosha. I love the vastness of the meadows and the sense of space there.

Hike info:

Destination: peak Konyarnika (1782 m)

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 13 km

Elevation gain: 400 m

Total duration: 3 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 3.5 / 10

Peak Konyarnika was the highest point of our hike, and we decided to have our picnic there, on the stones of the peak.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxer shorts, cargo pants, hoodie in the backpack

I: lingerie, Sabrina Slims, buttoned Rhapsody, hoodie in the backpack

From Konyarnika on our trail continued downward, by Edelweiss hut and Ostritza hut.

Parallel bars in the wilderness. Some mysteries of the Universe are too good to be missed, so husband had to pay his respects to the random sports equipment in the shrubbery :)

Viki Sews Gloria Dress

Three years after my Roliz dress by Vikisews, I've made another dress. The inspiration for it comes from a Russian seamstress, who blew my mind with her interpretation of Vikisew's dress and prompted me immediately to log on to the site and buy the two related patterns.

Yes, two patterns, as the upper part of the dress is the Gloria and the skirt is a simple semi-circle skirt, which I lazily chose to buy, instead of drawing it myself.

I've always known that short wide skirts are my thing and when I saw Bogdanchik's version of Gloria, I knew I had found my dream dress pattern :)

Apart from the different skirt, this version of the dress also features a different sleeve - the long shirred lower part of the sleeve is gone and the upper part is gathered with an elastic, inserted in a tunnel.

Although I ordered and made my size 36 and my height, I've noticed a few minor things that I will need to modify in my next dresses, based on this pattern.

The square neck opening of the dress is a bit low for my taste and so I added a little piece of ruffle. Next time I plan simply to raise the neckline by 2.5 cm.

Another issue is the width of the dress in the upper part and at the shoulders. I know I am actually 34 around the bust and the shoulders, so I plan to narrow the cleavage and to add two small darts at the back neck, reducing the front and the back necklines by 2 cm respectively.

 

Pattern: Gloria dress and Deniz skirt by Vikisews

Size: 36

Height: 154 - 160 cm

Fabric: polyester georgette

Time to make: 2 weeks

 

Dragalevtzi 2024

We continue with our exploration of Vitosha, yesterday along a familiar trail from Dragalevsky monastery to Simeonovi lakes and back along the same track. This is probably among the easiest hikes we've done lately, short and close to home, with little elevation gain. However, for the beech forests on Vitosha and the Aleko waterfall May and early June are probably the best time to visit, so our hike was very pleasant and enjoyable.

Although the difference between the lowest and the highest altitude along the track is only 100 m, it's a mountain, so there was still constantly up and downhill hiking and the trail was not always as level as on this photo :)

Hike info:

Date: 01 June 2024

Destination: Simeonovi lakes

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 10.2 km

Elevation gain: 100 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 3 hours

Average difficulty: 2 / 10

A glimpse towards Sofia on the fault of Skakavitza river. I haven't checked, but wouldn't be surprised if Skakavitza (jumping) and Bistritza (clear) are the most common names of Bulgarian rivers :)

Aleko's waterfalls, the crux of the trail

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda shortsleeve blouse

I: lingerie, Sabrina Slims I, Burda raglan blouse, Burda Hoodie

The first of the Simeonovi lakes on the Starata reka river

We had our lunch near the river and headed back along the same track

After we got back to the parking lot, we left our backpacks and went to the nearby Dragalevsky monastery, just to have a look at its grounds