Bistritza Aleko 2025

I've been so berried in work and engagements lately, that I have time neither for my hobbies nor for blogging. Gaby was visiting us, then her boyfriend joined us and we had some wonderful time together. Meanwhile husband and I have been using every possibility to hike in the mountains, as summer is so short and before we know it, it will be over. I don't want to leave blanks in my diary blog, so here is a short recap of our previous hike.

Last Friday husband and I decided to do a repeat of a route we designed two years ago - from the village of Bistritza to Aleko hut along the Bistritza river and then back to Bistritza along the Yanchovska river. Both trails run through the Bistrishko banishte preserved area.

The trails are picturesque and fairly easy, despite the significant altitude gain.

The major impediment to our progress were actually not the rivers, the steepness or the insects, but the ripe raspberries :) They were really plentiful,extra big and super ripe and sweet. We ate, until we had stomach pains and then we decided to collect some, filling our lunch boxes with soft berries.

Hike info:

Date:  15 August 2025

Destination: Aleko Hut, round trail

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 16 km

Elevation gain: 740 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 5 and a half hours with raspberry picking and eating

Average difficulty: 5 / 10 

The day was a bit cloudy, with some chillness at Aleko hut.

We had our lunch at the hut - tortillas and the hit of the summer - cinnamon cookies.

On the way back we continued to fill the lunch boxes with raspberries, until we got fed up with eating and picking. The trail along Yanchovska river is probably a bit steeper, but very scenic and beautiful, I liked it a lot.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxer shorts, Burda blouse, Burda hoodie

I: lingerie, Love Notions LDT tunic, Love Notions joggings

As we got home, we decided to make raspberry jam with the berries we had gathered and for our efforts we got four and a half jars of very delicious jam - probably the best I've made so far our of raspberries. The quality of the fruit does matter and these were really superb berries. If we decide to hike there next year, we'll probably should eat less and gather more :)

Bistritza - Zeleznitza 2025

The low altitude circuit trail on Vitosha is at its prime at the end of May and June, when it is in full green mode, with lots of flowers and blooming trees. We love to frequent various parts of it at this time of the year, today we chose the most popular of them all, only some 30 min by car from home - the section between the villages of Bistritza and Zeleznitza and back.

Unlike previous rainy years, June is warm and sunny this year, with just a touch of chill in the air in the low parts of the mountain.

Today we seem to have happened upon the very time of blooming of the elder trees, so the air along the trail was amazingly fragrant. We gathered a bunch of elder flowers and I'm making an elder lemonade right now.

Hike info:

Date:  13 June 2025

Destination: low altitude circuit trail Bistritza - Zeleznitza and back

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 12.5 km

Elevation gain: 80 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 3 hours

Average difficulty: 2 / 10

The picnic area around the Selska river above Zeleznitza was packed with children on a school trip, enjoying the simple delights of playing in its shallow waters :)

We found a quieter place up along the river, where we had our delicious picnic.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Burda t-shirt

I: lingerie, Sabrina Slims I, Burda blouse

And back along the same track - one of the disadvantages of the low altitude circuit is, that the hikes are usually to and fro, unless they are combined with some climbing and descending, or involve the use of  public transportation. But the trail is so lovely and easy, that walking it in both directions was a delight, not a chore.

An interesting beetle on the path - Morimus funereus, long-horn beetle, буков сечко.

Bistritza - Zeleznitza in January

Our Friday hike was along one of the closest to home and easiest trails, from the village of Bistritza to the village of Zeleznitza and back along the same trail, which is part of the low altitude Vitosha circuit.

However, on a winter day, the path is not so easy, especially after a sequence of sunny days and freezing nights - parts of the trail were covered with melting ice and very difficult to traverse. 

The trail is extremely popular, but on a cold Friday it was almost empty - on our way to Zeleznitza we met with absolutely no one, on the way back we did encounter a couple of other hikers.

A curious anecdote - there are two parking lots at the start of the trail - one at the very end of the village, where we left the car, and one 1 km further along. This further section of the asphalt road has been abandoned and I believe it is closed for cars (theoretically), but people usually drive to the end of it and park their cars at the old parking lot, where the road meets the trail. However, just before the parking lot, one of Bistritza river tributaries had over-flooded a section of the road, it was completely frozen from bank to bank and extremely dangerous for driving. We were so relieved to have left the car at the other parking lot, unfortunately there were cars in the dangerous section and two of them had already had a minor accident, sliding along the ice and bumping into one other.

Hike info:

Destination: low altitude circuit trail Bistritza - Zeleznitza

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 13 km

Elevation gain: 80 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 3 and a half hours

Average difficulty: 3 / 10 

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxers, Knipmode cargo pants, hat, socks, scarf

I: lingerie, "Page" hoodie, socks, hat, gloves, scarf

 

We had our picnic on the sunlit benches by the river and quickly headed back.

I love refreshing winter hikes, when the sun is shining and the air is cold and crisp :)

Bistritza - Aleko 2023

 Last Saturday we hiked on Vitosha along a circular trail from the village of Bistritza to Aleko hut and down back to Bistritza along an alternative track. Both tracks run through a preserved area along two rivers - Bistrishka and Yanchovska.

We've climbed the track along Bistrishka river up to Aleko twice before. It is very scenic and beautiful.

Unfortunately, the bridges have been let to rot and crossing the river was a bit problematic at some places. At the end of the summer the rivers are not full watered, so it was OK, but I do hope the mountain park authorities will take care of this issue soon.

Hike info:

Destination: Aleko Hut, round trail

Mountain: Vitosha

Total length: 16 km

Elevation gain: 740 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 5 and a half hours with raspberry picking and eating

Average difficulty: 5 / 10 

Basking in the sun. The track runs through the forests and is quite shady.

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: boxer shorts, Knitpick cargo pants

I: lingerie, Burda Henley blouse, Love Notions Sabrina Slims II

There were still some ripe raspberries and we gathered a small box for a raspberry pie and even an additional raspberry decorated cake :)

We had out picnic at Aleko hut and then took the alternative track down Yanchovska river. This one we had never hiked before.

What a bridge :) There were several such constructions along this route.

The track along Yanchovska river proved to be no less scenic and interesting.

And back to the car to close the circle. Quite a nice, satisfying hike!