Let's dance the Balkans stage 8 from Planiska kuka and Ulog. Our journey continues in this wild part of the park. The views follow one another uninterruptedly on the beautiful dirt road that climbs in hairpin bends towards yet another nameless pass at over 1700m above sea level; the morning light helps to make the images we managed to capture with our shots more intense. Then we descend for over 23km. Some indications of Orthodox churches appear, but we are unable to identify them on the route. Further on, still downhill, we take the dirt road along the Neretva valley, which from here on will be the common thread for a good stretch of our journey. The limestone rocks, descending, have given way to the flysh, which are more erodible. Perhaps this is why the remote valley we are traveling through is unique as it is the only one whose outflow collects the water and carries it towards the Adriatic. In the rest of Bosnia and neighboring Montenegro, due to the coastal chains, the rivers carry water towards the interior of the Balkan area, paying tribute to the Danube. The Neretva instead flows into the Adriatic further south in the only outlet to the sea of Bosnia: the port of Neum.
The desolate valley of the Neretva, devoid of inhabited sites (and with some signs of pleasant places, but without the place itself), leads us in the torrid afternoon with a long up and down sometimes even repetitive towards Ulog, an isolated and abandoned place. Fortunately along the road there are frequent fountains, where we can find refreshment.
We have no references to accommodation here; we have brought what is necessary for a night in the open.
There are no more than 30 houses, the cows graze in the gardens, most of the houses are abandoned. On the "main" road, strictly unpaved, some old vehicle loaded with agricultural products passes rarely.