Verila

Worth a detour

Verila is the hinge between two far more famous mountains: the Bukapreslapska saddle joins it northwards to Vitosha, the Klisura saddle southwards to Rila, and the E4 long-distance path runs straight over the top of it. Twenty kilometres long, gneiss and schist under beech, oak and hornbeam, pasture on the crest, and almost nobody about. Its high point, Golyam Debelets, reaches 1,415 metres.

Story

Background

Nothing here is dramatic, which is the reason to mention it at all. Verila is the piece of ground that makes a continuous walk from Sofia's own mountain into the highest range in the Balkans possible on foot, and walkers on the E4 cross it between Vitosha and Rila without most Bulgarians ever having climbed it.

Seven villages sit on its foothills and slopes — Belchin, Klisura, Lisets and Yarebkovitsa on the Sofia side, Gorna Dikanya and Dren in Pernik province, Topolnitsa in Kyustendil. The II-82 road runs through the Klisura saddle at the southern end, so access is easy enough by car if you want to start high.

The forest is deciduous rather than coniferous, which makes it a better autumn mountain than a summer one, and the open pasture along the crest gives views in both directions: Vitosha's dome behind you, the Rila wall in front. If you are not walking a long trail there is no compelling reason to come; if you are, this is the quiet day between two loud ones.