PL 03 - Plav – Mema’s Mountain – Plav

A very “green”, but also strenuous tour which those who love testing their physical abilities will enjoy. In addition, the road to Memina planina goes to the places from which there is an excellent view of Plav and Lake Plav, and the highest point of the route – the katuns below the 2,074m high summit of the mountain – may be the start of an interesting hike to the summit itself. Along a good portion of the route one rides through the forest, which will certainly be convenient during the summer heat.
After only about 300m from the centre of Plav we leave the asphalt and turn left, onto a macadam road towards the village of Budovica. The road immediately starts climbing, and its quality decreases – patience and enthusiasm are necessary for the shaking along the road surface which is a combination of poor macadam and rough cobblestones. But however the view of the lake and Plav which is soon left behind in the depths below us, will make up for a lot of things. At the beginning of the second kilometre the poor macadam track turns into a dirt road. After 2.7km there is a junction at which one should proceed straight on and soon one goes past a spring, on the left side of the road. (The spring is not clearly visible, so one should look carefully.)
At the graveyard as you leave Budovica, a picturesque village with houses of stone and wood, we should leave the relatively flat and wide road along which we have gone so far and turn left, more steeply uphill. From here the most difficult section of the ascent, about 4.4km long, starts. First we will pass a semi-abandoned katun, and then we enter the forest where we will encounter a challenge in the form of a whimsical dirt road, mainly of a decent quality, but occasionally covered with a thick layer of leaves or ploughed up by tractor wheels. On this 4km there are also shorter, flatter sections which will give us an opportunity to ride really fast, but in general one should be ready for some serious effort. After a section with numerous short serpentines and another patch of forest, we will eventually get into a large open amphitheatre below the summit of Memina planina. It takes about 30 minutes of energetic walking to reach the summit of Memina planina from the katuns which are situated in this place.
We come back to Budovica along the same road, where now we will turn left and start the descent towards the village of Hakanje and towards the Plav–Gusinje asphalt road. The road along which we descend is a macadam of acceptable (though not great) quality.
Once we find ourselves on the road along the lake we turn right and after a short ride (quite appropriate for relaxing our insulted muscles) we are soon in Plav again.