Nakovana - Sveti Ilija (Pelješac)

Access to the starting point:
Drive through Orebić and at its western end, at the "Y" junction, turn right in the route Kućište/Viganj/Lovište. For the next 15 minutes (11. 4 km) you follow the main road, which - via Kućište and Viganj - leads to Lovište over a "pass" of about 300 m. The starting point of the tour is near the highest point ("saddle") of this road, at a long left-hand bend. Just before the signpost for Nakovana there is a branch off the "forest" dirt road; in front of the closed ramp there is a parking area for about 6 cars.
Distances from the nearest tourist places to the starting point: Orebić (centre): 12 km; Viganj/Kućište/Perna: 4 to 9 km; Lovište: just over 6 km.

Path description:
It is the easiest in terms of fitness (the smallest difference in altitude) and, in terms of kilometres walked (more than 7 km), perhaps the longest approach to St Ilija. It gives you a good idea of the vastness and ruggedness of the Peljesac Ridge, with its many hills, knolls, outcrops and couloirs along the way. Like most approaches, this one takes you through a beautiful pine forest for about half an hour (at an altitude of about 600 m). The initial dirt road (3. 4 km) is made much easier by mountain biking; the walking part is a bit longer.
In the high summer holiday season, it makes the most sense to start the tour in the dark (somewhere between 4am and 5am) and finish in the early morning, or to take advantage of a possible cooler day (passing front). There is no water along the way. Both mountain huts - the new one (next to the hunting hut) and the more well-known old one - are closed in the summer (the Orebić PD has the keys).

In the first third of the route, the markings are very sparse and faint, but orientation is nevertheless very easy: stick to the dirt road (3. 4 km; 0:45). You can do this very easily even in the dark. First you pass the lock, then you go around the first Pranja cairn on the south side, then you walk more or less eastwards for a long time, in a gentle ascent, and finally a little steeper (almost serpentine) on the north side around the Pišćet cairn. You can cut the last bend with a piece of the mountain path (thus shortening the path by 0. 4 km), but the turn-off (right into the forest) is not well marked.

Here, at the Podpišćet turnoff, the mountain trail actually starts (if you are on a bike, you park here). From here on, the markings are good and very frequent. From the turning point, you pass the hunting observation point and immediately hit the rocky ground at a steeper angle. After about 15 minutes of climbing, the path lays down again. You continue through a broken world: through maquis, over large stones, through low deciduous forest. After less than an hour's walk, you reach a large clearing where a new mountain hut stands next to a 1980s hunting lodge. A few minutes further from the clearing, in the shelter of tall pines, you reach a triple crossroads (the trail connection from Viganj/Bilopolje/Orebić). This part takes 1 h.

The last hour takes you further east, first through a beautiful pine forest, then a little more open again. Before you reach the old mountain hut, you bite your knees a little more steeply twice more. At the hut, the path from Orebić/Ruskovići joins. Above the hut, there are a few steps of steeper climbing through the forest (towards the NE), then a bare ridge to the top.

Times: starting point - end of dirt road (Podpišćet) 0:45; end of road - triple trail junction (Polje) 1:00, junction - summit 1:00.
The described situation is valid for August 2022.

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