The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 131

ly sounds like Wales

but the title
is a give away… Montenegro is a small country
formed out of part of the old Yugoslavia in that
bit of Europe above Greece known as the
Balkans. Balkans sounds like Serbia, Sarajevo,
Kosovo and wars and that’s certainly part of the
area’s history, but Montenegro would like to be
thought of as one of the National Geographic’s
top 10 world-wide destinations. It gets that
accolade because of its white beaches,
undeveloped mountains and deep canyons. Add
to that, a friendly population of only 678,000
and the fact they have only been independent
since 2006 and you’ve got an exciting and
relatively unknown destination.

For us the deep canyons had been on the
kayaking radar for a while. We three kayak
voyagers from North Wales, had paddled some
great rivers in Europe and further afield and had
heard mention of ‘the second deepest canyon in
the world’. It sounded unlikely but had the sniff
of adventure. Flights had always been the
stumbling block, but a new Monarch flight from
Manchester to Dubrovnik (in Croatia but close
to the MN border) opened the door. Internet
research produced a kayak guide, and the
ubiquitous Deb Pinniger (thanks Deb!) gave
concrete advice… so we booked for the 12th May
to maximise snow melt.

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