Was I ever lucky we were in ‘searching-for-a-place-to-stay’ mode (in Trogir) and going slow. A crucial bolt holding my front pannier sheared suddenly and the pannier rack wrapped tight around my front wheel stopping me dead. I did a track stand on my front wheel, Claire crashed into me and we both collapsed onto the road. Hardly a scratch as a result but flat tire, dented/distorted rim, and totalled pannier rack. Claire headed off to find a campsite while I got the bike functional. We limped into camp later that day Facing a long delay we feared for the worst, but with the help of Josip from Bi-Bi Bicycle Rental we were back on the road in 48 hours with trued wheel, broken bolt extracted, new pannier rack all delivered with help installing, as promised, for 320 kuna ($58 CDN). As I was saying, we were lucky!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. I had indicated in our last post, our introduction to Croatia was, to say the least, a bit strange. We had chosen a remote border crossing to avoid traffic and instead found hill after hill. We also found a totally different human landscape. We were definitely off the tourist route so the villages we passed through were eerily quiet and devoid of life (it is completely different along the coast). In contrast, a similar sized village in Turkey would have had a couple of tea stalls, a road side market or two and groups of old men hanging about and definitely a mosque. These had none of the above with absolutely no sign of commercial life (i.e., no food or lodging if we needed it). Part of our reason for choosing this wayward route was the Warm Showers host who was willing to receive us.
When we finally pulled up to our hosts’ place we were hot & tired. Claire, in her lifetime role as my much needed, editor-in-chief has just advised discretion, so suffice it to say, this was certainly the most ‘unique’ of our overnight stays. We slept in what amounted to an old, outsized, packing crate. The WC was a bucket under a toilet seat and the shower was a hose in our host’s chaotic front yard. He told us to duck if the local bus came by which is exactly what happened with us standing naked in the front yard!
Much to our surprise two young, female, American woofers (organic farming volunteers) had been working around his place for the past week. I never got a clear picture of exactly what they were doing but they had created some order in the chaos. We chatted over beers at the local restaurant. They were both recent grads, fun to be with, maybe a little naive but big-hearted and certainly game. If it wasn’t for the girls our stay would have been a bit of a let down. The girls on the other hand, had enjoyed theirs. Not in this case, but I get the feeling that ‘woofing’ has lots of potential for abuse by unscrupulous ‘farmers’.
As I write, we are ‘wild’ (the European term for non-sanctionned) camping at a beautiful, seaside spot which we have all to ourselves but is only 0.5 km from a 5,000 guest capacity ‘camping village’ on the island of Pag. I’m blown away by how easily people can be corralled!
We are both equally blown away by how developed and how beautiful the Croatian coast is. One historically significant town after another (Dubrovnik, Korcula, Split, Trogir, Zadar, etc.), fantastic small boat moorage, lovely beaches, thousands (literally) of islands and all adorned with a sophisticated tourism product of accommodation, cafe/bars, restaurants, tours, good service, great transportation links (with one major caveat, see below), etc.. The weather has been consistently beautiful. The sea clean, clear and inviting. Every evening is spent eating outdoors and strolling the promenades to be found in virtually all seaside towns. We had a particularly lovely evening in Split. It was the solstice and also, we were to discover, World Music Day, and we happened on to a free concert with some excellent performers in an ancient plaza (with awesome acoustics) adjacent to Diocletian’s Palace….very cool! We also had a special visit to the notoriously packed Dubrovnik when we visited during an early morning thundershower. The streets were relatively empty as we darted from one archway to the next, seeking shelter from the rain and watching the cascading run-off pour down ancient marble staircases.
(Left) Unsigned and essentially abandoned, this old road led us to Dubrovnik. Sometimes, following Google pays off! (Right)Walking our bikes through the crowded alleys of Dubrovnik on a sunny day was a bit much. The following day in the rain was much better.
On the other hand we are getting frazzled riding the Croatian roads. Due to lack of options (i,e, no shoulder) 95% of the time we are either riding the white line (denotes the edge of the lane) or we are in the lane of traffic AND, to make matters worse, it is now high season. The roads are busy, the drivers are either aggressive or completely oblivious to our presence. Powerful motorcycles flying by at high speed or cars not giving us an inch keep us totally focused, but worst of all, are the stealthy Mercedes tour buses that we don’t hear until they blow by with a blast of wind. The lack of consideration for cycle traffic is exemplified by the main bridge, north out of Dubrovnik. The sidewalk was narrow with pannier catching uprights every 2 M. It was like riding a 300 M long ‘skinny’ (a technical mountain biking feature)…and then terminates with a 2 M drop-off!! Rather dishearteningly, we receive little acknowledgement from the driving public. In contrast, the Turks, a bunch of Muslim fanatics 😉 were always encouraging us by honking or waving greetings or inviting us in for tea. Regrettably, we hear the roads in Slovenia are no better (i.e., no shoulder) so our hopes are high for Italy.
Pannier-catching uprights, followed by a ….2 meter drop off!
On a similar note, I thought I should add something about risk tolerance and safety. I often chastise myself for my somewhat lackadaisical attitude in this regard but on the Mediterranean coast we are amazed at the nonchalance in which pedestrians regard traffic, the way people drive, drop-offs on pedestrian walkways without guardrails, building code & fire code violations wherever you look, etc.. Not a helicopter parent to be seen. It’s not that the people seem tough, hardened risk takers. It’s quite the opposite. The lifestyle is dominated by a lot of sitting around in bar/cafes, strolling, chatting …as sybaritic as budget allows. Certainly world’s apart from the lifestyle we have in Squamish. We’ve seen little ‘active’ recreation…maybe it’s something in the air and certainly the sea has it’s tranquilizing qualities.
Note: The morning we were to get the pannier rack we lounged around in the tent, as opposed to our typical early starts, not that a small 2-person allows for much ‘lounging’, until signs of an imminent storm started to rattle the tent. We decided to pack up but our timing was off and despite our frantic efforts we got drenched, which resulted in me getting a cold, a particularly virulent man-cold at that, which I have now passed onto Claire. So…we are currently holed up in Rab, another lovely town, trying to recover. We are also planning the next leg. Despite the obvious charms and logic of following the coast we are both keen to get away from the busy roads and far too many tourists with the corresponding lack of ‘authenticity’. So it looks like we are heading north to Slovenia by, more or less, the most direct route. We’ll avoid the industrialized Bay of Trieste and enter Italy closer to the mountains (yikes, more hill climbing!).
OVER THE HILL AND BEYOND 