31/08/2019 – Hotel Sky

After a fun evening it was a late start heading south. I was heading along the coast to eventually get to Split and then Dubrovnik.

The riding was nice and followed the EuroVelo Route 8 most of the time. It was really hot during the afternoons so often I found somewhere to set up for a few hours, chow down some food and rest the legs.

The coastal road was nice and smooth, there wasn’t much in the way of hard shoulders but cars were generally good at leaving enough space when passing.

I made good progress and set up call for the night.

The next day I reached Split for lunch. The old town was really nice and after a quick walk around, I headed for the beach. There was a nice spot in the shade and set up camp there for the afternoon.

I bumped into some other cyclists that evening and after a quick chat, they invited me to stay with them at ‘Hotel Sky’. This turned out to be sleeping on the beach under the stars.

Most of the beaches in Croatia are stoney and this was no different. It certainly wasn’t the best nights sleep I’ve ever had but it was certainly a nice view to wake up to in the morning.

Bright and early (before the police came) I made good progress until lunchtime where I had another long afternoon break. Watched a couple of films and had a big pizza (which had peas on, strange but worked okay).

The evening riding was suiting me well as the temperatures were cooler and I had to drink less water.

To get to Dubrovnik I had to go through 5km of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Getting into Bosnia the border patrol just waved me through and didn’t even check my passport. Getting back into Croatia was the hardest border yet, they looked at my passport for at least 5 seconds and even turned a page or two before letting me through.

I made it to just outside Dubrovnik so that I could explore the city nice and early.

Everyone says that it’s a stunning city and I have to agree. The only problem with it is that there are so many tourists (yes, I realise I’m being a bit of a hypocrite…).

Someone from the hostel in Zadar dropped me a message to say that they spotted my bike locked up and asked what I was up to. I was doing what every other cyclist on a budget was doing, relaxing in the 5 star Hilton hotel charging up my things.

They invited me to head to the fort at the top of the mountain and after a long hike, we learnt a lot about the war that happened here.

After food we spent the evening on the beach and not realising how late it was getting, I set off for Bosnia at 11pm in search of somewhere to stay.

After cycling up the hill we’d walked up earlier, the border soon arrived. This was the first country outside of the EU free roaming area which meant using google maps was out of the question to find a campsite.

Asking the border guard where the nearest campsite was wasn’t the best idea as he gave me a funny look and asked why I was coming into the country gone midnight without somewhere to stay.

Managing to blag my way out of it, I started cycling and eventually found a little path off a side road to stay for the night. It certainly wasn’t the best place I’ve stayed but it did the job.

The nearest town wasn’t too far away so after a couple of hours sleep, I went got to Trebinje. The restaurant had WiFi so I was able to see what the exchange rate was and work out how cheap things were. Cheese omelettes were £1.90 so I ordered 2 and planned the route for the day.

The houses seem to be quite varied in Bosnia. Lots of them are really small and look quite worn and in need of some paint. Others look like this…

I’m not one to speculate over someone’s occupation, but they are doing very well for themselves either through legitimate means or otherwise…

I would be leaving Bosnia quite quickly and going to Montenegro for the night. Lots of new countries and home keeps seeming further and further away.