We're in Korcula, but how did we get here? Read on .....

Korcula, Croatia 24th September 2017
Apartment Jacobus, Old Town (26E)
An extraordinarily lovely 26 degrees

It's been a while since I wrote up our travels, so I'll try and give you a brief synopsis.

We have island-hopped from Split to Korcula, via Hvar and another, large peninsular, the name of which escapes me just now, in order to avoid the treacherous coast road to Dubrovnik.  At 5pm today we find out whether it is in fact possible to take a ferry from Korcula to Dubrovnik, as we have been led to believe.  If not, then we will have to back-track and yes, you've guessed, get on the bloody coast road and ride the road we have been trying to avoid.  Having said that, we cycled 25kms along said road in order to catch a ferry and it really wasn't that bad, although 'hugging the white line' was mandatory.  We even came across an absolutely beautiful place called The Valley of Life.  Judge for yourselves.

Back to Zagreb.  We left the hostel on a very pleasant, sunny day, which turned into the day from hell.  The winds were so ferocious I was down to 8kph at one point.  When you are trying to cover nearly 70kms, that's a loooong day.  Round about the 67 km mark we threw in the towel, got on Booking.com and booked a room close by for £18.  Rooms are cheaper than camping here.  The following two days were equally horrendous in terms of weather.  We tried sticking to the cycle routes but only managed 19kms in 3.5 hours.  The campsite we were heading for was 78 kms away.  So we ended up 'hugging the white line', which sounds like something you do with illegal substances but in Croatia it means hanging on to that very narrow bit at the side of the road which bikes can call their own.  In Croatia that's approx 10 inches of road before you disappear down some precipice!

We (bravely, or is that supidly?) camped, and the thunderstorms swirled around us all night long.  The morning after the rain stopped for long enough so that we could pack the tent up 'damp' rather than take the 'soaking wet' approach, which is to separate the inner from the fly, trying to keep the inner tent as dry as possible, and carrying the fly sheet seperately.  Just before setting off Goran, our campsite host, gave us the information we least wanted to hear, the weather had settled in for the next 4 days.  At which point, a huge thunderclap directly overhead made us both jump out of our boots, but still we soldiered on.  We cycled the 8 kms into town, by which time we were soaked to the skin AND cold, the sky was dark grey and before we even said the words we had already decided, we were not cycling in this for another 4 days.  Off to the train station to book a ticket to Split, directly south, where the weather is forecast as better than Ogulin a town, that is unfortunately, as ugly as it sounds.

Fast forward, the overnight train delivered us to Split, all bright and breezy (not) but the relief of seeing blue sea, Cypress trees and lots of people with shorts and T shirts (at 7am) was palpable.  We immediately removed 2 of our 3 layers and breathed a sigh of relief and breakfasted on pizza (yes, I know .......) From where we trundled up to find our apartment for the next two days, with the lovely Elena and her mum, Neva.  On the way yet another weather condition kicked in (told you we were weather magnets) hailstones the size of gobstoppers.  Honestly, you couldn't make it up, but that has been an oddity.  Apart from the horrific winds we experienced (while camping I hasten to add) on the islands, the weather has been amazing.  We both feel as though this is the beginning of summer.  Except it isn't.  It just should have been like this all along.  Quit moaning, I hear you say.  OK then.

We have camped in some beautiful spots since arriving in Croatia.  Hvar was an experience; we cycled the whole length of the island (almost 60 kms) without finding a supermarket, bar, restaurant or any other kind of eatery.  We could have bought copious amounts of lavender, olive oil, wine and honey, but actually what we wanted was coffee and cake.  The only supermarket we passed (at 1pm) closed between 1200 and 1730, honestly what's the point?  We spotted at least 30 or so cyclists on that road, I'm sure honey cake would have gone down a treat and made someone a small fortune!  We were deposited in Drvenik having caught the ferry from Sucuraj (the far end of Hvar) and as it was late in the day decided to camp there.  A lovely Riviera spot.  Perfect for a few days, but we only stayed one night.

The other 'strangeness' that has happened were the Coyotes howling through the night (really, I'm not kidding) 2 nights ago.  However, the really weird thing about the whole situation was the dogs on the campsite stayed silent.  Scared or what?

On the cycling front, we have covered a fair few kilometres and climbed a few hills since I last wrote.  I'm hoping my legs are creating muscle memory because we've got a lot more climbing to do over the coming months.  BW reckons 8% is preferable, 12% is doable but 15% is hard.  I reckon if it looks like a ski slope or a roller coaster ride it's probably hard.

Farewell for now, update at 5!

Laters

5pm update - we're on the ferry to Dubrovnik tomorrow, yey!


Zagreb
Wallaby House Hostel (270 K)
A very pleasant 23 degrees

And so it came to pass that we found ourselves in Croatia.  The bus from Bratislava was via Vienna, so the reason for the windy ride into Bratislava became plainly obvious.  We could see many wind turbines while cycling but really we had no idea how many.  From the bus it was clear there were hundreds.

It rained all the way to Zagreb, a constant, miserable gush of water running down the windows.  We both suddenly felt like rain-gods, a bit like the King of Thailand who occassionally sends up his personal aircraft and shoots something into the clouds to induce rain. Except we just have to be there and it induces rain, or that's how it seems.

We arrived at The Wallaby House Hostel just after 11pm and the party throng had moved to a bar.  Them's the rules of the house, party till 11 then out.  But of course they all have to come back at some point don't they?  It wasn't that bad actually, except the bathroom door has a nasty squeak and needs some oil.  Today we met Cracker, the owner, an Australian (would you believe) who was telling us that 2 years of partying everyday was taking its toll on his body and he needs to do something else.  Like travel.

I bit the bullet today and had my haircut.  It cost 180K (approx £25) and she did a great job.  She was very fast, quite flamboyant, and finished everything off with a loud 'perfect' while whipping off my gown, just like a magician with his cape, and gave me the one and only smile of the appointment .  I successfully messed up the very straight, sleek look she had given me as soon as I was round the corner.  Oh well, nothing's ever perfect.

Zagreb old town was lovely, albeit quite small.  Narrow streets lined with restaurants and cafes, I imagine it's all rather busy in high summer.  The teracotta roofs reminiscent of Tuscany, it was all quite low key.

I had time to do plenty of research on the bus and the conclusion was that we are going to have to go through Albania.  We need to get to Athens in order to get our Indian visas, which could take up to 3 weeks as they have to get information from the UK.  We are hoping that having a previous Indian visa means it will take less time.  In any case, our passports need to accompany our applications and that means we can't travel outside Greece during that time.  So a little side trip to The Pelopenese, or Crete, looks likely.

Laters

Straubing to Bratislava

You will have guessed that we were never at a place called Straining as my last post title would suggest, duh, schoolgirl error, I would have hauled my students over the coals for not checking their work, shame on me.

Here are some stats:

• Kms cycled to date: 2498
• Average cruising speed: 19-25 kph
• Fastest downhill to date: 56 kph
• Most Kms cycled in one day so far: 78
• No of nights in hotels: 7
• No of wet days: Too many to mention
• Max temp to date: 36 (France)
• Min temp to date: 8 (Austria)

We have met some absolutely delightful people in all the countries we've visited.  We often get what I like to call the 'respect' thumbs up from people of a more mature age, in recognition of the fact that we are still having a go, at our age.  Young people, generally, seem to take fitness and health for granted, and so they should.  When we were in our 20/30s I'm sure we were the same.  But it's as you get older and realise that health and fitness is something that needs to be worked at, nurtured, and not taken for granted, that it becomes precious.

So here we are in Bratislava having a mini break in the Hotel Esprit, but the last 10 days or so has come and gone in a bit of a whirl, a synopsis:

From Straubing we made our way towards the Austrian border stopping at the lovely Vilshofen site site.  Five Euros for a tent and up to 5 people is an absolute bargain.  An honesty system is in place where campers register and put their money in recycled envelopes, in locker number 11.  It serves not only campervans and campers but has a boat dock also.  There is a sitting area, comfy chairs all under cover, which was just as well for us because it absolutely hammered down from 7pm onwards the night we were there.

We had mixed weather on our way to Austria but there were a couple of days that were distinctly cold.  Wearing hats, neck ruffs and socks cold.  We're talking 8 degrees.  There were two days when it absolutely threw it down AND it was cold.  My sense of humour definitely went missing for a bit.  What's really annoying is campsites that purport to cater for cyclists but then don't.  So, when a site says 'and for all you cyclists, our warm, dry garage is there for you to use' one imagines that applies to cyclists universally.  In one case it only applies if you are staying in the expensive Gasthof, not one of the plebs who are actually cycling all day, every day.  Some sites provide covered gazebos, which is an absolute bonus when it's wet, as it's possible to cook and keep kit dry, specially in the morning when we're packing up.  Drying wet clothes at the end of a day is a challenge.  One campsite decided that our towels should not be hanging in the shower room over night, and so chucked them in the bin!

The Donauweg (Danube route) is a bit of a mixed bag.  Some of it is beautiful, a cycleway following the river, no vehicles at all.  Other times we have ended up on busy roads, steep inclines and very fast drivers.  Not quite as fast as the Germans I have to say, but still faster than we'd like.

We really liked the Wachau region, just west of Vienna.  It's a wine and fruit growing region, and everywhere was bursting with fruit.  An Austrian cyclist we met there told us that Wachau was 'the best' food in Austria.  I hope that's true because our experience of the rest of the country (not that we've been in many parts of Austria) has been pretty poor.

We did 'the right thing' and visited Vienna.  It was all a bit pompous and a touch opulent for our taste, with more styles of architecture than you could shake a stick at.  I even spotted a mini Parthenon amongst the Neoclassical.  The best find of the day was the Market.  We were spoilt for choice when deciding what to eat.  The felafel looked amazing, as did the fish, but we opted for the Vietnamese noodles.  Truly authentic and very reasonably priced, it took us right back to Saigon (Before anyone says anything, I know it's called Ho Chi Min now, but when we were there EVERYBODY still calls it Saigon, ditto Bombay).

There's a reason why the road from Vienna to Bratislava has many, many wind turbines.  It's windy.  When I say windy I mean stop you in your tracks windy.  At one point I was down to 8 kph.  Again, complete loss of sense of humour at that point.  BW knows exactly what to do in those circumstances.  Say nothing.  Do not try and make it better by saying things like 'oh well, it could be worse' because he gets a look that could freeze hell.

This three days is a well earned break off the bikes and in relatively luxury.  We're very glad we chose Bratislava rather than Vienna, having visited both.  We are close to the Aupark Shopping Centre, and a 20 min walk to the old town.  BW has gone off this morning to find a bike shop to see if he can buy some new shoes as his Keen boots are falling to bits.  We have a list of 'stuff' to buy, so we'll be going to the Aupark later, and probably have some noodles for dinner, in the enormous food court, which seems to cater for all tastes.

Which brings us to where next?  Well, in an effort to have some semblance of a summer we are hopping on a bus to Zagreb tomorrow, that will save us a week of cycling.  If you have a look at the weather in that region you will probably burst out laughing at my mention of the word 'summer' because they are currently being hit by rainstorms.  Oh well, maybe our 'summer' has to wait until India!

Talking of India, we have begun thinking about getting there and organising visas.  So in the next couple of weeks we will book flights, New Delhi or Bombay, and then decide on a route.  By that time we should be up to 100 kms per day, that's the plan anyway.  When we get to Dubrovnik we will decide whether Albania is a goer, or whether we hit Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and into Greece.  We can fly to India from Athens, and if we are running out of time we know we can get a ferry from Thessaloniki to Pireaus.  But that's a little way off, we're thinking 1st or 2nd week of November.

First up, it's Croatia!

Laters

Bratislava photos     https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155681346891565.1073741841.698211564&type=1&l=4d601b9e71

Austria photos   https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10155681329686565.1073741840.698211564&type=1&l=c1749c27aa