May 12, 2022 to May 18, 2022
Over the hills and far away
Day 82 - Knin to Sibenik
Day 83 - rest Sibenik
Day 84 - Sibenik to Trogir
Day 85 - Trogir to Stari Grad (by ferry)
Day 86 - Stari Grad to Sucuraj
Day 87 - Sucuraj to Drvenik (by ferry), Drvenik to Dubrovnik (by taxi)
Day 88 - Dubrovnik to Herceg Novi (Montenegro)
Pictures are in roughly reverse chronological order.
Descending the hills from Bosnia into Croatia is one thing, making your way to the Adriatic coast is another. So dramatic, so beautiful, so warm - so perfect. Little islands in clear turquoise waters, tiny perfect beaches with nobody in sight, incredible jagged cliffs and mountains, fragrant forests and wild herbs and flowers.
I took my graunching freehub to the bike shop in Sibenik, and miraculously they managed to find a suitable replacement part - after I broke my cassette, not waiting for the gear to fully change, jumping on the pedals to try to recreate the chain skipping for the mechanic. Pretty soon after, I realised how pointless this was. I knew the freehub was broken, that's what I told the man, why was a demonstration necessary? So I needed a new cassette too, and he also did my brake pads. Another hundred+ euros gone on the cursed bike.
We had a few lovely days getting down to Split and taking the ferry to the island of Hvar. More perfection - more intensely jewel-like shallows, more densely herbal meadows, and miles of ancient looking olive groves and vineyards.
We were having such a good time we, giggling, decided to have a race up one of the many steep slopes we had to climb on our way across the island. And then my crank started to come off again.
I'm sick of it, you're sick of it. Suffice to say it put a damper on our day as I nursed it along. Incredibly it didn't come off the whole way.
Unfortunately no bike shop in Drvenik, so we got a taxi to Dubrovnik. Very nice guy in the bike shop looked it at, took my bottom bracket apart, examined the crank, but no diagnosis. Just put it back together and pray.
From now on I'm just going to try to remember to tighten the bolts every day until maybe we get back home, or at least to a shop we trust that has all the right parts for a major rebuild. Not sure if I've said it already but I so so so wish we had just spent another £500 on them to begin with and gotten them from a better shop. I've spent almost that trying to fix the fucking thing!!
We are now in Montenegro after a great day from Dubrovnik to Herceg Novi. Weather is incredible - getting too hot for my pale north Europe genes!
Today's ride: 265 km (165 miles)
Total: 3,186 km (1,979 miles)
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