A while out of the city, the rain slowed somewhat, though did not stop. The vistas down to the Adriatic were incredible. - Between Dubrovnik and Slano, Croatia
A while out of the city, the rain slowed somewhat, though did not stop. The vistas down to the Adriatic were incredible. - Between Dubrovnik and Slano, Croatia
A while out of the city, the rain slowed somewhat, though did not stop. The vistas down to the Adriatic were incredible. - Between Dubrovnik and Slano, Croatia
We finally arrived to Villa Riva with this view out the window. I think tomorrow morning the soft early sunlight will make this scene much better. -- Slano, Croatia
A PERSON looking through my blog might wonder why I posted no photos of Dubrovnik as we left the city, and none of the big suspension bridge we had to cross. The answer would be that the weather was horrendous - cold, driving rain, and heavy traffic until we got onto the EuroVelo route. Not a lot of fun, so not muchj interest in stopping to pull out my tablet to snap a few pics. Not to mention my tabelet would have been soaked.
We were up early to eat up our dribs and drabs as breakfast before packing up our bags and loading them onto mine. Outisde it was drizzling. We walked the bikes down an almost deserted street. The young fellow working at the restaurant across from our apartment said it would not be a good day financially for the centre's businesses if this weather kept up.
Once outside of the fountain gate we picked up EuroVelo 8 which was my plotted route for today and the next few days. Traffic was not heavy but was steady with plenty of buses which did not always give a lot of room for us. We pulled over a lot to let bunches of cars pass. Along past the ferry dock from the other day we went then had to do a big winding turn to get over and up onto the suspension bridge. The bridge rattled from the gusting winds through the valley of the inlet that the bridge spanned. It was very strong so we exercised caution to not get blowin into one of the sides of the walkway. And it was cold... 8 C.
A little while after the crossing we turned off of the main highway and took a number of secondary and tertiary roads which had next to no traffic but were definitely the scenic route. In this case, scenic = HILLY. We were not shy to walk when the road got too steep, and this was fairly often. The views were absolutely amazing, but it was getting more difficult to enjoy them. The rain increased until it pelted us into frigid dripping souls with icy-cold numb hands and legs with no feeling. Plus, being somewhat out of shape, I came to a point where I started to run out of energy and had a difficult time even walking.
At the crest of one of the last mountains we stopped so I could get some calories into me with an apple. As I stood there the wind gusts were so strong they almost blew me off of my feet and over my bike. So we moved to a more sheltered spot.
The apple did wonders to energize me a bit but I was still really cold and wet and struggling to keep going. I startewd to wonder where we were when we saw a sign for Slano which was 8 km away. Ooo, a bit longer than I thought. Fortunately, the next bit was downhill which gobbled up a number of the remaining klometres. The flip side of the coin was that since we were no longer pedaling, we were getting numb with cold. But views continued to be spectacular.
We rolled, and rolled, and rolled, until we were down to the water's edge in Slano. Across the bay I recognized the hotel from the online photo and this energized me as we followed along the water's edge until we reached the door. The code had been sent so in we came, we found an envelope with our name on it with the room key, so up we came to the second floor to find a beautiful big room with a washing machine! A shower with oodles of hot water! But before that I gobbled down a few snacks because I was starving and my body needed calories. Not only does the biking take energy, but when it is that cold, the body is trying to keep itself warm so using a lot of energy for that. Maybe that is why I feel zonked as I type this.
After the best hot shower ever, it was time to wander to the Studenac supermarket for tomorrow's breakfast food - to find it closed on Sundays. Fortunately, it is open tomorrow at 7 am so we can get food for the road as we leave town. Nearby is a pastry shop where we can get some breakfast energy and a latte or two before hitting the road. It is open at 6 am.
We did a bit of wandering around the hotel area to get a few APs as the sun started to peek out from behone the clouds. The rain had stopped and it was infinitesimally warmer out. Fatigue started to kick in so it was back for a rest before heading up the street to one of the nearby restaurants for supper. We'd have picked up items to cook, but with no grocery store....
Supper was excellent - between us we had grilled calamari, cooked greens, potatoes, čevapi, red wine and beer. We were so hungry after today's energy-sapping ride. And then the day ended.
Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles) Total: 72 km (45 miles)
