Day 82: Priboj Serbia to Mededa Bosnia and Herzegovina

May 8, 2023

Day of the Tunnels

“It’s a ritual now,” Rachel says as she digs out the two headlights. Patrick places the blinkie lights on a rear pannier on each of our bikes. We remove our sunglasses and head into the tunnel, Rachel following Patrick.

A breakfast of granola and banana with milk starts us off for today as we continue riding along the Lim River. The border crossing leaving Serbia is closer than we think, only 3 ½ km and from here we can see the border post into Bosnia and Herzegovina. “Three countries in three days,” Patrick says.

We turn left onto a road that has a bridge weight limit of only ten tons. This diverts most of the truck traffic around. Eventually the two meet up again before Mededa. The road keeps following the Lim River, crosses it and briefly we ride back into Serbia without any border check. We see many abandoned older buildings with bullet holes from the Balkan war in the nineties.

Briefly back into Serbia and see bullet holes on the houses

We turn right and briefly back into Serbia

Crossing the bridge we are back into Bosnia and Herzegovina

The scenery is stunning with high rocky cliffs and views of the Lim River and it’s blue color and glassy smooth surface. The elevation gain today is mostly with ups and downs except a longest climb at about 35km to 40km gaining 200 meters. On the way up we pass through at least 5 tunnels. On the way down, we go through the ritual for riding through about 18 tunnels. A few of the tunnels were short enough that only removing the sunglasses is necessary.

Except for hearing birds, the only wildlife seen today

Strmica III Tunnel, 765 meters. The longest tunnel today and near the high point

The sky is building to a threat of thunderstorms. We reach the junction to the main road still with tunnels to go through and reach Mededa and Hotel Panorama around 11:45. We have not gone through a town where we could exchange money to the local currency, the owner of the hotel agrees to let us have a running tab and pay with Euros in the morning. The staff help carry gear up and the bikes are locked and under cover next to the building.

Almost to the junction to rejoin the main road, two more tunnels to Mededa

The ritual: remove sunglasses, don headlights and the blinkie lights on the back of the bike.

The room has a balcony but the door we can’t open, so the view of the river is through the window. As Patrick is showering there is a downpour of rain that continues for about an hour. We got here just in time. Since we’ve no local currency to buy more supplies, we forego making our own lunch and instead go to the hotel restaurant. We share a goulash and each have a plate of grilled vegetables and rice. The food is very good and cheap too, so later in the afternoon we return for Weiner schnitzel and trout.

We just made it to the hotel, within the hour the thunderstorm came through

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Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 2,976 km (1,848 miles)

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Rachael AndersonWhat a a beautiful ride! I really love tunnels if I don’t have to deal with cars. I have prescription glasses that darken in the sun but immediately lighten in a tunnel.
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