Day 83: Mededa to Gorazde

May 9, 2023

Logistical Planning Day

“This is tunnel number 7,” Rachel says. We’ve gone 6+km from the hotel. Very soon after this tunnel we go through the 7th tunnel as we continue following the Drina River upstream.

Then Patrick says, “That’s 2km without a tunnel.” By the end of the day that was 7 of 9 tunnels. Two were very long and the most unnerving part is the sound of the traffic coming up behind when in the tunnel.

540 meters. The ritual: we don our headlights, take off our sunglasses, and place the blinkie lights on the back of the bikes.

We arrive in Gorazde around 10am. The friendly clerk Hotel Debar allows us to check in early and we get settled into the room. Patrick goes to exchange money to local currency but cannot find the exchange office that is shown on googlemaps. Instead he withdraws more money at an ATM. The Bosnian Convertible Mark is worth about 50 cents US. Euros seem to be widely accepted in Bosnia, but it is always better to have local currency.Today is about planning the rest of the route with the goal to have time to end the tour cycling into Holland and back to Ossendrecht. Today’s afternoon will be used for that extensive planning.

In the original staging of this section, Patrick purposefully made today short and called it “half a rest day.” Then we would have two harder days, probably with a night of wild camping in between to Sarajevo. A Warmshowers contact in Sarajevo advised against tramping into the forests around here due to possible landmines so we decided against camping. Also there is lots of rain in the forecast.

With that we decide to save time and energy by changing tomorrow’s ride toward Sarajevo. This includes a ride up the highest elevation gain tomorrow morning and then cycle to Sarajevo in one day. We can then take a few days to see Sarajevo. One of the hotels staff speaks good English and helps us arrange a ride from the hotel. It is a little more expensive than expected, but we have trouble communicating with the local taxi drivers so we go for the easy option.

Arranging with the hotel a ride tomorrow morning, this will make an 80km day to 60km into Saravejo.

Other than that it is a lazy afternoon, we find an English movie channel on the TV, Patrick gets a much needed haircut. When we walk out in the evening it is surprisingly quiet on the streets. Also, the restaurants are empty. We cross the river and ask at a bakery about a restaurant, and we are sent on to a good restaurant across the street. The waiter speaks excellent English and turns out to have lived for three years in Chicago. He almost got married to an American girlfriend, but decided the US was not for him and came back. With a Masters in Economics he could not find a good job here because he lacked “connections”.

On the walk back to the hotel, there is a popcorn seller and we buy two bags. Patrick only eats a few kernels from his bag, so Rachel gets both bags.

On the way back to the hotel, we buy popcorn!

Bosnian Serbs laid seige on the town of Gorazde in 1991 Stories from the Siege

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Today's ride: 24 km (15 miles)
Total: 3,000 km (1,863 miles)

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Scott AndersonGorazde! I remember that time well. We had planned to bicycle from Paris to Athens that fall, by way of what are now Montenegro and Kosovo. When the wars broke out we abandoned that plan and went to New Zealand instead.
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