Day 41 – Hungover and with very little sleep, Amand and Steve get their girls out of the hotel foyer, leave Podgorica and crawl towards Dubrovnik. It’s only 149km but that seems like mission impossible task right now. They stop now and then to compare miseries and share weak high fives of awesome scenery that is vaguely appreciated. There is also some wetness on the roads from very recent rain, helping keep a little focus, but again we skip anything more than a dribble.
On the way towards Niksic, Amand is cruising along when a policeman steps out onto the road waving his baton to pull over – here we go again! To clarify, throughout the whole trip we had six run-ins with the authorities. Sam has had none, Steve has had one and Amand has had FIVE!! Ironic given he’s the slowest and least offensive of the three riders. The policeman has the radar gun out, the first we’ve seen in the last 41 days. It reads 97km/hr, the speed limit is 80km/hr. Amand weakly tries to claim he was only doing 85km/hr. The policeman speaks no English and, to his credit, realises this is going to be too hard so signs for Amand to slow down and bugger off! As Amand and Steve get their helmets back on, Amand comments that it’s very fortunate we are so hungover, otherwise he’d have been doing at least 20km/hr more.
After Niksic we head east past a couple of beautiful lakes and up into the mountains again and towards the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. We pass some stunning cliffs, stop for another break and then push on to the border. For some fun we free wheel for a couple of kms down to the border post, it is very mountainous terrain and we reach about 70km/hr without the engine running. Once over the border we come to a sign saying Republic of Srpska. Republic of what? Where are we?! We thought we were entering Bosnia & Herzegovina. We later learned that Srpska is one of two legal entities that make up Bosnia & Herzegovina which is mostly populated by Serbians. You learn something new every day, right?!
We lunch in Trebinje, overlooking the stunning Kameni Most Bridge and Trebišnjica river. The food is cheap, amazing, and monstrous. The salads are ridiculous in size. Once again we over order drastically, but it’s just what we need to make the final push into Croatia. That and the threat of rain keeps us moving when we’d otherwise lack the motivation to do anything. The forecast has said heavy rain was coming, the black clouds say rain was coming but as has been the way on this adventure, we found our way through without a drop of rain on us!
Popping over the mountainous Bosnia-Croatia border to see the Adriatic Sea in front of us is a special moment indeed. And then the seaside fortress of Dubrovnik is something else again. While there’s still three shared days to go, Dubrovnik feels like the end of the adventure somehow, or maybe we’re just sad that it soon will be.
Sam has found a stunning apartment on the hill above the old town, with insane views. Amand and Steve find their way to the apartment through the narrow streets and alleyways on the steep slopes. Sam made it here yesterday coming direct from Kosovo through Albania and Montenegro. He’s spent the day cruising around the city, eating, swimming and meeting other travellers. A refreshing day off the bike.
Reunited we head down to the rocks outside the city walls to watch the sun go down (or the earth up, depending on your beliefs…). It was not nearly as spectacular as we’d hoped it might be, but just sitting there relaxing, drinking a brew and sharing the moment was all that was needed. We headed on and found an Irish pub for an Ožujsko (Croatian beer) and crap food while it pissed down outside. The rain stopped as we walk home, nice one – just another moment of living in a window of nice weather over the last six weeks. There was vague intentions raised to hit the town but the rain starts up again which dampens the desire. This is probably a good thing after last night!
Day 42 – Dubrovnik is the second “touristy” place we’ve visited on the trip, so we blend in rather than stand out – no more mini-celebrity status for us! The old town with its huge stone fortifications is interesting but kind of stale and lacking character – the stone is bare, beige and boring. The walls are all recently scrubbed and cleaned to look good for the tourists but the unintended consequence is that it has lost its charm in the process. Or maybe we’re just jaded . We drink tea/coffee at the Soul Caffe tucked down a small alleyway, and chat with the interesting waitress who states honestly that she “doesn’t ride or drive because she’s a woman with no spacial awareness or sense of direction”, then hit the road.
First we detour to Srd, the hill high above Dubrovnik. Apparently this area doubles as Kings Landing in Game of Thrones (Steve and Sam wouldn’t have a clue, never watched it). The landscape is rugged, the view is incredible and the islands dotted around the Adriatic are spectacular. We notice trenches dug out of the rock, another reminder of the not-so-distant war fought in this region.
Old trenches at Srd, Dubrovnik in the background
We’re becoming rather reflective as our trip around the Black Sea draws to a close. What was our favourite day? What was the most challenging? Best single experience? What was the best beer? Where were the people the most friendly? These and many more questions are bandied about as we amble towards Split, but it’s great to think back on all the fantastic, weird, wonderful and challenging experiences we’ve had.
The coastline is stunning, the traffic light, the day clear and warm, just another beautiful day to be riding. How utterly lucky we’ve been on this journey with the people, the experiences, the scenery and the weather. We arrive just as the sun sets over the Adriatic Sea, unplanned but perfect timing once again!
We find our hotel then head out after getting some guidance from the receptionist. She points us in the direction of some darker alleys to find a lovely wee local seafood restaurant.
We share more thoughts about the trip over a bottle of wine. We wander back through the old town of Split, another UNESCO site. A stunning place, and we stumble upon a little area of bars and cafes that is pumping, except we have no cash so no way to buy a drink. We head back to the hotel with grand ambitions of heading back out, alas we fail….again!