The Croatian Coastline

We have captured some of our time in Croatia, from Trojir to Dubrovnik in a video on youtube:

Getting into Croatia

Setting off from our campsite in Slovenia, we knew it would be a hilly start - and it certainly was! We had a smooth and fast descent down into Croatia, before we were met with the hilliest city I’ve ever encountered- Rijeka!

Our arrival into Rijeka saw us checking into an apartment - only our second night inside since getting to the Netherlands. The forecast for our day off was rain, so we thoroughly enjoyed staying dry, using an oven, and doing laundry! 

Unfortunately, it was still wet when we set off from Rijeka, and that night we were thankful that we had been handed a hammer to dig the tent stakes in the ground, otherwise our tent wouldn’t have made it through the night. We were woken up by the thunder it was so loud! 

Our plan for Croatia was to try to follow some of the Eurovelo route, and this involved getting ferries onto some of the islands to avoid the busy coast road at times.

It was at Prizna where we cycled down to take our first ferry in Croatia. We hadn’t seen any cycle tourists in a while, and to our surprise there were six other cycle tourers on the same ferry! 

Two of the boys we had briefly spoken to earlier on the Rhine, they had acquired two other cyclist friends along their journey. It was lovely to chat on the ferry and set off together on the other side. It was quite a big hill on the other side of the ferry, and half way up, the storm really came in. The rain was heavy and relentless, and the gusting winds were scary to cycle in. We all took cover in a petrol station cafe and we watched the eye of the storm on a weather app slowly move past. It was still wet, but Zach and I decided to get going as the thunder had passed us now, and as we were already sopping wet, leaving in the, now much lighter, rain wouldn’t make much of a difference! 

By the time we had reached one of Zach’s “gravel shortcuts”, the rain had passed! When we finally got to the campsite, it ended up basically being in someone’s back garden, and the tiny toilet block didn’t have hot water. 

The last two days of this cycling block were very different - the weather was beautiful, so we didn’t mind as we ended up rejoining the busy coastal road and cycled over to Trojir - and old medieval town where we would be staying for our day off.

Trojir

The rain started just as we were on our way out of Trojir, and it continued for the rest of the day. We detoured from the Eurovelo route to avoid going through Split, and found ourselves off road on some Roman Ruins! The relentless rain wasn’t much of a problem cycling up the hills, but after lunch, it was time for a big descent into a beautiful valley, and when we got to the bottom, I had gotten far too cold. We decided to cut our losses and see if there was space at a campsite in the town, Omis. There was, and it even had an indoor space we could use to wait and play cards until the rain stopped (4 games of Forrest Shuffle later)!

Omis

I loved staying in Omis, and I would definitely go back and visit there again - the weather was now beautiful sun. When we did set off from the campsite, within a few minutes accidentally found ourselves within a half marathon road race - whoops! 

We carefully continued on what turned out to be a closed road, not just because of the run - but also because the road leading out of the gorge was closed due to what look to be landslides and road repairs. Not a concern, we slipped past the big diggers and enjoyed the road all to ourselves - only having to deal with one slightly problematic hike-a-bike section.

We continued on the Eurovelo 8, reaching the coast and the trail became what Zach would call “fun”, and what I call “highly inappropriate”. Chunky gravel, narrow passage ways between rocks and a steep drop to your right straight into the sea incase you wobble a bit too much!

We took another ferry from a village called Ploče, to Trpanj - and spent the day cycling up hills surrounded by the most butterflies I had ever encountered! I really should start expecting the hills when we get ferries, especially when it’s as hilly as Croatia!

Dubrovnik

The coast road became busier and busier the closer we got to Dubrovnik and the airport just south of the city. I can’t imagine cycling this in summer! 

Dubrovnik really has a stunning old town. As bikes aren’t allowed in the city walls, we each took turns staying at a cafe with the bikes, whilst the other went exploring! I certainly felt out of place walking around without Pamela (my bike) with all my cycling kit on!

The old town is authentic, and you can really understand why it was chosen as a filming location for Game of Thrones. 

We stayed at a campsite in a small town called Mlini which is just past Dubrovnik- and I’m so glad we did! The sea here was beautiful, accessible by lots of little coves with beaches. We swam in the sea and had drinks at a pirate themed bar - a luxury!