Around the bay there must have been some sort of celebration on as there was a band playing Croatian music all afternoon and into the night. The campground being across the water from the party heard every word, bass and accordion note until well after one in the morning but not before they let members of the crowd up to sing, what sounded like, Croation love songs at the top of their slightly off key voices. Just as they decided to call it a night, the storm rolled in. It's always a bit unnerving to sleep in a tent when you can hear thunder crackling all around you. So after a pretty average nights sleep we woke up to a million mozzies buzzing around which forced us to eat breakfast in the tent. Sandy rode down to the shop and got some yoghurt to add to our museli which was very yummy.
We got on our bikes and headed out of town. What we have learned about the Croatian islands so far is that if it's not on the coast it's on a hill so given that all the towns on these islands are on the coast when you leave one you must ride uphill so we did. After another tussle with the traffic, although today wasnt as bad, we then zoomed down to Valbiska to catch the ferry to Cres. Essentially we are trying to avoid riding on the Croatian mainland and also the major roads on the islands until we get to Zabar. Croatia is beautiful but not by bike.
We got of the ferry on the island of Cres and of course to leave the ferry port you must rise up a 7km hill that varies from 7-10% grade.
This just doesn't do the climb justice, you'll just have to trust me :)
We rode well until a thunderstorm approached. The lightning was getting closer so we parked the bikes and took refuge sitting down having a rest while the lightning flashed around us. It was not five minutes later that we were very glad we had stopped as just up the road a bolt of lightning hit and the cracking thunder gave us quite a fright. It didnt rain much and didnt last that long. The next ferry had landed so we then waited for the expected flurry of disembarking cars to go past and then got back to climbing to 330m (with a total ascent of 500m over 7km). Once at the top we then descended into the town of Cres which is a delightful seaside port with charm to burn. We ate a big lunch and then booked into a private room.
1 comment:
You guys are so inspiring: I went out an rode a whole 19 miles today. That included one stretch witha a 7% grade. And to help balance things out I carried 220 pounds (that is me and the bike). But since I was done a little after 9AM having a beer didn't seem like such a good idea. So I am there in spirit. The colors are so vibrant.
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