October
Well October was a bit of a crazy month, three weeks of which we spent bikepacking around the Balkans.
We were both grinning as we stepped off the plane into the hot and salty Croatian coastal air, it was a nice change after a bumpy start to the day with a very early wake up for our budget flight. We found our bike boxes both in one piece and got the usual funny looks as we built our bikes out the front of the terminal.
We rode the long way from the airport in the town of Pula, avoiding the highway and trying to stay on dirt. Stumbling along some back tracks we meandered down into the city. Found our accom where we dumped our bike bags and then rolled into town in search of a beach to swim at. What we found certainly did not disappoint! A very glassy, rocky little cove with a beach bar behind it. We were definitely feeling like we were on holiday now. Over the next couple of days we explored Pula on and off the bike, ate some tasty seafood, drank cheap beer and saw a lot of ancient Roman architecture.
Rolling out of Pula we got off the main roads and onto the EuroVelo 8 (Mediterranean Route) which is 7,350km long and goes all the way from Cádiz, Spain to Athens, Greece (plus a section in Cyrpus). With only 3 weeks of holiday time we probably would need 4 weeks to complete it, maybe next time…
Jokes aside we set off and enjoyed being on generally bike friendly roads and paths as we meandered up the Istrian Coast. Cooking dinner next to the calm and clear waters of the Mediterranean was very special.
Lucky for us it was the offseason so there were many beautiful beaches and little towns that we generally had to ourselves, if not with a few others. We rode into Rovinj, a stunning small fishing town perched right on the edge of the water. We locked our bikes up and spent the day exploring the ancient streets and pretty seaside areas.
That night we found a secluded bay to camp at, shared with a few sailing boats also moored for the night. Our nerves were high around 9pm as a big flashlight came sweeping across the water and onto our tent tucked behind some trees, shit! had we been busted? Nope, just someone trying to find their crabpots, phew!
We pushed on up the coast with a big day of pedalling ahead of us to get some k’s done after the relaxing previous day. We rode along some gorgeous gravel roads and bombed down probably the second biggest hill of the trip! Of course after descending we then had a long slow climb back up the other side of the valley, but were treated to some very pretty views. After a few more k’s of coastline we rolled into Vrsar and found a very quaint restuarant serving up some amazing pizza’s - we are getting closer to Italy!
After a long lunch, we rolled on up the coast and found a tranquil spot for a swim!
As the day came to an end the sky lit up and we witnessed a spectacular sunset.
The next day we woke up and crossed the border into Slovenia, stopped in a little town at a bakery for a breakfast of borek, sweet pastries and espresso. This had become our go to breakfast, so good!
Lil had the best pain au chocolat of her life - it was called a pan swiss, and unfortunately that would be the first and last one we would find on the trip. What a mysterious pastry!
The rest of the day the EV8 had us on an old rail trail that took us through Slovenian wine country and crossed into Italy later that afternoon. Crazy to think we rode through three different countries all in one day! After crossing into Italy we rolled down the hill into Trieste, where we had some accom booked for a few days.
It was nice to have a few days off the bike to let our legs recover and wine & dine like we were on a fancy holiday. Trieste has some beautiful old buildings and lots of espresso bars which we made sure to check out. Lil was on the hunt for some Italian leather boots and Marlee enjoyed trying on a different style of boot (Italy is home to La Sportiva), he even got offered a job at one of the local outdoor stores, Ha!
Right up the road was the region of Prosecco (Not even 20km) so as we parted ways with Trieste we stopped by in the town of Prosecco to drink Prosecco, which was of course amazing and only two euro’s a glass!
After some time in Italy we hopped back over the border to Slovenia, and jumped onto a train heading into Ljubliana. We stayed here for a few days and explored the city, it’s rich and fascinating history and of course- more delicious food and great wine, art galleries, river walks and castles! Ljubliana was really cool and a nice change to the other cities we had visited. Lots of young people, a beautiful city and easy access to the mountains. We will be back!
With a week to go before we had to fly back to Sweden we hot-footed (jumped on another train) it back to Croatia so that we could explore some of the islands. Once we arrived in Rijeka we were again blessed with a jaw dropping sunset. The next morning we rode through the city and over some hills (really big ones) out toward the first island of Krk. On the way we pulled over at a lookout point and a lovely german tourist snapped a pic of us (rare on this trip, the latter as opposed to the former). It was really hot that day and we were both in need of a swim, rather unluckily I had chosen to take an offroad route which was not the quickest or most comfortable… whoops.
The next day was hot, probably one of the hottest of the trip so far. We found a really nice secluded bay on the map, with no main roads connecting it it seemed it would be nice and quiet. With some difficulty we managed to find the rocky track that led down to it. As we locked up our bikes and packed our lunch we could hear some loud music and chatter echoing up the valley. We enjoyed a swim with the beach almost to ourselves. There was an olive grove right next to the water and turns out it was olive harvesting time. There were lots of people busy working, drinking and singing! One of them, came over for a chat and invited us to come and say hi the the others on our way out. Of course we did, and in no time we had been roped in to help pick some olives. Not much olive picking was happening though; turns out it was a big group of friends from Slovenia helping their friend who owned the property. Not long after arriving we were offered special Slovenian liquor, homemade deer sausage and some other goodies.
Unfortunately we could only stay for a few hours as we had a ferry to catch, a hour or so ride away. We zoomed off, buzzing from the experience and just made the ferry (last one of the day) to Cres. Upon arriving on Cres we had a huge climb straight out of the port up and over the mountains. Luckily though, we had a beautiful sunset to watch, getting better the higher we climbed. Sage and thyme were growing alongside the roads natively and filled the air with a delicious aroma that made our stomachs rumble mmm pizza would be good!
We topped out, turned our lights on and settled into a huge descent all the way down into town, where we had booked a few nights at a caravan park right on the beach. Upon arriving at the caravan park, which was huge and very sparsely populated, we rolled down to the pizza restaurant! (inside the caravan park) And enjoyed a good feed after a long day.
After a few easy days lounging by the beach, swimming, and walking into town for espresso, we unfortunately had to say goodbye to Cres and ride up north to catch our last ferry back to mainland Croatia as the trip was nearing it’s end. Another long and hilly day took us almost all the way back to where we started! We were wrecked, but luckily we could shave the last few k’s off with a train into Pula.
We had a day to organise bike boxes, enjoy the warm weather and some Croatian food before jumping on a plane the next day back to Sweden.
Unexpectedly for us but not surprisingly it was 2c when we landed in Gothenburg the next morning. It was a far cry from the 20c weather we had enjoyed over the past few weeks. Autumn was in full swing. Somehow I had convinced Lil it would be better to ride home from the airport rather than get the bus (quicker and cheaper in my defense). I laugh now as I type this but of course it started raining halfway through and we had some exrtremely icy winds to contend with. Luckily though there were lots of beautiful Autumn leaves, the full spectrum of colour was on display which was an exciting change for us to see.
The last week of October was a quick one, unpacking, washing, cleaning gear and Lil back to uni. We experienced our first proper frosty morning here and got to an underground rave on the weeked with friends. Winter is coming!
Here is a rough route of where we travelled on the map. (Straight lines are trains/ferrys!)