Day 25 - In and out of Bosnia - Herzegovina - Petersfield to the Parthenon

07 Oct

Makarska to Ston

66 miles and 6 hours and 22 mins in the saddle - too long!

Total miles 1368

1 bee sting ☹️
2 countries

Will is in Montenegro - we will join him tom

Another beautiful day greeted us as we left our delightful B and B. Thank you Rosa from Rosa Villa for a very comfortable night with excellent air con and your gift of some home grown oranges as we left.

Following the coast road, we headed south and although there was some down there also seemed to be rather a lot of up. No exciting pit stops to relieve the monotony, we both began to feel the day drag and it was just one of those days when the miles seem endless. There were a lot of hills and this didn’t help but overall I think the endurance element was there today, we just had to do it!
There were some highlights. We travelled through a delta district, where the fields were fertile and there were channels of water with boats chugging through. It reminded me of the salt marshes in the Crawdads! Because of the abundance of produce, there were countless fruit and vegetable stalls by the side of road. I stopped to ask to photo one and the young chap was delighted to have some attention and gave us 2 free oranges to try! So kind.

We were also offered help by a moped man, who stopped when he saw HOO and I by the side of the road discussing where to go. He just stopped in the middle of the road, took off his helmet and offered assistance - again so kind

We met another lovely pair of tourers with laden down bikes and weather beaten appearance - just like us! - I must say I am looking somewhat feral!

The delta region was beautiful and very different to the parts of Croatia we have seen. And of course, shortly after 50 miles, we passed through Bosnia - Herzegovina. Five miles and we came out the other side! And passport stamped. Funny old business, all these borders. Then it was just another 12 miles! We had already done 58 - ugh. The 12 turned out to be 8 - accurate Croatian mapping again!

Tonight we are staying in Ston - it is a charming port, with a reputation for having the best oysters in the world. Shame they dislike HOO and me!

And so to bed for two very weary tourers - new day tomorrow and at least we are a day closer!

Can’t wait to meet up with Will tomorrow evening X

With our love and thanks for so many lovely comments, words of encouragement and general help. Sleep tight P and J XX

By the way - as well as feeling a bit yuck today I then got stung. Coming fast down a hill on a busy road, I got hit by large flying thing - happens quite often but they usually just bounce off - who proceeded to get stuck in my bicycle helmet strap so stung me on the neck! Ouch - it really hurt - sorry I am quite pathetic! Luckily avoided veering into any oncoming traffic and incurring further injuries and Dr Taylor was available for road side consultation!

More tomorrow- keep meaning to tell you all about traffic lights, lorries and coaches - so much to say and so little time to do it in - all for further episodes.

Orange offerings from our host Rosa.