Relax, it's all downhill from here!

There's something definitely European about waking to the smell of a bad sewage system, wafting around your campsite. It's not there all the time, but when it is, you know about it.  After all sorts of noises in the night, we once again woke after dawn, with nowhere we needed to be. We are taking three days here. It's cheap, handy to a supermarket (with staff sadly lacking in personality), close to the beach, which includes a place we can workout (as our upper bodies definitely need a wake up call) and we are undercover. Woke to overcast skies with the threat of rain, thunder and lightning in the forecast. But, for the time being, it wasn't raining, so we shot down to the beach. Met a couple down there who told us that there was a red flag out and you weren't allowed in the water. Now, we are talking about the Med here. It did have a bit of a shore break, compared to usual, but then we thought, perhaps that smell this morning was a sewage leak into the sea. So, not ...

My everlasting memory, sad to say, of the Balkan countries is of a dour society, lacking in social etiquette, who find it very hard in the simplest of tasks, such as greetings, to smile or even say hello. Of course I'm generalizing. However, as a tourist in the normal sense, package holidays, cruises, hotels, yachting holidays, nightclubs, restaurants and the like, you are exposed to people who are in that game and are paid to be nice to you.  Cycle touring brings you in contact with everyday people in everyday situations and sadly, even though the Coastal segment has been wonderful for us to be back in water, especially these waters, I would not be rushing out to book a ticket to a "Meet the people of the Balkans" party.  After picking up breakfast from the supermarket (don't get me started on the personality of the checkout girl), we strolled through the camp, much larger than we thought, to the beach. Just the money they are collecting for loungers and sun umbrella...

Awake at 5am, undecided about whether to go to Kotor again to climb for the views. Weighed up the stress of leaving the bikes unattended and riding that lovely stretch of road again, especially if they did rubbish collection two days in a row.  Thought about catching the bus as yes, the big normal size bus also uses this skinny road but didn't know the timetable and we didn't want to go too late in the day as another scorcher was forecast. And by too late in the day, I mean anything after 9am. And then the thought of the crowds, we just thought no, not again, packed up and hit the road at 6.15am. Perast again from across the bay. The ride around the rest of the bay was nice, with only a few cars on the road. Still only wearing t-shirts this early in the morning, but today was a little cooler. Came upon Tivat airport on our right and the old main road ran parallel, but was blocked off to traffic, but not to us. Consequently, we had it all to ourselves for a few kilometres. Whil...