16 August 2025 (sunny and very hot) 31km

No flysheet on the tent again, but for the second night in a row, I got bitten alive. Woke in the night feeling so hot, it was unbearable. Had to just sit and breathe.

Ju here: I think possibly Pete's mosquito bites are actually a heat rash as he has about 50 red marks on his back and arms. He also really began feeling the heat today and it seemed to really take hold when he went and showered and couldn't adjust the temperature to make it cold. When he told me that, I said ‘No way am I getting a shower then.’ 

“But you'll be covered in salt!” came his reply.  Better then dying of heat exhaustion I thought. Besides, he had his shower mid afternoon, and there was no way I was staying out of the ocean for the rest of the day, so what was the point?

Consequently, his temperature started to build to where he was sweating and I wasn't, as I kept diving into the ocean at regular intervals. By the time we went to dinner last night, his skin was really hot to the touch so we cooled him down with a cool flannel before going for dinner. This heat is no joke and whenever we look at the arid hillside, we think of poor Michael Moseley in Greece last year. We certainly don't have the urge to cycle lots of kms per day as you may have noticed by the modest mileage.  Back to Pete's nighttime diaries….

Had a bunch of German teens or maybe early twenties a few tents down. Last night they were being really loud, until someone must have told them to shut up at which point they moved to the bar behind us. 

5.15am dawned and I finished last night's blog as we didn't need to move at the crack of dawn today. Reason being, we planned to catch the ferry from Slatine to Split. Checking online, we found it was a half hour ride for 4 euro each, bikes go for free, and would mean we'd arrive reasonably fresh in Split instead of a 22km ride on a busy road.  Up and riding around the bay about 9kms to catch the 8.30am ferry.

About 3kms from the ferry port, we stopped at a supermarket for some supplies for brekky. It was packed. Once underway again, it was swim time.  Hadn't been going two minutes when the perfect seat, in the shade and the perfect swimming place showed up. 

Dip before breakfast...beautiful. and had the bonus of a cold shower right there so we could rinse off the saltwater. Sat eating, overlooking the water.  By the time we finished, we had twenty minutes to reach the ferry.  Arrived at the dock with ten minutes to spare.

Croatian lifeboat

Didn't appear to be a booking office, probably just take the money on the boat.  Queued up and we had about twenty people in front of us. The ferry arrived at 8.30am and there were now about 70 people waiting to get on a boat with passengers already on it, so we were a bit nervous. We let others go ahead of us when we saw the size of the boat and gang plank and realized there was only one place the bikes could go, and that was the aisle. So we were the last to go on.

Handed a young guy a 10 Euro note. He said 28 euro, mumbling something about the bikes and the website being out of date. There was a whole boatload of people waiting for us so we didn't feel like arguing about it, and we certainly didn't feel like cycling what would now be 32km to Split in the hot sun.  Someone is pocketing some money my son.

Split harbour entrance is lovely. Just the kind of photographic opportunity you're after.  We were the last ones off.  Just getting sorted and a woman on a big catamaran yells out.  "Where have you come from?” 

I reply “New Zealand."

"No" she says, “I mean on the boat".  Told her Trogir and then she asks about our trip.  She was really interested and thought we were awesome for doing what we do.  Having said that, Mimi, was a former ED doctor for twenty years, until she woke up one morning, after having nightmares for six months about walking into work and everyday being told she had another thirty patients to see.  So she said "Fuck it", walked out, got a job crewing and delivering yachts around the Med, Azores and Carribean and loves it. No pressure.

Mimi on the boat she's delivering.

We took shots of each other and went on our ways.  Split was packed with tourists, and so many of them on the move with wheeled suitcases, bouncing all over the uneven surfaces.  It was only 9am and 32 degrees, but people were crammed in like sardines. 

We wandered around with our bikes after being told to watch our stuff as theft is rife in Split.  Bad move....wouldn't do that again. For starters, there's a lot of steps in Split. But we were here, so make the most of it.

The old town, is lovely, BUT....there is another side to Split, as there is to most cities.  After we'd given it the old tourist wander, we headed out of town.  Picked up supplies and found a park, in amongst a lot of tenements.

Grabbed a seat and as we were eating we saw one loser walk into the park, stand right in the middle and have a pee. Then he stood and held a four legged stool up to the sun like it was his first born. Felt like singing out “Aaahh sevenya!” Good job we didn't though as he was quite the nutter as next thing he was hugging trees, in between meditating on various benches. We got a sneaky photo cos I know you think I'm probably exaggerating.

Next minute an old drunk comes staggering, one step forward, three steps back and on stairs too. This is not quite midday and drunk as a skunk. Shouldn't laugh, but was quite funny, in a sad, pathetic way.

The camp we'd targeted today was only about 12kms away from Split.  Strangely enough, it was mostly uphill, and with the heat of the midday sun, we were feeling it.

And for all those who have been to Split and think, like we did, " What a lovely city”.....It has a huge amount of tenements, which certainly doesn't give that part of town any atmosphere, well it does... just the wrong kind.  Split is large and we were now riding through the outer suburbs, new tenements and new apartment buildings being built.

Pulled up at a church with a view and after blogging in the welcome shade, we moved on down to the campsite.  Very good site.  Extremely well organised and reflected in the price, Euro 43.  Really well laid out, right on the beach, where we indulged in a couple of swims, followed by nice cold showers. 

The campground beach

During the afternoon, we spent most of our time trying to book flights back to NZ, without success I might add.  Went through the whole procedure, just for it to deny the end result.  So...no closer to a flight. 

Some dark clouds closing in over the neighbouring football pitch.

Walked to the supermarket to buy dinner and was relieved to find that the "Tommy" supermarkets are open on Sundays.  Yay...for tomorrow we eat......

After dinner and a cold shower, we retired to our tent as the wind picked up and the rain made an effort to put in an appearance.   Spoke to Briana about our inability to book the flights we want.  She tried on our behalf and had the same problem.  On it goes.....