5 August 2025 (sunny and warm) 53km

We both had restless sleeps last night.

Me with noises, inside and outside the tent, (No... not my head), and Julia with overheating and mosquitos.

We were hunting them as we woke and sad to say they had their fill last night.

The motorcyclists (for sake of a better word), didn't go on too long, but groups who had been to the lake, did.

There is a carpark close to the camp and anyone who came back, probably inebriated, was doing the usual (talk in a normal voice, even though it's 1am). 

So today, we explore a bit of Croatia but we're not sure Plitvice National Park will feature as they want Euro 45 each apparently.

Neither of us want to fork out that much, and not in favour of going there at the busiest time of year. Factor in the expected 29C and the fact that you cant swim in the lakes and it's sounding less and less appealing. 

However, to get there, we have more climbing to do.

We were just working out when our last rest day was. It was three weeks ago in Switzerland at Margrit and Ernst's. Think we may need another.

At 9.30am (very late for us) we said goodbye to Jonas, Yuri and Piet and rolled out of camp, having learned it is Victory Day in Croatia.

Yuri, Piet and Julia

Now I'm sure this is a very significant event for the entire population of the country. People united and standing strong. But....hold the phone comrade.....No frigging shops open....!

Do you realise we need sustenance to climb your bloody hills?

If we'd known you had a little celebration on yesterday when we were shopping, we would have bought more food. 

So we slowly cycled out of camp, already feeling the effects of low blood sugar and even the ramp to get onto the road was a struggle. 

I screamed at Julia

"I don't think I can go on!"

The sweat was clammy on my face.

We seemed to be riding around trying to find our way out of town for hours, when in fact, it was only two minutes. 

But there was hope. We started seeing little roadside stalls set up selling produce. However, the first five were only selling potatoes and honey.

On the outskirts of town, we spied a supermarket. It looked dark and deserted but there were cars parked outside. But they could well be due to the attached hotel. We very nearly rode on without checking, but knowing this was our last hope of finding an open supermarket, we cycled across the road to check it out. Closed.

Ju said "I'm going in the hotel to see if they'll sell us anything".

She came out a minute later saying yes, they would sell us something, but seeing as a bacon omelet on toast was 4 Euros each and the cappuccino only one euro, we would be dining at the hotel this morning she announced. Like I would try and talk her out of that ultimatum!

Suddenly, I felt much better, with the idea of a full English....well, half an English...well bacon and eggs and bread inside me.

It was a lovely breakfast and for Euro12, great value as that was two Cappucinos each, plus a very good meal.

On the road in the sunshine, we now felt a huge sense of relief and could enjoy the back country roads we found ourselves on after the first half hour of moderately busy roads. 

So far in Croatia, houses in villages seem a bit more basic.

In some cases, they are not finished, (sound familiar from forty years ago guys?)

So many houses like this in Croatia. It's like they've reached the finish line and just stopped.

There is still rubbish scattered at the sides of country roads.

The roads in these remote areas are still the patchwork roads they were so long ago. 

Anyway, the riding was fine.

Yes, we had hills to test us today, but we knew the target for our campground and even if there isn't a hotel or restaurant where we can eat, we have some nuts, chips and a nectarine. 

After a couple of hours, we pulled into the welcome shade of a church entranceway.

Had some milk, cereal, prunes, dried apricots and figs, with a little bit of milk, so lunch was sorted, just dinner to buy if possible.

More crops of corn today than other days. Still not ready for harvest, but close.

A lot of bear statues in gardens, signifies that there are bears around these parts. I decided to do a little run naked through a field...so the locals could see my bare behind. 

After arriving at the camp we finished the days riding at 2.30pm. No one to collect money, but a note on the door said they would turn up at 6pm, so just pick a pitch.

Julia showered and did some washing, then blogged. I blogged and did some washing after showering, just to keep things interesting. 

Cleaned my bike and lubed both bikes. Our washing dried really fast, so that was a bonus.

We'd been told about a farm shop which sold cheese and yoghurt, so wandered along to check it out.

Met Ella (15) and her brother Jan who were working for their mother.

She let us taste various types of cheese. In fact, she let us try with quite big samples so we almost didn't need to buy any! But we wanted to support the local economy so we bought some for our dinner, as one of the German female campers when she left, had given us some cherry tomatoes.

I also bought a bun (of sorts) and a biscuit, (tasted like the bun).

Ella had been so enthusiastic that I bought two yoghurts as well, which were a bit too authentic for our stomachs which are more used to your average sweetened supermarket yoghurt.

She was such a sweetie. I hope she has a good life. 

After dinner, Julia was at the kitchen sinks doing the dishes and met an Irish guy, Nigel Mowbray from Belfast. He'd just spent the day at Plitvice National Park and said it was fantastic.

Ju and I had thought about going, but it was Euro 45 each admission. However after talking with Nigel, (who told us it was actually 40 euro), he convinced us that it's definitely worthwhile.

Funnily enough, Nigel had been in Greece around the time I toured there with Dave and we were rattling off different places we'd both visited forty years before. 

Nigel also said that the nice guy on reception, Matt, could book our tickets if we were interested. So, off down to see Matt. 

Not only was he good, but when Julia couldn't receive a text from our bank in NZ to confirm the booking, he offered to pay with his money and told us to give it to him tomorrow.

Very nice guy.

Julia added Nigel on WhatsApp as he's interested in how we get on touring.

After an unexpected start to our day, we had quite an unexpected end as well. The tickets were booked about 9pm for 7am the next morning. Matt offered to give us a lift there so all we had to do was go pack our little bag, set our alarms and get some sleep.

Plitvice Lakes tomorrow. Bring it on…!