West coast coastin this I not, but it's easier than a new blog site....
Lucky old me, I'm on my travels again. This time I find myself in Croatia, destination Alpe d'Huez (and the Tour de France), via the Adriatic coast, northern Italy and the French Alps. 5 weeks I've got, and being typically unprepared I'm not too sure how many miles it is, but it looks easily do-able once you've zoomed out sufficiently on Google maps.
I landed at Dubrovnik airport this morning after a horrendously early start. No one waiting for me this time, so I had to spanner the bike back into one piece. As it has taken me 2 hours to take it apart and pack up yesterday at my mum's, I wasn't surpised it took me 2 hours to get ready. And off I finally pedalled...
Approaching Dubrovnik from a jolly distance, it looked picture book beautiful. However, the rather touristy city centre was not what I needed with such bad jet lag (ok mild lack of sleep), and only 15 miles under my bely.
I got got back on the road, and immediately got lost. My 1:500000 Croatian map may helpfully make Slovenia look just round the corner, but that's not good if I keep going round in circles.
I met a nice group of cycle tiurists in Dubrovnik... going the other way as usual! And once I managed to navigate my way out of Dubrovnik I met my old friend Mr H. Wind (a Northerner).
By now it was 2pm and looking at the thermometer in the string shop (for tying my tent to rocks in case of anticipated stony ground) I discovered it was 29C. Not excessive but a lot warmer than the wet and windy June in the UK. I felt slightly smug though as I drank water from one of my 3 bottles I have now, but that was short lived as a touch of sun stroke and lack of food made the 30 of so miles I did today seem like so much more.
Anyway, I found my campsite in Trsteno (not misspellt), pitched my tent, wandered round a rather random but lovely arboretum and then hit the beach. They call it the beach but it was in fact a harbour with a series of concrete platforms surrounding it. Not too much sand in Croatia.
Dinner of about 25 squid, a mixed grill with 15 varieties of meat, chips, boiled cabbage and a pint was impossible to finish, and I swear the waitress chuckled when she took my order.
I lie here at 9pm ready for the advancing sleep to take a hold of me. It's good to be back on the road.
