Mostar, BiH > Dubrovnik, HR > Kotor, MNE 145km and 90km

September 14, 2014

Mostar, BiH > Dubrovnik, HR > Kotor, MNE 145km and 90km

[Originally posted Sept 14, 2014]

“You’re getting fucked one way or another.” They weren’t the words I expected to hear from Katy, but they made sense. And I was proud of her.

It was Friday morning and we were riding from Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina to Dubrovnik, Croatia. Our original route from Mostar to Dubrovnik was what we called the “inland” route. At Buna we would head southeast to Stolac and then Trebinje before crossing the border and descending on Dubrovnik. But when we reached Buna the valley that lie ahead was covered in dark grey clouds which meant only one thing - rain - not something we wanted to deal with on our 140km day. After just a kilometer down this road we decided to flip a U and alter our course. We switched to the “coastal” route - which appeared to contain sunny, blue skies - heading straight to the coast and then following the Adriatic Sea coastline to Dubrovnik. But then after only 40 minutes or so on our new route someone unzipped the clouds above us and rain fell heavy and quick. We were completely soaked - the toes squishing around in your shoes kind of soaked. Such is the setting for Katy’s comment - it made sense.

But I was proud of her because she was quoting My Cousin Vinny - a must see movie for any member of the Pratt family. If you’ve never seen it, well you know what to do. And in quoting My Cousin Vinny (and recognizing that cursing might be okay when quoting movies and always okay when the movie lines apply perfectly to the circumstances) she really pulled a classic move that I will always remember.

And so we were off to Dubrovnik. It’s been our destination for the past 2 months - ever since my sister Jessica planned a trip out to meet us. And so every week or so when we pull out Google Maps we always do the same thing: how many kilometers to Dubrovnik? how many days until we need to get there? what’s the kilometers per day? can we afford a rest day? etc. But then we arrived. I suppose Istanbul will be our next target city in the distance.

Dubrovnik is the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen. But as we will be there for 4 days at the end of the week I’ll leave the deets for later.

This morning I set off on the bike while Elizabeth and Katy took the bus to the airport. I rode. It was beautiful. Sunny skies forecast for an entire week. Can you believe it? A whole week. At the airport I dumped our luggage and picked up Jessica and we had a great (and very fast - tailwind all day) ride over to Kotor, Montenegro. (Croatia and Montenegro make countries number 14 and 15 - but who’s counting?) The entire way Jessica kept on saying - wow, it is so beautiful here! this place feels so foreign! this is so much fun! I can’t believe that you do this all day, everyday! And that was a good reminder. At times our trip has felt rather routine - new food, cycling through new places, new cities, different languages, border crossings, at times it seems “pretty standard really”. But then someone else shows up and reminds you how it is all so different and foreign - it’s a nice reminder and helps to keep things in perspective.

Kotor is a gem. Incredibly beautiful. Also more to come on Kotor later - we will be here for three days. For anyone searching for any trip ideas - the Balkans are the place to go: Ljubljana, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Sarajevo.

No cycling for an entire week - Katy and I have serious fear about putting on the pounds this week - our diets have become, according to Chris Dampier, wreckless, and without all the cycling to accompany the bakeries (today I had 2 donuts and a pastry as my snack before breakfast) and ice cream shops we are a little nervous what might happen to our waste lines.