Got a ride with Sandra to an ATM at a gas station several miles up the highway – glad I didn’t have to ride my bike, as there is no bike-lane and very busy traffic that mostly doesn’t seem to care about cyclists. Ended up going to the outskirts of Mostar to a department store with her and while she did another errand I tried on sandals – the ones I got the other day are a little too big and bug my feet. I splurged and went for a pair that cost 7.50 MK – about $5.50 – as opposed to the ‘cheap’ pair I got the other day.

Went for a short ride after we got back to camp – up the cycle path towards Mostar a bit just to refresh my memory of what it will be like tomorrow. Kind of decided to cycle to Mostar then catch a train to Sarajevo and maybe spend a couple days there before heading further north back into Croatia.

Treated myself to another dinner at the campsite’s grill – this time meatballs with grilled zucchini and fries. Well, they were more like little sausages than meatballs, but they were tasty – had enough leftover for breakfast again.

I’m calling this my day of rest, it being Sunday and all. Started out a bit overcast, although the wind isn’t as bad. Spent quite a bit of time at a table on the terrace playing cards while my ipad recharged, then did a bunch of research on getting north to Osijek and where to stay. Might spend a day or two in Sarajevo on the way depending on trains, etc.

Had to leave the terrace after a while to get away from the cigarette smoke – almost every adult I’ve met here smokes and even though it’s outside it still bothers me.

It got sunny later and I was going to go for a late afternoon ride but a bunch of folks arrived to eat at the restaurant so I didn’t want to leave my campsite unattended. Some other campers have also arrived – at least three vans and some tents. I think I’ve been the only camper here most of the time except for one night when some ‘British guys came back’ from somewhere. They weren’t really Brits, though – they now live in London and were driving a van with UK plates but were actually from South Africa.

Tomorrow or the next day Sandra is going to drive me up the highway to a gas station that has an ATM so I can get cash to pay my bill when I leave. I think I’ll pack up and head north Tuesday or Wednesday, riding the Ciro trail to Mostar and figuring out if train or bus will work best. Finding out online how to get from Mostar to Osijek isn’t as easy as one might think, especially since I have the bike. I’m hoping there is a train that will take me at least part of the way – I’m wary of putting my bike back on a bus. Osijek is supposed to have lots of great cycling paths and I’ve located at least a couple of nice looking campgrounds, so – fingers crossed!

Really fierce wind storm during the night – wondered more than once if the tent was going to become airborne. No rain – at least that not that I noticed. Sandra came in the morning and told me that if it happened again, or any other kind of storm that I should go to the motorhome if I didn’t feel safe in the tent – they are so nice here!

The wind was still coming and going in very strong gusts, so didn’t plan on a long ride, but only across the bridge to the store – and feel lucky to be alive. I had just started across the span when I saw a car approaching towards me – no problem, I thought – no one coming behind me, so lots of room – it’s not a single-lane bridge, after all. Then suddenly a second car pulled out from behind the first and went to pass him. Don’t know if the stupid bitch even saw me, but I hit the brakes and lunged as far as I could onto the sidewalk, pulling my bike with me. The idiot who passed may, or may not even have seen me, but swerved back into her own lane right in front of the car she’d overtaken. I yelled ‘F***’ at the top of my lungs at her, and the overtaken car honked his horn at her – she likely didn’t even notice or care.

Heart palpitating I continued across the bridge to the store and stocked up on more veggies, as well as some kind of crackers and ‘mini Italian bruschetta with tomato and oregano’ in a bag.

Tried to load pic’s onto my blog for yesterday, but even with fairly good wi-fi here it repeatedly failed – seems wordpress wants everyone to upgrade so they seem to make it as difficult as possible for those of us that want a freebie blog site. The wi-fi at my Blagaj campsite was a bit better and I never had a problem there.

Ate picnic lunch inside my tent as it’s so windy outside. While I ate I read an article in the Guardian about a man whose wife died (of acute leukaemia) a week or so after giving birth to their daughter. I sat here with tears streaming down my face and just sobbing – it was an incredibly well-written piece – simple but so descriptive and moving.

Colin confirmed that his house in England is empty 11 months of the year, and that I can use it during the summer as my base! That’s so awesome – it’s in Worcester, and if I can use it for the very last bit of July and most of August it will solve my dilemma of where to spend the last half of summer. Coming back to Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina is such a long way – the UK is so much closer and easier since I’ll be in France anyway. It’s an ideal situation for me – I can hardly believe it!

As I sit in the tent here in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina looking out at the Neretva river about 10 metres away I’m beginning to realize how fortunate I am. Many people have told me that I’m ‘brave’ to be on this journey, but I mostly have thought I’m a bit crazy. I’m not sure what I want or expect – some kind of revelation? I’m sure that doesn’t come from where you are physically, but mentally. Perhaps I haven’t arrived yet.

I’ve still not figured out why churches have to ring their fricking bells every hour during the night! In Stobrec it wasn’t even one, but two churches, and they weren’t synchronized properly – just as one ended the other began. Then in Blagaj it was the mosques – not every hour exactly, but in the middle of the night and various times during the day, then of course, the sundown gun-shot followed by wailing. Here it’s another church every hour – how many people really need to know in the middle of the night what time it is? Doesn’t anyone have a clock? Normally if I’m asleep it doesn’t actually wake me up, but if I’ve woken for some other reason and am trying to get back to sleep the bells really don’t help.

Considering how early I got up I didn’t get riding until almost 11:30, after doing a bunch of laundry. Headed south along the Ciro trail 14.5 km to Capljina. Saw the town of Pocitelj across the river, which has some apparently great ruins and old city, but unfortunately there’s no bridge over. Would have to go to Capljina then back up along the M17 to get there so didn’t bother. ‘Bike path’ was mostly paved, with a 3-4 km bit in the middle that was dirt/rocks/pot-holes.

Capljina was a fairly large place (at least compared to Blagaj and now Zitomislici, which is even smaller) rode around looking for a place to get my hair cut. Stopped at one place and asked how much for a haircut – lady just looked at me and shook her head. Asked another lady sitting by the door if she spoke English and she said very clearly ‘no’. Didn’t want to go in to an unfriendly place like that so kept looking. Not far along the street came upon another salon and asked how much – she said she was busy and could I come back? I said no – I need to return to Zitomislici and she replied that if I waited just a few minutes she would fit me in.

Happily sat and waited while she cut a fellow’s hair – another lady was sitting waiting for her colour to set. Rose cut my hair exactly how I wanted it – very short all around with the kind of purple (now rather pinkish) ‘mop top’.

Ride back was not bad – passed the ‘tree trimmer’ again – huge tractor-like machine that hacks the bushes and trees back from the road. Waited a minute or two until he finished the tree he was working on and indicated that he saw me – wouldn’t want to try and squeak by thinking there was room just as the giant muncher moved!

Ate lunch, then had a nice shower – again totally filthy from the ride on the dirt/rock part of the road. Did more laundry – face-timed Dom. Sitting on the lounge chair outside my tent watching the clouds gather and listening to the thunder approach.

Wind picked up pretty good, but no rain, at least not yet. Pretty nice sunset.

The storm during the night wasn’t as bad as Sandra had feared – it rained fairly hard from time to time, but didn’t seem that major. Left the motorhome, did yoga by my tent, ate a rather sparse breakfast – must go to the store – went for a ride just after 10. Turns out today is a holiday of some sort, so lots of kids in the playground here, and most businesses are closed – need to get a haircut tomorrow, I guess, if I can find a barber (my hair is almost an inch long on the sides!).

Not much of a town, at least on this side of the river. The Zitomislici Monastery is right across the highway so went and had a look. A couple of folks were just leaving, so had the place to myself.

As I entered the ‘foyer’ a young monk came up and opened the inner door for me – wow. I wasn’t expecting what the inside was like.

The Monastery has been on that site since at least the 1600’s, as it was renovated in 1602. It was torched in 1941 and most of it’s treasures and manuscripts were lost to the fire. Then it was completely destroyed in the war of 1992-95, before being rehabilitated in 2005. The beautiful paintings inside were done in 2012, according to the monk.

I ended up spending around an hour altogether, including the graveyard and lighting a candle in an outdoor three-tiered stand filled with sand to catch the dripping wax.


Just as I was leaving a van with six or seven people arrived – my timing was perfect.

Took a side road when I left the monastery but eventually it just looped back to the highway. Went back the way I came, then past the campground and over the bridge to the rest of Zitomislici on the other side of the river. Again not much of a town, but did follow the road beside the train tracks until the road ended, then back to the store I got directions in front of yesterday. Loaded up on veggies, etc – likely stay a few days where I am and was almost out of everything.

Got back to camp right before it started raining again, made soup and fresh veggies for lunch, in addition to what I thought was tuna that I got at the store. When I opened the can I was a bit surprised – it was actually tuna covered with ‘Mexican style vegetables’ – beans, etc. Actually not bad, but not what I had expected.

The flip-flop fix didn’t hold – strap was flapping again so tried something different. I sowed the strap on to the sole, pushing the needle thru 1/4 inch of rubber with the handle of my Swiss-army knife – that thing is so useful! The next larger town I’m in I’ll have to buy some sandals or something, I guess.

Went up to the terrace/bar are to sit at a table and play cards. A girl came over and asked if she could play with me – showed me a kind of rummy. Played for awhile – her name is Marianna and she’s from Osijek in north-east Croatia. I believe her aunt and uncle are the owners of the campground and she also just started working here. She speaks very good English, which she learned as a kid watching cartoons and movies. They don’t dub very many shows here so almost everything is in English with subtitles. Might have another change of plans and visit the area she’s from instead of going directly to Zagreb.

Restaurant got busier so Marianna had to work. Treated myself to dinner – skewers (pork) with fries and grilled vegetables. Skewers and zucchini were grilled over wood on the outdoor grill – both very delicious – cost me about $9 including tip. Took left-overs back to the tent for breakfast tomorrow.

Up nice and early to pack up all my gear. Hung the tent, fly and ground cover to dry and air out while I ate breakfast. Walked up to the ATM for cash to pay my bill, and got the German guy that arrived yesterday to take a pic of myself and Nedzad. Found out there was an earthquake last night just after midnight – didn’t feel a thing. One of the straps on my right flip-flop came out from the sole so I glued it back on with my tire-patch repair kit glue – hope it holds when I want to wear them later.

Got on the road to my next stop just after 9:30. The 1 km along the main highway wasn’t actually too bad – it wasn’t quite so windy as the first time I rode (without all the gear) so I didn’t feel so unstable. The Ciro is really nice – paved a good part of the way, then dirt/rocks for the middle bit. It runs along the Neretva river next to the new railway line.

Right at the town of Zitomislici the road continues straight but the Ciro veers left, than right again along the river. I stopped and asked a guy in front of a supermarket where the campsite was and he indicated I needed to go back to the road and up and over the bridge to the other side of the Neretva. Found signs at the other end – part of the campsite is under the bridge, and along the east bank of the river. Took awhile to pick my spot, which Sandra (the owner?) cleaned up for me – raked leaves, etc. While she did that I sat up on the terrace where there’s a bar and a bunch of picnic tables. Had two cups of tea (my own bags – all they have is fruity ones) then put my tent up. Could hardly move when I got up – arms are really sore from steering on the dirt/rocky part of the trail/road.

Had lunch on a lounge-chair outside my tent, then took a really nice shower – I was filthy from the dust and sweat. Feeling human again went back up to the terrace and had the ice-cream Sandra had offered me earlier – very refreshing.

Sat on a lounge chair for awhile looking at the river – someone across the river is clearing weeds or grass:

Just as I was cutting up veggies for my dinner the thunder started and very shortly after the rain came. Brought everything inside, except the campstove, of course – cooked soup in the rain, then ate in the tent.

I’m not used to spending so much time in the tent – the place at Blagaj had a nice sitting area under cover that we got to use, in addition to the kitchen.

Could see lightening from inside the tent, and it was pretty close – the thunder wasn’t very far behind. Was settling down very early when I heard Sandra calling me – she was very worried about the storm and implored me to spend the night in the camp’s motorhome (no charge). Grabbed a few things, including my sleeping bag and moved in quickly.

Did a bunch of laundry before heading out for another ride. Went to Buna, then turned south and up a side road up a hill – got too steep so turned back, then south again to Hodbina.

Took a side road east until it ended, then back to the M17.3 – kind of a main road, but not that busy. Went back to Blagaj the ‘long way’ and did the rest of my laundry.

Tried to find the barbershop so I could get my hair cut, but everything was closed for the afternoon. Walked down to the vendors near the dervish temple and got some more earrings.
Tried again to visit the Velagic Family Complex, but was still closed.

Landlord has decided to renew the lease after all, and has agreed to hire a yard maintenance guy to help out so the neighbours don’t freak out again about the state of the yard. Elsbet is on the mend and Dom’s new chiropractor is helping, so all is looking better.

Nephew Tim’s wife Megan had their baby months early so little fellow is in NICU in London, ON hospital – will likely be there for several weeks. Hope and pray that he will be ok, and get strong and healthy.

Got a bit of a late start, but took a nice ride around the area towards Buna – rode as hard as I could most of the time, and was quite tired when I returned. Lynn and John were still here, but just getting ready to leave. They told me they could have stuck my bike in their van, but I’m heading south (along the Ciro cycle trail) while they’re going north to Sarajevo. Wondered if I should make a quick change of plans and ask to go with them, but decided to keep to the plan I’ve worked out.

Took a couple of pic’s before they left, then did some more research about where I’m planning on heading next. Not very many campsites along the Ciro path, at least only one I could find between here and Metkovic, where I can catch a train back to Italy near the end of June.

Little black and white kitty heard me as soon as I sat at the table for my lunch – sure does love cheese.

Face-timed Dom – finding a new house to rent anywhere near where we are now isn’t going to be easy. We believe our landlord’s ‘situation has changed’ excuse to rescind the lease agreement we signed was based on something our neighbour might have said about the lawn not being cut. Still haven’t been told, so just a guess at this time, but we’re pretty sure it’s something ** said. Kind of crappy, since Elsbet, who used to insist on cutting the lawn has a fractured bone in her back, and Dom has an out-of-kilter neck (although he’s finally found a really good chiropractor). Lawn has been cut now and the yard looks at least as good as it did last time landlords visited, so don’t know what will happen.

Campsite host Nedzad is out in the river again cutting the grass – ha ha – what is it with cutting lawn/grass these days! There is long wavy river grass, and apparently it’s worse sooner this year than usual. Nedzad has been out in the canoe a couple of times as well as walking right in the river. The Buna is very cold so he’s in a wetsuit. They even have a bucket with ‘icy river Buna bucket challenge’ on it the river’s so cold – the ‘ice bucket challenge’ made it over here too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LITTLE BROTHER DOUG!!

Out riding by 9:30 – took the ‘back’ road again and under the advice of campsite host Nedzad took the first left instead of going straight. Up and over a small hill and ended up in the next little valley – passed yet another cemetary.

I wouldn’t say there’s a village in the valley – more like a bunch of farms, with sheep, gardens, fields, and a couple of cows.

The road ended after a few km, so turned back – had to stop for a couple of minutes while a herd of goats crossed the road. Motioned for two cars to slow down and beware of the goats – got a nice wave of thanks from one of them (a car, not a goat – ha ha).

Passed more burned/bombed houses – they are all over the place here.

Back to the campsite before it got too hot again. Fed little black and white kitty more bits of cheese, and was able to scratch and pet some more – saw it later eating some more crunchies from the bowl I’d filled again.

Some of Nedzad’s friends arrived to do ‘street art’ on site. There is an annual street art festival in Mostar. Boards were erected in three different areas and painting began. Another van arrived, this time with a Swiss couple.
Watched the artwork progress – Lynn and John came back from their guided tour of Mostar (said it was great). They kindly invited me to dinner, which John cooked – spaghetti with meatsauce and a very nice salad. Had a really nice chat.

Artists left, but not before I got an email address to send my pics to – hope they like and can maybe use them somehow.

Quiet evening in the campground, but music playing elsewhere, even on a Sunday – although I must say it’s not actually very loud or at all bothersome.

I just found out some very sad news – cousin Gavin passed away over a week ago – only 53 year olds. So sad…rest in peace young cousin.

Got going from the campground around 9:45 – went first to the Mosque of Sultan Sulejman, but it wasn’t open, so kept going down the hill to the Karadjoz-bey Haman (public baths) right next to the river where the Bridge of Karadjoz-Bey crosses.

There’s not a lot left, but I can imagine when it was whole it must have been pretty cool.

Walked back up to the ‘main road’ then over to the side road that leads to The Velagic Family Complex (from the 17th century), and the Tekija Blagaj/Dervish House. The Velagic complex seemed to be closed, so I continued on to the Dervish House, which is right at the springs that the Buna flows from, but on the other side of the river than I was at a couple of days ago.

Had to pay 2 Euro/4 KM to get in (as I have found here both currencies are accepted almost everywhere) and it was totally worth it. Had to walk past a long row of vendors to get to the entrance – some of them had really nice stuff, and some looked like made-in-China plastic garbage.

Before you go in to the ‘house’ everyone has to remove their shoes, and women have to cover their hair and have a long skirt. There was a very nice Muslim woman there with a rack of long skirts that she chose from to put around me, and a bunch of lovely head scarves. She chose a red one for me, but I pointed to a beautiful turquoise-green one instead. She happily folded it and put it around my shoulders and over my head for me.

I made sure taking pic’s was ok, and proceeded in. It was so peaceful and soothing – all the floors were covered with beautiful rugs, some were silk. You could hear the falls from each room, sometimes quite loud, sometimes a bit muted.

There were beautiful scrolls on the walls, and one room (the bathing room) had a gorgeous domed ceiling with coloured glass to let in light.

Spent about an hour in all – it was a really wonderful place. Stopped at one of the vendors on my way out and bought myself a couple of pairs of earrings – 1 euro/2 km each (about $1.50)!

Decided not to go on the Green Cave tour with Lynn and John – it was far too expensive for my budget – 25 euros per person, plus they were going up to the Fortress that I hiked to yesterday. After all the walking up and down I did today after the hike yesterday my calfs are burning, so I’m passing on it. Lynn promised to take pic’s for me, and let me know if she thinks I could find the cave on my own without the pricey guide.

I’m making friends with one of the 3 kitties – the black and white one ate a bunch of crunchies I put out (after I cleaned the bowl), then wanted some of my soup. I worried that it was too salty, so only left a tiny bit of broth, then went and got a small piece of cheese. Kitty really liked that, and even ate the last tiny piece out of my fingers. Then I went to sit at the table and kitty followed – I managed to pet and scratch it until it let me pick it up and put it on the cushioned bench beside me. It loved being petted, but is still very skittish.