Balkans Cycling Adventure - BCA. Cycle Day 15: Sutorina (Igalo), Montenegro to Dubrovnik, Croatia. 45 km (555vm). Connal Tours European Cycling Tour 2024. Connal Kit for all your cycle touring clothing.
Woke to a thunderstorm & heavy rain. Delayed departure as much as we could hoping for it to pass. Set off in the rain, a climb of 4.5 km to the border crossing into Croatia. Thunder, lightning, heavy rain and water rushing down our side of the road. Thankful for the border shelter roof. Exited Montenegro quickly - no stamp, didn't question why we hadn't been stamped out of Albania and into Montenegro. Stopped raining. Ride the gap and join the queue to enter Croatia and the EU. Wait we did, inching forward patiently with all the cars. The storm was looming behind us, black and threatening, we were hoping to make it to the border station before the sky opened up again. Fortunately, the storm stayed on the Montenegrin mountain and didn’t follow us into Croatia.
Sunshine and blue sky for the rest of the day. Temps going from 14deg to 25deg in the sunshine. We soon dried out. Back road took us around a vineyard/winery region (east of Dubrovnik airport). Well cared for vineyards and lots of winery tasting signs. Very quiet road. Before rejoining the main road, we had a lunch stop from where we could see the sea again. Main road had it's busy spots. Most noticeable when grinding up a hill and traffic is overtaking. After a long climb we fortunately saw the slip road into the cycle way to bring us down the hill rather than a whole lot more of 8% climbing on a hellish busy road. Had to get across the traffic and lift bikes over the guard rail to find this nice quiet downhill approach. Beaut approach views into Dubrovnik. Getting around the old town was rather hectic - traffic jammed into small spaces between the town walls.
Our home for the next 2 nights is port side of Old Town. Which will be useful when we leave as we plan a ferry crossing next. Such beautiful hosts. Welcomed us with beers and many tips on where to go. Where the locals go, not the tourists. Too expensive if you go to the tourist restaurants. We're all for that kind of advice. 'When you stay here you are part of our family'. Evening walk to the port area and a very nice restaurant for grilled squid, salad & wine.
A rest day from cycling spent walking the Old Town of Dubrovnik and exploring the back streets.
Cycle Day 15 of 45 over 10 weeks cycle touring covering over 2400km in a loop circuit of the West Balkans in Europe through 8 countries. Connal Kit for all your cycling touring clothing. Connal Tours European Cycling Tour 2024. connalkit.com.au 22May2024.

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