Saturday 29 July 2017

Trans Euro Trail - Croatia

Friday 28th July

We woke early feeling much refreshed after a good nights sleep, itchy feet started though so we set of driving down the island to the bridge which links it to the mainland, We crossed back over then picked up the TET as it wound up the road towards Karlobag. It follows the coast all the way, past secluded bays and ‘kiss me quick’ Packlenica before turning back up the hillside away from Karlobag. A turn left takes a small tarmac road that is being widened at the moment to a col. From here it’s dirt for 20 odd kilometres, winding through some beautiful forest with views out over the surrounding limestone edges and summits. Once back on tarmac, it’s a short hop to the next dirt bit, this passes through a National Park area which has some lovely glacial bowls that are now used for accommodation in the old shepherds huts. Here we saw what we think was a horned viper and several birds of prey. We managed to pick a load of wild raspberries too, so pudding was sorted for the night!






The next section was closed off for some reason, so we had to bypass it and take the tarmac road around to the village of Olari. Here we climbed up on a really narrow road to a large escarpment overlooking the bay below. It was a beautiful place so we decided to camp here for the night and enjoy the sunset over the islands.





A little later in the evening a really friendly guy and his son turned up, they were staying in one of the huts in the forest and came out each evening to photograph the wildlife. Snakes, bears, wild sheep, deer etc. They warned us the horned viper was deadly and there were plenty around at the moment, so wear long trousers and your bike boots when you go off into the bushes for ablutions!