Saturday
29th July
We left our lovely viewpoint this morning
following the TET to the next bit of tarmac. It climbs uphill from the tarmac just
above the hamlet of Breze then enters into the forest for awhile on a left turn.
Awhile later you repeat this process, then the TET enters into some really
dense forest following a road that is a mix of tarmac & gravel. (NB: There
is a junction which we found wasn’t on our OSM maps, yet was on our Garmin Nuvi
Basemap, take the right fork and it continues along the TET through the forest
to rejoin the tarmac). Where the trail exits the forest this next time, it’s a
junction on a tarmac road, this winds down to the town of Delnice, where there
is plenty of fuel, cafe’s, shops etc.
After this it follows the D203, which is an
excellent bike road. We passed through on a Saturday and there were hundreds of
bikes in the cafe’s around Delnice with plenty leaned over in the bends on the
road.
At Brod na Kupi, there is a border crossing
into Slovenia, we stopped for coffee and to get the dog in the lovely river
that passes by the village, complete with rafting canoes and crystal clear
water.
Useful Info;
The Croatian part of the TET is the easiest
section we’ve done so far, (it’s emminently suitable in it’s current form), for
beginner adventure riders to get some experience, whilst also have the joy of
seeing the beauty of Croatia. Towns are
no more than an hour downhill and you can retreat to the comforts of modern
living if you need to or continue to ‘rough’ it on the trail.
Things to watch out for:
1. - Croatian drivers seem to have a
rule that it is their country and they can drive how they like, you get out of
their way. The have perfected the look of utter disdain and hold this on their
faces as they pass you by on the narrow mountain roads or the coastal roads.
They also do not reverse, smile or acknowledge you in any way no matter how
much effort you have to put in to let them past. The women make the men look
like beginners in this by the way so beware!
2. - The gravel trails are really
well groomed we found, but they can be very narrow, not much of issue for a
bike, but be aware of the No.1 above.
3. - Fuel is available in all the
towns we passed through, but not in the villages. Dropping to the coast always
mean fuel is not far away.
4. - Snakes and bears are around, so
make noises when you go to the bushes and check around the ground where you
plan to camp for the night.
5. - Don’t drink the tap water on
the coast, Lucy & I were both pretty ill with stomach issues from this,
once we’d found some of the rare ‘springs’ we swapped the water and felt
better. Springs are more available in the north than the south we found.
