Barbat – Bakarac 58.44km 🚴🏼♀️ 3.19.44 ⏱17.6km/hr ⬆️ 605m ⬇️ 625m 🌡32C
So the alarm 🚨went off at 3.45 this morning. We really didn’t know what hit us. We looked outside and saw a sky, we saw a sky full of stars 🌌. We knew the sun ☀️would not rise before 5.17, but did not really expect it to be this dark, pitch black. Pretty stupid eh but yeah we are from this light-bulb 💡called Holland. We packed our bags, brushed our teeth, and decided to go back to bed 🛌. We were not comfortable with cycling in the complete dark. We do have bike lights and there probably would not have been that many cars 🚘, but it was not a risk we wanted to take.
Since we did not catch the 6.00am ferry ⛴, we would have to suffer the rest of the day by cycling in the heat. The ferry from Rab island to Krka island runs three times a day, the next one wouldn’t go until 9:45am and would take 1.5 hours. Anyway, we got up at seven and cycled easily for about an hour to Lopar to catch the ferry to Valbiska. We were a little early so we had our morning espresso coffee ☕️ at a nice port side restaurant before we boarded.
We had breakfast on the boat and did some reading. Time went pretty fast so before we knew it we were back on the bikes climbing away from the coast on Krka island at 11:20am. There was some roadwork 🚧 going on. The guys had decided to lay out fresh asphalt on one of the two lanes of the only available road in the middle of the day in tourist season. Every kilometer or so they had to stop all cars so they could pave the lane, which meant that the same cars and trucks had to pass us about 5 times. And fresh asphalt stinks. Suuz was pissed 😡. It was kind of a ridiculous thing to do since this road was the only one to get to the ferry ⛴and people (read: frustrated tourists) in cars also get cranky when it’s hot and speed right past you without considering your safety.
Other than this the road was alright. It was a little boring, there wasn’t a lot to see because it was lined with trees 🌳that were too short to provide any shade, and too thick to let you see beyond them to get a glimpse of the island landscape. At some point we got to the intersection with another main road so traffic got crazy. We were still debating wether to stay on the main road or climb a little more and cycle a few more kilometers extra, but after this intersection it was decided we would opt for the hilly secondary road.
Right after the exit we stopped for lunch at some local Konoba (eatery) we passed. We both had a big bowl of pasta 🍝, it wasn’t too tasty, but it did the trick. We didn’t really know how far we would be able to go today, cycling during the hottest hours of the day, so we hadn’t yet booked an apartment for the night. Most of the time we book one on the same day cause there are always a lot of options and this gives us more freedom. We don’t have great experience with booking things in advance in Japan! At lunch we tried to book something, but the few places in a ten km radius (with 300m incline) were all fully booked. We decided to cycle on anyway since we did have to make some more kilometres as not to make the next day even harder. Also, not all the apartments or ‘sobe’ are listed on booking.com, google maps or airbnb, so we were sure we would find something in the end.
The secondary road across the island wasn’t as quiet as we expected it to be, but a lot better than the other one. It was getting really hot ☀️again and with all the short but steep climbs we got a little overheated. Just before the 1.5km bridge from the island to the mainland we had to go back onto the busy main road again. There wasn’t a lot of space for us, but luckily most cars were gentle with us. The bridge was insanely high and long, a little scary, with a great view of the big city of Rijeka covered in a misty fog 🌫. No time to make pictures cause there was no space to stop.
Once we got off the bridge we took the exit back to our beloved coastal road number eight. Again it wasn’t as busy as the one we just left and it was only a few more kilometres to Barabac, our chosen destination for the day. Mas noticed her bike 🚲was being weird. Some problem with the rear cassette and free hub I think (and Noor thinks, and her friend thinks). Anyway, She could still cycle, but when she holds her legs still or back-pedals, the whole system blocks.
We went to an apartment we saw on Google, but it was full for the night. The lady 👵🏻made a quick phone call and told us she has this friend who would have a room for us, how lucky are we! The friend came to pick us up, so we got on the bikes to follow her. As we got back on, Mas’s gearing system blocked again, and with her foot attached to peddle, Mas fell off her bike. Again 😠. She was almost standing still when she fell, but the fall was hard enough to cut open her knee. Scars are for life, this trip gave her two new ones upto now!
We did catch up with the lady 👩🏼 and followed her to the apartment. Mas was bleeding and put her bike upside down to check it. Suuz went up with the woman to see the room. We were overheated, grumpy and just relieved we found a place cause there was nothing else in town. We quickly paid the lady for our stay and started unpacking our bikes. Once we were settled into the room, or at least trying to, we noticed how gross the room actually was. We had a shared bath room, but at least there seemed to be no one there.
Today was the last chance for us to jump in the ocean 🌊 before we cycle inland, so we did. The water looked a little oily, probably because of all the industrial plants we spotted on the other side of the bay. After our swim we went back to the apartment, only to find five guys in the rooms surrounding ours. Our room was at the far end of the tiny hallway so we had to pass by their rooms to get to ours. They seemed to be construction workers 👷♀️taking up temporary residence in the rooms. They smelled like they had been working really hard, and were getting drunk 🍺 and smoking cigarettes 🚬 in bed with the doors wide open. We went to take a shower 🚿only to find the bathroom 🚽 to be completely gross. We started to feel really, really uncomfortable and unsafe.
We were frustrated and decided just to go for dinner next door. Dinner itself was fine, not great but fine. The cheque afterwards was ridiculous, the owner completely ripped us off, so we felt even worse. Suuz was so bright to ask the dude if there maybe was a hotel 🏨or some place to camp nearby that we had overlooked. He pointed his finger to a building right across the street. We got up and nearly ran across the road to inquire for a room. They had a room available, so we went in to have a good look first, it felt like a total paradise. There was airco, it was clean with crisp white bedsheets and no stinky drunk men, it was perfect. So we decided to forget about the money and just stay here instead. Suuz was so so happy and relieved.
We went back to the shit show apartment, packed all our stuff as quickly as we could and moved across the street. We parked our bikes underneath the window of our new room and Mas thought it was smart to hand all the bags to Suuz through the window. Just as easy. She didn’t realize there was a wasp hive right underneath the window so when she locked the bikes together she was attacked and stung by two angry wasps in her hand, oh what a day.
Finally settled in, the second time, the owner of the hotel brought us a coffee on the outside terrace. He was really nice and gave Mas some ice ❄️ for her hand and dug up his bug 🐜 spray to kill the wasps. After cooling and calming down a bit we went to bed in our nice, clean, and cool room. Oh and it must be said, the lady 👩🏼 of the horrific first room stopped by to give us our money back, so our faith in humanity 😇 was repaired. Although Mas is still pissed about her stolen bike pump and Suuz thinks no woman should knowingly put another woman in a precarious situation like that. Not cool woman.
