//Day 60 /10-05-22 /Dubrovnik-Mostar

The birds woke me up at 5.30. The price of 28 euro/night for the camping site included a scenic walk of  300 meters to the nearest toilet. Yesterday I had spend quite some time to plot my next route. I found out that a cycling route exists that connects Dubrovnik and Mostar following and old train railway called the the Ciro trail, some 135 K long. The railway was build around 1900  but currently no longer in use. Since 2007 the Bosniak and Croatian governments are developing this cycleway to develop cross border tourism.

I packed my tent and by 7.30 I was cycling. The sky was blue and the sun shining.It promised to be a beautiful day.  Although the route would be mostly flat the first part I had to climb from sea level to around 400 meters. A good way to start the day.

After some 15 K I crossed the Croatian - Bosnian border. The Croatian border infrastructure was totally new. I was waved out and waved in without any problem. 

My German neighbour on the camping site told me he had been looking for the cycle path some days before and couldn’t find it so I was expecting that I may have to look some time to find the path. 100 meter after the border I found the 1st Ciro signpost without any problem. So far for German grundlichkeit….The path was asphalted , a small narrow road which directed me into a valley…

The scenery was great. After cycling some 10 K I saw another cyclist before me, I made some extra  speed to catch up and met Robert from Poland. After some introduction we agreed to cycle some time together…

Again, the views were really nice. The road was easy to follow as signpost at every crossing, information panels at the now dilapidated treinstations and infrastructure, abandoned small villages. The information on the internet had warned that the first part of the route (near to the border)you should no go from the path as there are still mines present. We passed a couple of stretches where signs warned for mines.

Along the way most of the villages were abandoned, sometimes a single house occupied, mostly by old people. It took 45 K before we passed a bar where we could buy something to drink. As te day progressed it was becoming warmer. At one moment we could choose between 2 variants of the path one with some limited gravel, the shortest way, the other asphalt but somewhat a detour. We choose for the gravel…..The next 10-15 K we were  send over an increasingly getting worse gravel path…but with the additional attraction we need to cycle through nine old tunnels (no light). I was happy not to have to cycle this part alone as the risk for a puncture seemed high….After some one and half hour fighting the gravel and stones we descended via an even worse path to the silky asphalt….I (and I had the impression Robert as well) where happy to be balkon on a normal road. The path was although really very nice from a scenery point of view. At a vervain moment we even passed some construction work for a new highway under construction where we had to carry or bikes as it was blocked by building material…

We passed a small village with a bar and had a late lunch around 14.00. The sun by know was really doing her best…After lunch we continued our way, mostly flat but sometimes climb. At the endow the day I would have climbed again 1200 meters. We passed an abandoned factory in the middle of nowhere but slowly the landscape changed from wild to more cultivated. After 80 K having cycled in no-mans land we entered the civilised world again.

My plan was to head for a camping site 10K before Mostar. The camping site on the way to Mostar was called Green kamp and looked promising on the internet. Robert would be heading to Mostar. When we arrived at the camping site there was nobody else camping, it was located at the riverside but also the campsite was based under a big busy bridge…The weather was also changing it became more cloudy and rain would come. I decided to head to Mostar as well and see if there was a room available at the apartment Robert had booked. We cycled the last 15 K to Mostar, in the distance lightning and thunder which was getting closer. We arrived just in time at the appartement ,where there was luckily a room available, before the rain started to come down. By the time I had checked in and had a shower the rain had stopped. We visited the famous Mostar bridge which was destroyed in 1193 by the Croatians during the Croat-Bosnian war.  The bridge was rebuilt and opened in July 2004. 

As we had cycled 140 K we had a well deserved beer (or 2) and went for a dinner. I had a local dish which was a combination of cheese, flatbread , Döner, salad, sausages, chicken,…It was very big portion which I could not finish. There were not a lot of tourists in Mostar so the atmosphere was really relaxed. I can image though that during peak season it is a different story. 

During dinner I decided to join Robert to Sarajevo and so returning to my original route….The distance between Sarajevo and Mostar is around 130 K  but with quite some climbing. We decided to take 2 days to get to Sarajevo and avoid as much as possible hills the first day as the Ciro route had been quiet demanding and the route includes a climb to 1490 meters….

When I got in my room a did a try to update the TBBCA blog but soon realised that I was to tired, put my iPad aside, closed my eyes and fell asleep….

Lessons learned :

• You have gravel and then there is gravel.
• You can find a cycling compagnon in the middle of nowhere. 
• The Ciro trail has 10 tunnels, all dark..

Song of the day : Cudna Jada od Mostara Grada - Mostar Svedah Reunion