Goodbye B&H…
Welcome back to Croatia…
9th - 12th May | 2022
After a good night's sleep, and a very good breakfast, it was time to pack the bikes. Steffi spoke a little bit with the german lady-owner of Motel Kiwi (www.motelkiwi.com) as she comes from Dortmund, Germany. She runs a really nice place with good food and tasty homemade red wine.
As we didn’t want to risk getting stuck in snow patches along with the TET BiH*, James worked out a route on OsmAnd until Ramsko Jezero (lake). It was a fantastic mixture of backroads and offroad tracks. From the lake, we followed a mixture of TET and our track via OsmAnd until Kupres. We drove through a plain area, where we found deserted houses. We were wondering if these were all remaining from the latest war ...
In Kupres, we decided to drive until Veliko Plivsko Jezero (lake) at Jajce, as we want to see the waterfalls and watermills tomorrow. With the help of iOverlander, we found a lovely little camping spot directly at the lake. Hurray, finally camping again! The only downside was all the rubbish left by other people :-( Even though here in BiH* it is not as bad as in Albania, it is still an issue!
After a good night's sleep in our little tent, we drove back to Jajce for breakfast. On the way into town, we stopped for some pictures of the scenic waterfalls. In town, we finally found a place where they served some food and the guy "Kastel" was super helpful with getting a SIM card and getting it working. Steffi must have driven the two ladies in the kiosk, that sold her the card, totally insane, but in the end, the SIM card worked. The guy from the restaurant also spoke very good English, so James enjoyed his company.
On our way back to Kupres, as we finally decided to carry on the TET until the Croatian border, we passed the famous water mills close by Jajce.
Just when we arrived there, it started to pour down with rain. We sheltered ourselves under the trees and watched the other tourists hopping out of their cars / mini busses for pictures ;-)
We drove for a while with/under that rain cloud, but when we had lunch in Sipovo, it started to be sunny again. After lunch, we carried on driving to Kupres over a lovely mountain road. When we came closer to Kupres we saw the dark clouds hanging in the mountains, in the direction we planned to catch again the TET. As the first bit seemed to be offroad through the mountains, we decided to be sensible and booked a little apartment for the night. The weather forecast is good for the next few days, so we will hit the TET tomorrow in much more appropriate condition.
After we have done our check out of "Winter Iris" (booking.com) in Kupres, we shortly after hit the TET BiH* again, today with blue sky! It started with a lovely fast track, changed a bit into a deteriorating track and then off into the deep forest. Most of this forest track was currently occupied by Forrest's work, so lots of mud!
And of course, we had to clear a snow patch of about 15m in length - teamwork! James with the shovel from one side, Steffi kicking and digging by hand from the other side ... - but now that part of TET is officially open!
This forest track must be about 30km, so after that, it was finally about time to see a bit more than only trees ;-) We came out on an open wide plaine, with a superb panoramic view. From there we rattled (as so stoney) down to Glamoc, passing through some military area. We think it must still have to do with the clearance of the remains of the latest war... Just before we hit the road, we met a Czech guy on his KTM. Unfortunately, we only could communicate via google, but we tried to pass the message on, that he is going into the dense forest now for kilometres and it is 16h00! He didn’t look too worried, so we hope he got into Kupres before night!
We stopped in Glamoc first to make a plan and got approached by a South African (?) guy on his bicycle. He told us to pass by at the lake, which we will do anyhow as the TET BiH* passes by. After he was gone, we headed off back to the direction of TET BiH* to find a camping spot, which we quickly found on the outskirts of a hamlet. Tonight we have a panoramic view over the whole valley :-), and I tell you, that one nightingale gave its best!
After breakfast back in the village, we carried on doing the TET BiH*, which started directly with Forest work... but this time not for long :-) Nearly to the end of the offroad, the track takes you up to the lovely lake Sator Jezero at 1500m altitude. What a nice view; perfect for our lunch picnic!
Once back down from the lake, it was not far to cross the border into Croatia. On the last kilometre, Schimmelchen sounded like it will fall apart any minute => time for oiling the chain! James did the on the parking of the border crossing as the really sounded scary! After that Schimmelchen was back to normal :-D
The border crossing was no issue! Oh, by the way, we noticed, that no border control so far asked us to take off the helmets! So in theory it could be "anybody" crossing the border!?! However, this time we both have been asked to take off our sunglasses though ;-)
Once in Croatia (again), we headed to Zadar where we had booked a room for the night at "Pansion Maria". We arrived there about late afternoon. We got a really nice welcome from host Zoran; he made us feel immediately like coming home!
After unpacking and a shower we walked down to the old town to see the famous Sea Organ. That was really impressive! We both have never seen something like that before.
As it was about a 20mins walk to/from the Old Town of Zadar we were really tired and fell directly into our beds!
We hope you enjoyed the TET BiH* as much as we and now off discovering Croatia!
Have a glass of red wine and dark chocolate whilst you are waiting for the next blog!
*Bosnia & Herzegovina
Places | Cities:
BiH*:
Grude, Siroki, Brijeg, Gracac, Przor, Ramsko Jezero lake, Kupres, Jajce, Sipovo, Kupres, Glamoc, Basansko Grahovo
CROATIA:
Knin, Zadar
Driven km | Trip:
Total: 11200 km
Maintenance | Breakdown:
./.
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
Motel Kiwi (www.motelkiwi.com) for the good food and nice welcome!
Linesman TET BiH* (www.transeurotrail.org) for such a great track through this beautiful country!
And Zoran of Pansion Maria in Zadar looking so well after us!