Cycling to the Adriatic sea

Back in Bosnia. Fresh off the plane. No sleep. Feeling great. Got some unfinished business. About 200 kilometers of it. Got my ride in the bag. Gotta find a taxi and get to the starting point. Really hope I won't have to be carrying this around the entire way. So we got stopped by police. Some undercover police. Hope it's not a setup. They don't want I packed it literally two years ago when I was doing the previous Bosnia trip. So everything's fresh. Motivated I am right now. Feels so good to be back. Last time it took me a day and a half to get to here from Sarajevo. It wouldn't have even taken us an hour if the cops wouldn't have pulled us over. He said they just want a ransom. He was a very nice guy. I really hope I didn't leave the screwdriver at home because I have to assemble this thing now. Yeah. I think I did a pretty good job. Took 30 minutes. Ah this feels good. The reason why I wanted to be dropped off here. Because this is one of the most beautiful places that I've ever been. Plus the downhill is sick. The downhill from here is insane. Goal would be to get to the Adriatic Sea. To the coast. Like I mentioned it's about 200 kilometers from here. Give or take. This time I'm going to try to pace myself a little bit better. Not overtire myself. That's the goal. So today I would like to do maybe 40-50 kilometers and I'll most likely be spending the night somewhere in the wilderness. There are bears. There are mines in these mountains and ----. Try not to worry about that now. Take it as it comes. Starting to snow bit by bit. The cloud came over. At least it's not raining. That view behind me is pretty stellar. That is Bialystnitz. I think the highest peak. Last time it was a lot colder because I was battling ice. It was hard to pedal up here. The good thing about this is at least I won't have to be worrying about water. I got plenty of food. I came prepared. I can live outside for the next couple of days. That looks incredible. The roads are perfect. There was so much snow on the roads last time. And the way the trees are sprinkled with snow. The way it sticks to them. This is the final climb before the major downhill. Looking forward to very much. Yeah definitely don't have to be worried about water. The good thing about bicycling is I can do things like this. This is not the peak I was talking about but I just wanted to get a little overview and actually climb one of these hills. It's so quiet up here. The sun. Barely any wind. And here's the downhill. Barely any snow compared to last time. I was struggling here. It's good. Those views! Soaked. Somewhere here I saw a mouse the last time that I gave some of my part. I hope it's doing well. Yeah! See this time there's a lot less snow so I'm not really worried about the avalanche. Man good thing the brakes still work after two years because I'm gonna eat them now. Let's see how deep it is. Oh that's pretty deep. Oh that's very deep. Okay. I just wanted to move my feet a bit because it's cold and I want to touch the rocks in the mountains. Water's right in my face. Man I really hope I tie the screws tight. Oh boy! Man just like that. Just like that. I turned back for a second and the mountains are gone. I really really appreciate this sudden scenery change. This is why this route is so special to me. Now I just want to show some different angles. Tiny sheeps. Oh yeah I remember this. I stopped here as well. It's some wacky water pressure. Yeah tripping down memory lane boy. Getting chased. It's uphill. He's gonna catch up. You're a good doggo. Oh my! You spooked me. Come on let's go. Man he really came out hard. Oh you're going off? All right. Okay he wants to do his business. He's escorting me so I would make it out of his village safely or not steal any of the chickens. I think somewhere around here is where I met a dog last time as well and he was also very nice. All right come on. Some of this bun. I didn't finish it but maybe you want it. Apart from that I have just dry meals and granola bars. I don't think you like that. I don't have anything more. All right great doggo. They're so chill out here. I gotta stop to smell the flowers. This is my favorite smell. On the main road. So far having checked the map once I remember this path pretty well. Uh-oh. Come on. Come on. Wait wait hold up. I gotta admire that. Oh that is that is steep as hell boy. That's beautiful. Damn. I like to imagine motherfuckers are driving about a hundred timing it just right so they would yeet the bag right there into the canyon next to the waterfall. I wonder. Okay no pets for me. Then I'll go. Be that way if you want. No license plates. Glad he didn't choose to hit me. I'm actually looking forward to an uphill. I got way too cold man. I remember I went down there. Sat on those slabs right there. Daylight's going out. Three four more hours max. Right now it is 1734. Still far away from Mostar. And I want to be at least halfway today. I'm going down. Gonna zigzag. I'm gonna be at the bottom where the river is flowing. I have about 30 kilometers till the starting point of the route that I haven't done yet. Because currently I'm just taking the memory lane. I've done this route until Konya. The previous trip I pushed myself a bit too hard and I was just dead by the end of it. I don't want to make the same mistake again. I'm going to do my best and at least try to get as close as I comfortably can to the starting point of the route towards Mostar. Towards the sea that I haven't done yet. That sounded convoluted to me. It would be cool if these guys accompany me. Hey. Oh this sun feels so good. This is the coldest river in the world. The one I wanted to take a swim in. And I still do. The weather just needs to be a bit warmer. Yeah yeah yeah. Beautiful. I remember further along this river there's this rope bridge that's bouncy and swingy. It's such a great spot to jump in. You can see the water straight through. It's so deep. Next time. Also all those trees. So few of them like sticks sticking out. Fell down or been burnt down. Damn that's a strong current. So much warmer down here as well. Even with the wind. Not getting that chill. It appears I have reached village. First village next to the river. If I could find some abandoned buildings or something that are not totally decrepit. Something either in a building or next to water. I see a cat. Come. Or something next to the water. I would like that feeling of safety. Knowing that at least one side is covered in all these monsters that come out at night. My vision is terrible. Dark. My imagination just takes over in any tiny rustling noise. Feels like I'm about to get jumped. So that's the bridge I was telling you about. And the doggo. Hey. Hey. He's friendly but he's spooked. Hey. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. No one's to play. Yeah this bridge. Yeah it's so trippy seeing the water going below. Maybe my recollection of the water being see-through is uh questionable at best. But can't deny that this is a great falling spot. And maybe somewhere five miles forward is a great climb out spot. I've checked the maps and just like that in the past 30 minutes I did 10 kilometers because of all the downhill stuff. Prioritizing a camping spot then reaching a certain destination. But with the roads having minimal resistance I'm not getting that super tired pedaling. So yeah. Mines. There's a lot of them out there. That's another paranoia of mine. Try not to go too deep in the woods if I have to. Because I ain't feeling like getting blown up tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Yeah there are a bunch of good spots. Cool looking abandoned house. Actually that wouldn't be that bad. Okay. Interesting. Sand is nice. Rocks aren't. Maybe somewhere here would be doable. I do see some kind of a shack on its side. A little picnic area. Okay. I like this spot. This was not planned. I was not aware of this. I just turned in and here you go. I guess somebody already planned this for me. The area does not look like it's covered in any recent footprints. At least not from today. Spend the night. Spend the evening here. And get out in the morning. This looks beautiful and the perfect food you say. I hear that. What will it be? Creamy pasta with chicken you say. All right. All right. The classic. Well I got you. I use the sponge for cleaning the thing. But I wanted to play a little bartender thing. Cleaning the bar. I'm not a comedian. I really got accustomed to these solid fuels. Because unlike the gas I can actually bring this on a plane and then not struggle running around the town trying to find a gas can. Plus it's more lightweight. More compact. This is the reserve water I actually filled up back in the mountains. I did along the way went quite past a few. That's a bit. Along the way I went past quite a few water sources. So I think further. I mean the coldest river in the world apparently is right in front of me. Pretty sure that's safe enough to drink. I do have a water filter. So water is not an issue. Food's not an issue. Defecation might be. I always struggle with that. It's my crib tonight. But anyway. Come on. Yeah boy. One final. Perfect. Come with me. So today I did 35 kilometers. Which is a lot less than I expected. I was expecting at least 50 like I mentioned. But first day. I'm a bit rusty. I'm happy I ended up here. I'm still happy with the progress. Until Mostar it is about 60 kilometers. And that includes a lot of incline. So tomorrow I'll get an early head start. I hope I'll get enough rest. Like I said I did not sleep at all tonight. So I'm running on motivation only. Either way I think I'm going to have fun tomorrow. I have about 15 kilometers of this route left. The memory lane. And after that it is going to be completely brand new. I'm going to be climbing over one of these mountains in front of me. Of course a bit further towards Mostar. Patience. I've realized that I'm very impatient. And I just I'm going to try to take it slower in this cruise. I'm anticipating a cold night. But a calm night. The stars are out. The river is shimmering. It's quite calm. I saw a few cats running around. I don't think anybody's going to disturb me. I hope. It was a hectic day. But I finally feel like I settled in. And tomorrow is just going to be crazy. Hope I rest well. Good night.