Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia or BiH) was a complete shocker for me. I loved everything I saw and had not heard much about it before except that it had several hash wars. No one ever said that it has impeccably clean rivers and lakes, gorgeous waterfalls, rugged diverse mountains, very cool and unique cities, wonderful people and some great bread and cheeses!

Nope, all of this was left for me to discover and Bosnia couldn’t disappoint.

…As you read you will notice that Bosnia left me with more stories than the amount of days in total that I spent in the country and I am only telling the best ones here as every day and every moment could easily be a story when you are bike touring!

The Ciro Trail Flat

Amazingly on my way to Mostar on the Ciro Bike Trail I got my second flat tire of my trip…this was no slow leaking one it had to be changed right then.

The Ciro Trail is a paved old railway line (with optional gravel sections) that is basically carless except on occasion near small villages which goes from Mostar and heads further South. You would think the Ciro Trail to be free from any punctures and in reality the paved part of the Ciro Trail is for the most. I’ve heard plenty of cyclist get some on the gravel rail trail part with tunnels though. Turns out this puncture was actually from the same time as the slow leak puncture I patched on Brač Island in Croatia. I remember clearly inspecting the front tire when I  was there and seeing a piece of glass but thought it would lodge itself free but instead it punctured it. Lesson learned, when you see a threat just take it out.

The flat occurred right when three cars and a train were passing me on the Ciro Trail. The usually non busy Ciro Trail was busy for that one moment in the hot afternoon sun. Changing a tire when it is hard to find shade and struggling like usual to get the tire back on after repairing was rough. Luckily though, next to the Ciro Trail besides the train tracks is also a very clean looking green hue colored river. Right where I stopped there was even a trail down. As soon as I finished with the tire you bet I went down and jumped in for a refresh!

The river was ice cold, which was perfect for a sweaty, overheated and tad bothered cyclist. The river was also with a swift current so I couldn’t jump too far in and I had to hold on to rocks below otherwise it would easily have ushered me away. That part was annoying so I got out rather quick but realized once out that it felt way to good to be true for my body that I jumped back in again to chill my body temp from my head to my toes. Maybe the toes had a bit much because they came out a bit too cold but otherwise the cold water flowing over and around my body was so perfect.

With my bike still chilling on the trail above I didn’t stay long but may have jumped in one more time before heading up to check on it and be on my way.

Ciro Trail Map and Info

Snake!

Cycling along the Ciro Rail Trail is nice but can be pretty mundane at points, all paved, occasional villages or ghost towns, once in a blue moon cars passing and some views. It is really easy to get into a rhythm.

Up ahead I see something in the path. What is it? As I get closer I realize it is a black snake. I roll to a stop a ways back from it and it stops too. It is smack in the middle of my path! I’ve read there are venomous snakes and I’m not sure if this one is or not.

There is no way I’m passing it. I watch it for what feels like an eternity before it finally makes forward progress. The thing moves so slow I decide it can’t be venomous so I decide to pass it. I go slow, filming it and waving it goodbye ha ha.

It does nothing as I pass it, just keeps slowly slithering down the middle of the path! Later I connect to wifi at camp and investigate what I might have seen. Indeed it was non venomous, a small Aesculapian snake, native in Europe.

Mountain Time

It was 7 pm and I’d just arrived to Sarajevo by train, a 2 hour ride from Mostar. There is a bus option too but the train had better pricing and scheduling. After wandering the city at night for a couple of hours I got to the hostel and saw I’d received a text response from a contact in town that a friend had given me. I’d texted the contact earlier and asked if they wanted to meet up and their response was to invite me on a hike the next day!

I’d never met them, I had no hiking boots, no food, no warm clothes, it was late at night and I was basically far from prepared to hike somewhere unknown with an unknown (to me) person. I planned to only visit Sarajevo for 24 hours just to see the capital then head back to Mostar where I’d left Limoncello (my bike) locked up outside at camp….which really worried me!

I had no clue if tennis shoes were ok for the terrain, I had no food prepped, only a rain jacket for warmth if I needed it, no filter for water…what had I got myself into???

I asked question after question to try to see if I would be able to do this hike. I’d need to leave at 4:30 in the morning to take a taxi to their house. Hell I didn’t even know how I was gonna do that, no Uber here and certainly at 4:30 am I wasn’t gonna find one on the street! I couldn’t commit so I said I’d text in the morning. All I knew was if I was joining them I needed to sleep now!

I tossed and turned all night thinking if I should go on so little notice, so early in am, was Limoncello safe locked up at a camp in Mostar (first time leaving Limoncello and it’s the most important object with me), this wasn’t the original plan and now I would have to stay another day because I still wanted to see the capital…but I couldn’t say no to hiking in Bosnia!

This opportunity was a one time or you missed it!

Intuition said I’d be fine and I knew deep down it would be worth it so I woke up at 4:30 am basically sleep walking from lack of any good rest from my thoughts being everywhere on top of the never ending noise in that hostel.

I dialed for a taxi (hostel host informed me how night before) and off I went to meet these new friends for a hike in Zelengora!

We weren´t doing a crazy hike, that there wasn’t much elevation gain and that we were headed to a lake. Most of the path was through grass and there was somewhat of a path to follow most of the way. We kept leap frogging a 2 person crew setting out markers for a trail race happening the following weekend until they finished for the day. Up and over treeless terrain filled with grasses and very white rocks with some taller mountains (all white from the bleached rocks conforming their peaks) in the distance.

At some time my contact saw a snake and at the same time a tiny spring of water which we all used to fill our bottles…this was the only water we ever found…and unfiltered.

At some point we started climbing up and then we realized we were lost. My new friends have been here many times and hike quite a bit so they knew more or less where we needed to head. There was no real trail to follow, signs were few and far between and hard to even spot so getting somewhat lost was probable.

Eventually we did reach the lake but from a different angle lol and everyone was ecstatic to see it as we were all hungry! I worried for a while about landmines I mean we were out in nature off trail and all but it doesn´t seem like many are found so far from towns and urban life which is good….but one never knows…these areas were never searched!

Getting lost made us take longer of course so once we ate and enjoyed all the abundant wild berries and mushrooms around the lake we started looping back on another trail. I was so excited about the wild blueberries since I had missed them back home in the Pacific Northwest to start this trip so finding them here was a real joy….I only had to travel half the world over to do so! HA HA The mushrooms my friends collected the whole hike only then at the lake became apparent to me and we are talking big mushrooms and huge bags full of them LOL!

The route we took back had different scenery, there was a section of pine trees that was absolutely lovely and then we dropped into a ravine where some wild mountain goats lept across the field and up the cliffside right as the sun was setting. A truly magical moment and the first time my friends had seen a herd of the goats! A splash of orange blurred the sky and broke through the clouds which brightened up the field we were walking through and the sides of the white rocky mountains along the ravine. Shear beauty surrounded us making it easy to forget that it was actually getting late, we were still far away, low on water and legs were tired. But for those few minutes we enjoyed before the sun disappeared below the horizon.

The last of the trail was in the dark but we hit the road portion before the darkest moment so that was helpful…plus the one thing I did bring randomly was a headlamp.

The day ended 30km and 13 hours later filled with a wonderful time romping through the mountains with my new awesome friends….now I just had to figure out where to stay for the night…eek!

Feet tired…hell yes!
Got lost, yup.
Ran out of water, of course.
Made it out before sunset, nope.
Found a spot to sleep for the night, you betcha!

Was it worth it? SO WORTH IT!

….and Limoncello was still there when I eventually returned days later!

Bobsled Track

Did you know that Sarajevo held the 1984 Winter Olympics?

I for some reason didn’t recall this fact but I should have known given it took place while I was born!

Anywho, I attended the Vancouver (Canada) Winter Olympic in 2010 and got tickets to several events. Some were out of curiosity because I’d never seen the sport ever while others were ones I was dying to see. One of the events I was dying to see was the bobsled.

Sarajevo before the Olympics were held there basically had no athletes in winter sports so many had to learn these new sports in order to compete (72 competed) and many of the facilities needed to be built. Yugoslavia (at the time most current Slavic countries were all one nation) won it’s first winter games medal (silver in giant slalom by Jure Franko) at the 1984 Olympics and 49 nations were present with 1,272 athletes.

Today, only a few facilities remain in use while several others exist but are in disrepair…one of those is the bobsled track…

I was very excited to learn that the ruined bobsled track had street art and graffiti painted on it and that you can now walk the track!!!

The track is just above the city (Trebević) and there are two ways to get there. You can hike up or take the gondola. I took the gondola but only because I was short on time. I totally would have loved a hike up!

When I got there and walked over to the bobsled track a surge of energy filled me. I couldn’t believe I was about to walk a bobsled track. The coolest shit ever! The street art was mostly graffiti but I didn’t care, everything sparked such excitement in me to even be doing this.

I was having a blast pretending I was in a bobsled and taking the curves, I even ran and jumped, a little parkour like, as if I went up on to it like a bobsled would. I learned quite quick that I shouldn’t do that….the ramp for the bobsled was  steep…steep enough to nearly make me fall down. One and done with that plan but still very cool. It was plenty for me to just move the camera while shooting a video and pretend I was in the sled maneuvering it on the track before me.

I wasn’t sure why they said the track was in disrepair, all I was seeing looked perfect to me. I took the whole track down to the finish and I was glad I did. The finish line was the best. It had a sign above it indicating where we were.

On the way back up I walked part of the track but also at times took the road that runs along it. It took me a bit to notice but finally I understood why this track was in disrepair. Every now and then on the track you would come across rectangular holes in it…only visible from the back of the track. The holes were placed there by the Serbs during the war so they could look out and shoot at any possible resistance from Bosnians.

Since the area of Trebević was the staging area for the Serbs for attacks on Sarajevo they placed these on the bobsled track for defense but since it was so well armed no Bosnian ever tried to attack this area. Therefore, there was no need to destroy a perfectly usable bobsled track! This made me mad as it was a unique sport thing in the Balkans that so many could have used in addition to the many other Olympic event buildings that were also destroyed during that war! This obviously on top of the sadness from the crazy amounts of lives lost (+100,000) which is very evident in Sarajevo with the incredible number of cemeteries you see everywhere plus the repetitive dates on the tombs (1992-1995).

About Bosnian War

…I paid 20 BAM (10€) for round trip because I was lacking time but otherwise you know I would have hiked it! (tickets are now 30 BAM for RT as of Dec 2023)

Wild Camping #1 !!!

Bosnia still has land mines from the Bosnian War. You will see signs for them in certain areas, or markings on empty buildings in villages warning if one is there and an app even exists telling you where they are believed to be (BH Mine Suspected Areas App).

Knowing this I knew I wouldn’t wild camp in Bosnia, until I did!

I’d not found a campground on the map near where I intended to stop but I had read about a recommendation for wild camping where I was headed. Having yet to try it on the trip I said ok why not, at least I know it is a safe spot.

Who would have thought I would ever wild camp in Bosnia?!?!

Since I would be wild camping and wouldn´t have facilities I stopped in a small village a short ways away from the spot to grab a drink, fill water bottles and use the bathroom. It was an unexpectedly great stop as I found 3 others who were also bikepacking in Bosnia there. They stopped to fix multiple flat tires from the spikey plants they encountered on a crazy gravel trail they had taken. Any time you encounter cyclists on tour it is amazing but these 3 also spoke Spanish and were from Colombia and Chile so we had even more in common to chat about! It is super rare to find Latin´s touring but these 3 actually live in Germany…where bike touring is more common. The camping spot was only a couple of miles away so I headed over just before it got too dark. As usual, after a long day I was happy to arrive and finish.

As I set up my spot I realized a thunderstorm was rolling my way. I´d not expected this and since I was kind of setting up in an open field I tried to move the tent last minute a bit closer to the trees. Problem was that elsewhere there were tons of spikey plants on the ground. Since I´d already cleared an area I gave in and I returned to the original spot…a bit farther from the trees. I did not need to pop my mattress in the middle of the night! Finally inside I worried about my bike laying next to the tent out in the open and bright yellow…so I got up and stashed it among the trees. I locked it to a tree and covered parts of it in plastic to protect some of it from the storm.

In the tent I braced for the storm. I was stressed trying to remind myself what the hell I should do in a tent in a lightning storm. The storm was nerve racking, it was literally right above me! I laid as flat and compact as possible in the middle on my air mattress and hoped nothing would happen while it passed. What to do if camping in a thunderstorm?

Nerves didn´t stop with the storm though…after it passed I started to hear noises of movement outside. Again I stayed still, trying to decipher what could possibly be making all the noise. It was all okay until I heard glass bottles break…then I was freaking out! I thought ¨oh no, there is a drunk out on the road above! I hope he doesn´t spot the tent in the dark….¨ quickly followed by ¨oh shit, if it is a drunk, I have no defense against them!!!¨

Truthfully quit scared I again stayed as still as possible so I could maybe hear them approach which might give me some time to react. I heard plenty of noise for a while until it eventually also faded away…thank god!

Once the world outside felt safe I went out, scoped out the scene and grabbed the cable lock off my bike! I had no weapon on me so I thought the cable lock might act as a whip or something in case I actually needed protection! It was literally the only thing I had that might be helpful!

Going out after all the chaos was good for me since I saw no one around, felt a bit more protected with my ¨whip¨ ha and was now assured the bike was still there. Nothing else happened overnight and even with all that had happened I found myself fast asleep.

I woke up surprisingly well rested, everything was there in the am and nothing got punctured so somehow I survived my first wild camp of the trip….Response: unenthusiastic ¨Yay¨.

In the daylight, I realized that there was this trail below the road that had bottles everywhere…and it was an animal trail! All that noise that had me freak out worried was from wild boars!!!!! Of course! Duh!

As you might imagine after this wild camping experience I was just not a fan of it. Most do this every night on tour but for me there are too many unknowns…as a lone female on bike…I avoided it unless I had zero other options. On the bike tour I wild camped only one other time in Montenegro. Let it be known I am perfectly fine solo camping in the forest but near cities forget about it! And maybe I just need to find a better spot or do it more to get used to it. Also, it is not always the storms, people and wild animals that will worry you when camping…it can even be a beetle crawling on the tent, even this is so loud it causes worry!

Big Bad Illegal Day

Heading out of Una National Park I planned to enter Croatia once again (I´d do this several times cycling South along Bosnia and Croatia). My navigation app sent me along the river and fairly quickly I´d be crossing into Croatia once again. The river trail was all gravel and I saw 1 couple cycling the opposite direction there but otherwise no one was around. It was nice along the river but the gravel wasn´t the best but I only had to ride 6.5 miles (10km) before I´d reach the border.

The crossing came up and I rolled across the river over a small bridge only to find signs advising not to cross and cameras. I was technically in Croatia where I wanted to head but the Komoot navigation app had officially sent me to an illegal border crossing! Now had I been from Europe maybe this crossing would have been okay to do but I am a U.S. Citizen so there was no way I was getting away with crossing here. I was sweaty and hot from the ride, soo mad at the app, very frustrated I had to figure out another way to cross and also laughing at myself for not knowing the official crossings and putting myself in this position. I flipped off the cameras as I crossed the bridge in frustration and parked my bike in the shade. To cool off from everything I went to jump in the river. I got half naked and entered up to my knees before realizing how ridiculously cold the water was so instead I only ended up splashing the sweat and dirt off.

Once I calmed down from the hopeless news of the illegal border crossing before me I took a look at the app yet again to see my options.

I could go back along the river but I was not that interested in returning an hour backwards on the same rough gravel.

I found this other option that would drop me halfway up a long mountain pass climb which sounded fine so I decided to do that instead!

The road from the illegal border crossing was also gravel and quite steep so I tried to bike what I could but ultimately there was a lot of hike-a-bike going on, a term used in off road cycling meaning you legit push your heavy ass bike because it is too steep or has very loose gravel or there is legit no path and you carry it. I kept trying to cycle but dealt with hike-a-bike for a good kilometer or so before I was able to ride again. Mind you 1 km is not far but when you are pushing a heavy bike up a loose gravel hill and hard core sweating because of the heat paired with effort, plus it falls over sometimes, it is a very long and frustrating 1K of life!

You might say I got my frustration and anger out about my navigation app completely failing me right on that hill!

Once hike-a-bike was done gravel roads were better but they lasted forever before I reached a tarmac road. Barely anyone was on this route or even lived out here. I saw only 4 cars before I reached that middle of the mountain pass location.

When I finally did reach the tarmac road it was a blissful experience. It was without cars and downhill so I caught the breeze, rode in the middle and let go of the handle bars to stretch out my arms out and exult all the freedom and happiness I felt!

Upon reaching the middle of the mountain pass road it dawned on me that I needed to actually head down the hill instead of up…

Since my original plan was to cross into Croatia today and that was supposed to happen only after a few miles I had been preparing my exit by spending all the local currency I had left. The new route took way longer than I thought it would meaning I was now going to be staying another night in Bosnia and that in order to do so I would need more food because things might be closed up ahead or not have any food options. The only place nearby that satisfied the food and money problem was down the hill in Drvar….Not quite excited about this news I decided to stash my bags because less weight coming up just sounded like a quicker way to go about it.

The ride into town was amazing and in town I was successful in getting cash and food, plus when I rode back up the hill it was a bit faster and I found my bags were still there. From there once I crested the pass I was greeted with a desolate road heading into sunset. At least after the long hard day this last bit of cycling was amazing!

Such a crazy day ….and it didn´t even end there….

Bag Hoppin´

As I made my way along the re route after discovering the illegal crossing I did miles of cycling on gravel, most of it smooth-ish but some other chunks were rough gravel roads.

Turns out one of my pannier bags didn´t like the gravel and hopped off. I realized the change in balance/weight a bit late and had to walk back a ways to grab it. It was easy enough to put back on the rack thankfully and I thought nothing of it until it happened again. By the third time I was well aware when it fell off and didn´t have to go chasing it down the road HA.

This time I was frustrated that it was hopping off so I inspected it more thoroughly but saw nothing wrong. Finally after it fell again I could now clearly see a problem with one of the hooks…the latch keeping it securely on the rack had broken off!

The new pannier bag I bought for the trip just 2 months ago was broken!!! The pannier bag I had only used for a two weeks was broken!!! Not my old 15 year old one, it was sturdy as could be (and even grabbed cyclists attention now and then) but this new one had broken 1 of the 2 clips that hold it onto the top of the rack!

Luckily I had straps to fix it. I carried a packing strap and zip ties with me for emergencies and now I was going to make use of them. The pannier is Ortlieb brand which thankfully has a great warranty and service…it used to be unlimited warranty but now they offer 5 years. It is a German company so I figured I could just get the new clip sent to me.

In fact, I could get them to send it (once I got transferred from the American distributor to the German one and so on an so forth) but since I was moving constantly I was changing distributor areas and dates were never certain that in the end I never got the part. Instead I managed the rest of my trip from the top of Bosnia all the way to Crete in Greece and then some more in Italy and Spain at a later date of the trip with just the packing strap.

Now there would be times, on gravel usually, where it would still hop off, as it did several more times that first day. But at least now, with the strap it wouldn´t fall off the bike completely anymore, lying on the ground a distance away….well, only those odd times I lazily forgot the strap ha ha. With the strap the pannier would just slip off the rack which either made maneuvering the bike unstable and I´d notice or after any gravel bits I would pull over and double check that the clip was still attached to the rack not below the bar.

Therefore, I avoided gravel as much as I could for the rest of the trip! I was generally okay avoiding gravel but at times gravel allowed you to also avoid traffic and cars so this new plan sucked when roads were busy. Also, I learned that using the navigation app on road cycling instead of bike touring helped avoid gravel most days…it still occasionally would route me there and I would basically see it and be like ¨Nope! Not Today!¨

….Months later I did replace the broken pannier bag but only once I returned home and using the store warranty instead.

Knocking On The Door

One thing led to the next. Illegal border crossing, broken bag along the way and a longer mainly gravel path led to night approaching with nowhere to stay.

Top this all off with seeing signs all day for landmines including now as darkness was falling. The option to just pop the tent up and wild camp was not an option here at all. There was also no way I´d make the next town before dark so I decided to test out a different method and knock on someone´s door.

I kept cycling, hoping I´d see someone outside their home. It took a while to even see any homes as here there was a lot of farmland. Finally I saw a group of homes and people out and about in the twilight. I pulled over and went toward a home where I saw a couple outside.

Now I didn´t get to actually knock on the door as I caught them before they went back inside and they heard me approach. I said hello in Bosnian ¨Zdravo¨ (pronounced without the ¨Z¨ here or silently) and quickly realized they didn´t speak English so out came Google Translator App to ask if I could stay the night and camp in their yard.

The couple was a bit confused and uncertain at the request, this was the first time they probably had such a request, but eventually after they discussed they understood and said yes! I even kept telling them it was okay if they could not.

In the end they actually offered me a spare room but I insisted on putting up the tent. They had never seen a tent so they were very curious how it all worked and they were also very worried I might get cold so they offered blankets. I told them to leave the blankets on the guest bed just in case and then I invited them to check it out once the sleeping arrangement was ready.

They were so nice they even offered me food lol but again I declined since I went so out of my way to get any lol. I joined them in the kitchen/living room/dining room to eat my dinner and we chatted non stop via the translator app. I was ravished and also ate non stop. In the end, they noticed and added their bread and cheese to what I had…meager salami, crackers and cheese lol. Their cheese was beyond amazing and not just because I was hungry. It was homemade fresh from their goat´s milk that morning! It was soft, creamy, clumpy in form but not in taste, pure without an overbearing flavor and you could easily taste how fresh it was as it melted in your mouth over everything. So ecstatic about the taste I tried it with everything…. their homemade soda bread, my crackers, salami and even the other cheese lol. Between then and breakfast (no way I was refusing a meal now!) I literally ate half the pan (yes, they made a huge cast iron pan full of cheese!) I found this cheese only once more on my Balkan trip and was just as delighted as the first time.

We stayed up late chatting via translator app learning about each other. For instance the older, retired hubby used to be a police officer and then he was a bus driver to Zadar (a place he said I should visit) and they have 3 kids. One of which they called while I was there to explain the excitement the evening brought. I called my mom too while I was there at the table…he he.

We really had a great time together but maybe stayed up too late…as I found out they did not tend the farm at 6 am like they normally do…ha ha…ooops! I slept in the tent and in the end really wished I had taken their spare room offering as their dog and all other farm dogs barked all flipping night long! (as is typical in these parts) In the am it was a nice breakfast enjoyed with them followed by packing up and saying goodbye. To keep the prior day´s trend alive, as I walked out of the gated yard they pointed to my tire which somehow was now flat…wtf…universe leave me alone!

I pumped it up and was finally off to Croatia! What a flippin´ adventure the last 24 hours!

This type of camping, although unanticipated was such a great experience and definitely one of the top experiences of the entire bike tour!

Una National Park

Day two in Bosnia was filled with exploring the Una River and it´s National Park. Did you know that Bosnia and Herzegovina is known as one of the best places in the world for white water rafting?

I did not!

When you hear things like this it is time for an activity….yes…white water rafting it was! Well I wanted to try out river kayaking actually…because the season for white water rafting is actually earlier in the year…not September. September means classe 2 and 3 rapids which can still be fun but I prefer some good class 5 adventurous ones….Class 2 and 3 though sounded perfect for a first attempt at river kayaking and it would have been but again end of season and only one company was going and they left from Bihac not just South of there where I was camping….so I signed up for rafting instead which left from the campsite!

The Una River is clear and green and wonderful so the slower rapids in September were mainly leisurely. I joined a family of 3 who lived and worked in Sarajevo but were originally from Germany. We had a great time riding the rapids together and once we got the bigger ones done we jumped in. It was absolutely refreshing! I´m not one to jump in so quickly but I was hot after the effort and had zero trouble letting loose and jumping in multiple times!

Once done rafting I was back at camp and packing to cycle farther into the park. The main waterfall Štrbački Buk was on the way and if I didn´t stop today I would miss it. The main road to the waterfall was far away and then back tracked but my app showed a more direct route….of course over a mountain…and of course it was a gravel, steep, rough road…I tried cycling it and made it up maybe half a mile when I decided to stash the bags. I continued cycling without the bags but again didn´t last too long…another half mile to mile up I ditched the bike too…without locking it…which I hardly ever do but there wasn´t much around, I just had to make sure it was not going to get run over should some vehicle come rolling by!

From there I hiked and ran the rest of the trail up and over the mountain and down into the area of the waterfall. I saw 1 large group of Italians hiking and warned them about my bike but otherwise most arrived by car the longer but easier way…ha.

The waterfall was beyond worth the effort. Not a very high waterfall, 24 meters, but a beautiful, clean and precious one! Arrival time was around sunset so the hues in the area were wonderful at low light. With the actual waterfall in the shade the colors popped perfectly so that you could easily see the blueish color of the river contrasting with the white water gushing over the edge of some very lush green rock formations in scattered segments that poured nicely over the wide river. There were various falls and some nice viewing platforms you could wander around on that took you to each segment of the falls. It is jaw dropping that it only costs 2€ for the entrance (if they even check), it is a UNESCO site and draws a small amount of visitors especially after visiting nearby Plitvice National Park in Croatia at 40€!

The river rafting guide informed me that the water is so fresh here you can drink it directly from the river so I did plenty of that. It tasted wonderful and refreshed me so much! He also mentioned that the class 4 and 5 rapids earlier in the season start right after these falls….amazing location…I would love to run these rapids one day!

I didn´t stay very long as sunset was approaching and I still had to hike/run back over the mountain and bike to the campsite! EEK! I grabbed fresh squeezed juice that they were selling at the entrance and started my way back up hill. Interspersed running with some hiking especially near the top where sunset was putting on a show I only got to admire for small moments as I headed back to Limoncello and my bags.

Having cycled up a bit farther I was excited to get to the bike and be able to cycle down from there instead of continuing to run downhill on the rough road. Just as I was arriving to the bike I saw a vehicle pass by and it was a huge dump truck so I was so glad my bike had just enough space not to get smashed.

Any who off I went cruising along the lovely winding and mainly flat roads through tiny towns until I reached camp. I did have to turn my lights on and put a jacket on but I made it in time to set up the tent before I needed a headlamp so I was proud! Plus the campsite was great…right along the river, a castle on the hillside and best of all dinner here was the best I had the whole trip…and I only ordered a vegi plate!

Another long adventurous day in Bosnia done and dusted!

Una National Park

Ciro Friends

As I was cycling along the Ciro Trail, the morning after wild camping, I saw 2 cyclists who I said ¨Hi¨ to but passed them. They were heading the same direction as me but going slower.

When I reached the cute village of Ravno, which turned it´s old train depot into a hotel and restaurant, I took a break. Again we were in the middle of nowhere so I stopped and explored, refilled water, ate a snack and used the bathroom. When I was about to leave the other 2 cyclists showed up and sit down to eat so I started to chat with them and eventually I too took a seat. They were coming from Hungary (but were originally from the U.K.) and hoping to make it to Albania or as far as they could during the time they had available to cycle.

I was happy to meet them and stayed longer than I though but we parted ways as they were finishing their meal. On route I passed 1 more cyclist again going the same way this time I slowed down and chatted a bit. He was French, had stayed in Ravno overnight in an airbnb, rode the gravel portion of the Ciro Trail and was looking for a foot pump because he had gotten a flat from the spikey plants and wasn´t rolling on full air (hand pumps only get you so far). I mentioned the other 2 cyclists behind me so we waited for them. Turns out they did carry a foot pump so I left them together to add air while I continued ahead.

Somewhere farther up they caught up to me and we cycled the rest of the day together. We went through this nearly abandoned village (called Hum) that had been bombed. Every house had a O or an X on it. The X meant it either had a landmine inside or it had not been cleared of them. The O meant it was safe to enter, aka no mines found. There were also a few cats here that were malnourished and a couple of what looked like vacation homes people had modernized and added water and electrical to during the last few years but we actually only saw one person in town. By the time we reached Hum we all realized how exciting and nice it had been to encounter other cyclists heading the same direction, South, that we nearly all asked if we could grab a photo together at the same time…so here we are 4 cyclists heading South…a rarity!

The French guy pulled out his chair once we cleared the village and he was going to stay a bit longer and eat. He was off to Dubrovnic and the trail would veer off that direction soon. The couple and myself were headed basically to the same spot. I would stay near the trail that night and cross for the last time back into Croatia the next morning but the day was young and I had extra time to do something so I had decided to cycle to the city where they were headed, Trebinje, just a few kms away from my guesthouse.

In Trebinje we grabbed an early dinner together and oddly enough another couple on a cycling tour spotted us and chatted. So much social activity in one day was amazing. It is so hard to find anyone going the same route South so generally you are on your own. Both of these couples I ran into once more in Montenegro which was lovely and random!

Trebinje was way different than what I had seen in the rest of Bosnia. Here everything was in Cyrillic more so than the rest. Trebinje definitely has more of an Eastern Orthodox and Ottoman vibe. The whole ride today felt more like I´d entered the Herzegovina side of the country it was kind of trippy. The main difference between the Bosnia and Herzegovina side seems to be religion and climate. Herzegovina in the South or Southwest on the map of the country is less mountainous and a bit warmer or Mediterranean and there are very few Muslims there.

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