Before describing today’s blast of a day…..last night was a bit of a blast too!!
We had opted for a big last meal after our time on Rab! Lovely restaurant….absolutely packed!! Lots of kids too! Almost exclusively German (do they have school holidays…or are there a heap of truants!?…good on them!).
A woman sat alone at the neighbouring table…a full bottle of wine…two glasses. But her friend clearly had not turned up….so I asked her if she wanted to make up for being stood up…and come and join us! Haha….so wrong! One glass was full of water…and she was delighted to be away for a week on her own…..eating and drinking and loving life!! Very refreshing in a way!
Moments later…a distant sound of thunder….the waiters looked concerned…..clearing tables….and within minutes…it was complete mayhem!! That famous wind arrived…..followed by torrential rain. Have a look at the sea…which only moments earlier had been the epitome of calm!
Tables inside were packed…so our Austrian (it turned out) friend invited us to join her!! Hahaha! Great lady! A cyclist as well (she takes her bike in the car…and just does day rides)…and comes to this spot on Rab every year (& to this restaurant every day!). Keeping life simple.
Her partner is cycling across northern Italy. And when they are not on holiday….they actually live 200km apart!! Classic! Liz and I have separate duvets! I often think separate bedrooms would be a good plan! Separate houses does not sound too bad either…hahaha! 200km might be a bit of a stretch though….Having said which we are half a world apart for a quarter of each year!! (…you know the saying though….about distance!)
Our new friend was a sommelier to boot…so knew plenty about NZ wine etc. With the rain continuing to pelt down…it turned into a long evening! Too many beers…and I was a bit dusty this morning! (We got saturated walking home as well….!)
Thankfully….it was not a hurried start…our ferry was leaving at 9.45 and was only half an hour away! Lopar to Valbiskar on the island of Krk.
That wind however had not died down…so it was a bit of a wobbly ride to the ferry…but not too bad!
That is Krk on the left…Rab on the right…with the mainland’s mountains rearing up behind.
Arriving at Valbiska…just around the corner from Krk town (there is a vowel missing there!)
Up and down across Krk island…
Windy…but not perilously so!
UNTIL… we approached the bridge connecting Krk to the mainland.
A man-in-a-van waved us down. “No bicycles….too windy”…!!!
And then..he drove off!! So… if we had been there five minutes later…we would have carried on!! So we did!! No options really! No ferry.
There was a cutting before the bridge itself! And WHAM!!! The wind hit us …literally stopped us in our tracks!! It was extraordinary!!
But…? No options!! Head down…& carry on!!
We were both in tenth gear..just trying to move through this gale…! On a relatively flat piece of road!! (..the guy was correct..this was NO place for a bicycle!)
Thankfully the traffic behind us was understanding!! But yes… it was scary!! Being blown around like a ping pong ball! On a bridge…!!
This is the bridge btw….not a picture I could take myself!!! The longest span concrete arched bridge when it was built. Opened in 1980 just months after Tito died…so “Tito Bridge”… but now just the Krk bridge!!
It was with some relief when we pulled in for coffee at the other end!!!!
Phew!! Hearts beating!! Not called mad bike rides for nothing!! Haha!!
A hour or so later…we set off again with a mountain of trepidation! Wind…& a huge climb!!
It was still just wild!
We were riding at just 8km an hour….on the flat….and it was a struggle!
At the first roundabout..a car stopped and said to Andrew…go left or right..not straight on….”too windy”!! (…really..?)
We went straight on!!
And for the next kilometre or so… we knew he had been right!! As windy a time on a bike I have ever experienced!! Mad!!!!! Literally like hitting brick walls of wind when the gusts came for us! Scary!!
But then….we turned left!!!
And all was (relatively) well!!!! Still hugely windy…but not frightening any more!
And so it stayed…as we battled the wind up a full 900 metre climb!!
It was surprising to find trains running at this elevation!!
And on to the top…& a chair!!! Haha!! Memories of Gavdos!!!
…before an uneventful cruise down to our accommodation here at Delnice…
…next door to here!!
Perfect!! Help yourself to beers…great kebab! (if a bit slow to arrive….as the wife just would not believe we could communicate with her…given her absence of English. Funny thing that…especially when “kebab” sounds the same to my ear…in English or Croatian!!)
We were entertained by a group of lads trying to beat the speed camera…and get the ‘too fast’ exclamation mark!
These two finally managed it to much celebration!
It had indeed been a blast of a day..but not an overly enjoyable one on the bike…not really!!
PS.. these wild winds here are (in)famous!! Bora…or Bura is the name! Both translate to…just wild!!! Martin and I hit one three years ago. We experienced a brief moment last night as well!
They are not going to stop any time soon!!!! (…note to self…!)
