28 May 2022
A weird start to the day as it was time farewell to Martin!
But he helped Iain get the bike set up…and passing on the system of packing the bike which has been finely honed!
With Podgorica no longer needed on the itinerary…we decided to give it a miss…and spend one more day on the Montenegro coast…so a shorter day was planned (& a 1,500 climb avoided!)…so it was a relaxed start !
Cheers Martin, and thank you!
So we were off…..new wing man on board!
12kms in we arrived at Kotor…and it would have been churlish not to stop and have a look into the old town…so after 12kms…..we had our first coffee stop of the day! (.. a very gentle start for the new boy!!).
Upon leaving Kotor…we hit our first hated tunnel of the day. 1.5km long too. But quite well lit…and not overly narrow.
The road was quite busy until we were past Budva…where the main road heads off up the hill towards Podgorica)…and became quieter as we progressed….dipping down to the shore wherever possible and wriggling past restaurants etc.
Sveti Stefan could be stunning…but somehow is not…the whole thing a 5 star resort…but all closed up since 2020. Another place with that Montenegran mafia feel to it……
Shortly after…the hills got a big bigger…
and as we were riding through a gallery (semi-tunnel)……it suddenly turned into a proper tunnel…completely unlit. I saw the end of the tunnel…so just went for it..and as I heard a truck nearing…I just moved to the middle of the lane (pretending to be a car to avoid them trying to squeeze past!!)…the tactic worked! And I pulled off the road immediately afterwards!
No Iain behind me!
Shortly afterwards he arrived…a bit shaken….for the unlit tunnel had surprised him as much as me…the difference being that he had forgotten that he had his dark glasses on!! So he could see nothing at all….and ran into the side barrier!! Scraped knuckles…but no major damage done!! We’ve done well to avoid most tunnels…but some are unavoidable…not pleasant!! But a lesson learnt…ref dark glasses & tunnels!!
After a fairly relaxed 60kms we pulled over for lunch at lovely wee restaurant…and looked online for accommodation…trying to find a beach not surrounded by the sprawl seen around most beaches on this stretch of coast. And the best option…..was just 500 metres away!! Haha! So our afternoon ride consisted of a gentle 500m freewheel to our hotel!
A gentle start indeed!!
In Perast…at the new “beach”……you can hire a sunbed for 20 Euros for the day!! Here we got a sunbed…AND an airconned room…for much the same price!! (& cable TV ready for the European cup final tonight!!)…great!
This is the first relatively deserted beach we have seen! Very nice…and great swimming! A lovely first day!!
New country tomorrow!!
Yeah fuck those tunnels innit