Monday 9th May-Rabac to Gracisce

 I wake up very early and take an early morning stroll down to the seafront of Rabac, well ahead of the tourist hordes.

It is a beautiful town and as the advertising slogan says’ Croatia- how the Mediterrean used to be’. Long may it continue.

Breakfast at 8.00 with the news that Cath is suffering from ailments, which much to her disappointment, prevent her from cycling today. Alan will take her to Grascisce and we will meet her at the end of the day.

In view of the dangers inherent in cycling up from Rabac to Labin we take up Alan’s offer to drive us to Labin.

After stocking up with food for the day we leave Labin and travel through some very pleasant rural areas until we reach Gologorica Dol where we stop for our picnic lunch.

We then embark on the steepest and toughest climb we have encountered ( 10% ) so far, up to  Gologorica village. All three of us are exhausted by the time we reach the top, with Gail in particular somewhat distressed from the heat and the exertion of such a gruelling climb.

More very pleasant rural scenery before we reach Pazin and start a tortuous climb in the direction of Gracisce, our overnight destination.

If the gradient of the climb were not enough, the volume of traffic, including some very large semi-trailers, made this section truly scary. However, we all arrived at the top unscathed with Gail doing a sterling job in such trying circumstances.

Arrive at the historic town of Gracisce by 5.30 and after catching up on the washing we meet in the hotel restaurant for a very pleasant meal.

Event of the day- Gail toppling off her bike while almost stationary on the verge of the road into a ditch in a slow- motion swan dive of which Margot Fonteyn would have been proud, followed by my bag falling off my bike shortly thereafter. For some reason my comment that “ I had lost two bags within 200 metres did not go down very well with my better half”!

Bed after writing up blog till midnight.

Sunday 8th May 2011- Buzet to Rabac

Earlier start than usual with breakfast at 7.00 am although our original plan had been to leave the hotel at 6.30 and forgo breakfast. ( More of the repercussions of this decision later )

Leaving the town of Buzet we almost immediately started the long climb up out of the valley. Along the way we came across a fellow who had spent 5 years in Melbourne and who wanted to have a good long chat about all manner of subjects. His father soon appeared to join in on the conversation and we managed to converse through a mixture of Italian, pigeon English and one or two Croat words.

Gail was delighted to receive a Mother’s Day phone call from Craig about 6 kms into our VERY long climb up to a plateau. Gail explained after the call that she was exhausted from  eating a Twix bar and rushing to find her mobile when it suddenly rang.This came as a bit of a surprise to the rest of us as we always assumed that, in common with the others in our team, the fatigue was a result of the 150+ kms we had covered through some very tough terrain! Craig highly amused to be told that we had covered less than 5 kms in 2 hours!

Eventually, we pass very close to the border with Slovenia and then continue on to the aptly named town of Slum in the area of Cicarija. This region apparently has a harsh climate and is now a very sparsely populated area.

More climbing up to the plateau, soon reaching Gorna Nugla from where we had our first rather hazy sight of Istria’s highest mountain,Vojak ( 1396 metres )

At 18.1 kms we arrive at the lovely town of Roc,inhabited since prehistoric times.

In the Middle Ages Roc was the centre of Glagolitic writing. Glagolitic was the first Slavic alphabet and does not correspond to any European or Asian script.

Roc is a beautifully maintained town and on this day market stalls lined the streets, presenting a real carnival atmosphere.

Sadly, time constraints prevented us from spending more than a few minutes in Roc when we really needed a couple of hours to do justice to this fine town.

Shortly after leaving Roc we enter the Glagolitic Avenue, which covers an area of 7 kms and is dedicated to the scholars of Glagolitic writing.

At 25.7 kms we find ourselves in the town of Hum, reputedly the smallest town in the world . ( there are no doubt many attention-hungry towns which make a similar claim. )Nevertheless we enjoy our picnic lunch in this very picturesque,touristy town,perched high above the surrounding areas.

Boljun is reached at the 40 kms mark and this ancient fortified town was once the setting for the film ‘The Last Road to China’.

By now the weather has taken a turn for the worse and we are hit by a severe squall and the ever-darkening skies bring on the realisation that we run the risk of not completing the full 80 kms to Rabac before darkness ( the bikes have no lights ).

However, we press on to Vozilici and Krsan and decide to see if we can reach Nedescina, where we would make a decision on whether to call Alan, the tour operator, for an emergency pick-up  to take us on to Rabac, our destination for the night.

The general consensus is that we should make the call, as it is now clear that we will not make Rabac in time. Alan arrives to collect us from Krsan and we duly arrive in Rabac at shortly after 8.30 pm.

With benefit of hindsight, the pick-up call was the only option as apart from the lack of daylight and  the fatigue of the group  the road  down from Labin to Rabac proved to be very dangerous for cyclists.

Average meal at the hotel and then off to bed at the end of a very long day ( 64 kms covered ) with the news that Chelsea have lost to Man U 2-1, assuring the latter of their 19th Premier League title.

Moment of the day- When we arrive in Hum I come across a group of Germans having their photographs taken in front of the Hum sign. I make a comment to them in German and one of them remarks that I must be Swiss ( not the first time that my slightly Swedish accent when speaking German has confused people ). Sitting on my bike I tell them that I have in fact come from Australia. “ surely not all the way from Australia on that bike” one of them shouts out! I am still not sure if he was joking.

Saturday 7th May- Montovun to Buzet.

A group of singers who sounded like the Red Army choir kept us awake in the early hours of the morning and local workman took on the insomniacs’ shift by making a hell of a noise   long before any normal person would have been out and about.

Montovun one of the real jewels of Istria,with its truly magnificent position above the surrounding countryside and lovely old buildings.

Set off down to the valley below the town and soon starting climbing up testing slopes towards Karojba and Pazin. A real shock to the system at this early hour. Over the next few hours it was really a question of ups and downs as the tour operator had warned us.

Eventally descend to the valley floor and the site of the Jezero Butoniga reservoir.

Picnic near the dam wall in idyllic surroundings lulled into a false sense of security as there followed a truly brutal cycling/walking climb northwards towards the city of truffles, Buzet.

We arrived at the top of climb suffering variously from nausea,burning limbs,sore backs and all manner of other afflictions. Only marginally less gruelling  than the first day’s  Groznjan climb.

However, once at the top we were rewarded by a long descent, at speed, down to Buzet.

The Hotel Fontana adequate but hardly up to the standard of the Hotel Kastel at Montovun.

Quick pizza dinner then back to the hotel only to find that there is a Croatian party going on 2 floors below rooms,and an incredibly on at that.

I’m finishing this blog at 10.45 pm and the shindig is still going full bore and sounding more and more like something from a Butlins’ Holiday Camp.

So it’s goodnight from me and goodnight from them!

Friday 6th May Buje to Montovun.

Set off at about 8.30 after very good breakfast to cycle through the hills northwest Istria. We soon find out that grocery shops are thin on the ground and Ian and I are obliged to take a relatively short but testing climb up to Oprtalj, a very impressive hilltop town, where we stock up on provisions while the ladies wait for us along the main road. At Ian’s suggestion we buy ice-creams as a surprise and these are well received by the girls.

Have a picnic lunch under vine groves on a wooden bench in a quaint village.

Noticeable that there seems to be less wealth in the farming community in these parts with quite a lot of manual work carried.

Mid-afternoon we come across the ruins of a medieval castle at Opatija and stop at a konoba ( local restaurant ) where we are served with drinks and some delicious pancakes. The food takes far longer than expected to arrive but proves to be well worth the wait.

The owner tries to fiddle me out of some change and pays the price as I Ieave him a far smaller tip than I would normally ( as Gail will attest I am usually fairly generous in that regard )

Descend again to the Mrna River valley and make the long steep ascent to the beautiful hill-top town of Montovun.

Hotel Kastel was formally a Venetian palace and makes for a very welcoming site after a fairly taxing day of cycling.

Day ends with a superb meal in the restaurant.

Another Smithy moment of the day- During a discussion on the importance of wearing bright coloured clothes for safety reasons Smithy  points out that he doesn’t need to as he has such a colourful personality compared with the rest of us! When we explained that this would not be immediately clear to a driver heading his way at 100 kms per hour he said we had overlooked his natural ‘aura’ which was visible from some distance. Hopefully we won’t need to put this theory to the test.

Ian and Cathy have been put into a ‘special’ room in some sort of attic on the third floor and the only special thing about is that the shower doesn’t work properly, the promised top floor view was obscured by a huge tree and Ian had to use bandaids to cover up a blue light on their air conditioning unit which was flashing above their bed.

Turn in early to prepare for next day’s heavy bout of cycling.

Thursday 5th May

Breakfast at 8.00 and then off on the bikes, heading north through Istria.
Beautiful scenery so reminiscent of Tuscany but without the tourists. For the most part the cycling is not too taxing although Cath has some problems with her gears slipping. Ian offers to test it out for her and his response to my question as to how the test had gone was a Smithy classic " well, it's got better brakes than mine", presumably designed to reassure Cath that if the faulty gear change does cause her to have an accident the top-class brakes will stop it from being fatal.
We stop at the small town of Visnjan for coffee and mid-afternoon take a roadside break for a quick picnic before making the rather hair-raising descent to the Mirna river. ( the high number of fast-moving trucks etc only adds to the risk factor and it is not an experience enjoyed by Gail and Cath in particular).
After crossing the river we start the tortuous 6 km climb up to the beautiful hilltop town of Groznjan along a gravel road. Cath and Gail push their bikes to the top, a real achievement given the terrain, hot weather and the steep incline. Ian reaches the top through a mixture of cycling and walking and although I cycle most of the way the climb beats me as well near the summit and its Shanks Pony for me for a section.
Groznjan is a magnificent hilltop town, quite the equal of any in Italy, and the views across the valley of the River Mirna are breathtaking.
After a cold drink at a bar we continue on the town of Buje and the nearby hotel Parenzana.
Great dinner and drinks before we drag our decidedly weary limbs off to bed at 10.00pm.
Only a few hundred more kms to go!

Wednesday 4th May

After breakfast I go along with Ian ( as interpreter ) to a computer shop nearby as Ian had been having some problems connecting with the internet. Arrive there to find that the shop only opens at 3.30 pm for a few hours which seems to be taking the siesta culture a bit far.
Pack our backs and await the arrival of the mini-bus to take us to Klostar, the starting point for our 7 day bike tour of Croatia.
The bus eventually arrives at 11.30 after the driver, a Serb called Mira, had had some problems in locating
our hotel.
About a 2 hour drive which takes us out of Italy into Slovenia and then into Croatia. A minor delay at the Slovenia/Croatia border when the official notices that Cath and Ian did not have their passport stamped when entering Italy ( due to a lax official who had become embroiled in an argument with another traveller)
Gail and I both agreed that if they were detained they were on their own! This gesture of antipodean solidarity was much appreciated by the Smiths.
Arrive at our agriturismo in Klostar to be met by Milka Makosevic, the owner and a very pleasant lady.
Alan from the cycling tour operators calls in mid-afternoon to provide with a briefing, maps and introduce us to our bikes. I have decided to call mine Pippa as it is a Swedish word for f..... and that is probably how I will feel by the end of the trip!
After much testing we decide on our 4 bikes from a selection of 6. Predictably, Smithy gets some hi-tech
 beast with adjustable handlebars, an ejector seat and a vibrator which massages his rear end as he cycles along. The rest of us have the equivalent of 2 wheel penny farthings.
Milka serves us with her own local white wine which is truly terrible but the lady means well.
Dinner in the evening at Milka's restaurant is a veritable 4 course feast and her red wine is a marked improvement on the earlier white offering.
We waddle off to bed for a good night's sleep in preparation for the next day's baptism of fire on the bikes.

Tuesday 3rd May

Late breakfast and then back to the city centre, stopping at the main square again for coffee at cafe Audace.

Cath and Ian then retrace our steps by visiting the Castello di San Giusto.

Rendezvous again at 3.00 for more gelato and then a tram ride up to the hills above the city. Magnificent views of Trieste from the north-east.

Fine dinner at the Buffet da Siora Rosa and then back to hotel for respectably early night.