Day 27 – 153km 1719m – Novalja to Knin

Rinse and repeat

Another monster day in the saddle. Further than yesterday with similar (but slightly less) climbing.

I had intended to go 100km today. On leaving Novalja there were a few tricky off-road sections. The recent torrential rain had cut deep gullies in the tracks, and where there were no gullies there was deep sand washed off the mountainside – neither can be cycled through.

But on the tarmac the going was good and I made decent headway along the centre of Pag island, then cutting inland.

A brief detour led me to a spectacular gorge view at one point.

I arrived at Obrovac, the town 5km short of my original destination and had the usual supermarket lunch. But it was only 1.30pm. If I went to the campsite now, it left quite a few hours to kill in what was by all accounts a one horse town with no shops.

A quick look at my options then. Much like yesterday, there was the chance to extend. I would have to cycle around 55km more to get to the next habitation. And there was a cheap hotel with breakfast included. No brainer. I got back on the pedals.

Heading out of Obrovac did require going up several painful switchbacks, but once at the top of the plateau it was a gently undulating ride over tarmac for 50km. The bonus was that the tarmac was a single strip and therefore mostly avoided by vehicles.

Amazingly, in all that time there was barely even a dwelling, let alone a shop. Overcome by thirst I stopped at one of the very few houses I saw. The door was open. I shouted a greeting. A man got up from his day bed and welcomed me. Correctly interpreting my universal sign language for thirst, he happily gave me water – from the fridge no less! – and saw me on my way with a handshake and a smile!

And so it was that I arrived at Knin, very tired. Tomorrow I promise to go a shorter distance.