Saturday 20 June: ZADAR to home

An early alarm gives us time to carry the bike boxes out of the old town and to grab a takeout coffee and croissant from our favourite bakery. The taxi driver is punctual at 7.30 and we have an easy drive to Split Airport. Chaos awaits us - we must remember to try and avoid Saturday transfers. We are escorted through the crowds with our enormous boxes and the check in is relatively easy. Then follows a long snaking queue to get through security. Sadly it seems these airports have taken on more than they can deal with and we wonder how they will cope in July and August. We take off on schedule and have an uncomfortable attempt at a nap on the way. Bikes and bags all arrive safely too and we are home in Topsham by 2pm. To cherish many happy memories of an excellent holiday.

Friday 19 June: PAG to ZADAR

A humble breakfast up in the Gods and we hit the road at 9.00am. No Bura wind today and the sea is tranquil. A lovely flat road takes us along the southern part of Pag to the bridge over to the mainland. We pass several kiosks selling homemade Paski Sir cheese and we buy some for our lunch from an old lady who doesn't speak a word of English. Barren rocks and scrubland surround us and there are reflections today. We make good progress and even have time to stop for a coffee and coke at a cafe where they are spit roasting a whole lamb. We never seem to come across one at meal times though. We arrive "home" in Zadar after 35 miles at 1pm and are greeted by Ana, the girl who looked after the apartment when we stayed here last September. We have our picnic in our "room with a view" before cycling off to the local town beach for a read and a swim. Clouds start to gather so we wander around the streets of Zadar again, once more admiring the polished marbelled streets and fine architecture. It is Ethno day and the streets are filled with people in local costume singing folk songs and parading. Time to pack the bikes away in boxes as we near the end of our trip. We have booked our final meal at our favourite fish restaurant Fôsa.

Thursday 18 June: Pag

Ferocious wind (bora) in the night and it's still blowing hard in the morning- ironically from what seems to be the North now, which would have suited us just fine yesterday on the road! Earlyish breakfast, then into town for provisions, including the "world's best cheese" according to a bill board we saw yesterday - "Paski Sir" - about £8 for a wedge for two. It's sheep's cheese, and we've actually seen the sheep grazing on the scrubby rocky landscape on our way down form the tip of Pag. The sheep eat the wild thyme and lavender and that is meant to enhance the flavour. It's coated in olive oil for good measure. We eat this on a secluded cove which we have all to ourselves, which allows for some FKK style sunbathing and swimming, just up and along a dirt track and then a precipitous descent. We are creatures of habit and have our cheapest large beer - 15 Kn each - so about £1.50 near the reconstructed old bridge in the harbour and then it's back to our very high balcony via 2 lifts for nibbles....

Wednesday 17 June: RAB to PAG

Today we battle with the Bura - the very strong wind that blows in this area resulting in the arid and barren areas of rock on Pag. The wind means that we cannot breakfast in the garden of the hotel and we are anxious that the small ferry won't go today. However at 12 we load the bikes on and head off, just the two of us like a private taxi service. Unfortunately it is very rough with massive waves and I am worried that I will be sea sick but I keep my eyes shut and hope! We arrive unscathed and the weather seems to be brighter albeit breezy. Then follows the best cycle of the trip so far - about 10 miles along the northern tip of Pag, along a quiet road with beautiful scenery on either side. Limestone walls fencing in the sheep (Pag is famous for its sheep cheese) although they look a scrawny bunch. Olive trees, sweet broom, jasmine, mallow and some sort of thistle / field eringo (?) line the road. We arrive in Novalja, the party town and find a quiet spot on the beach for a late lunch and a quick dip. The road now becomes busier and the wind is even stronger. We are constantly battling against a head wind and often buffeted by cross winds and we get blown into the sides on several occasions. I am producing a lot of adrenaline today and am pretty terrified. The views remain spectacular with amazing scenery of lunar like rock formations, scrubland, vegetatation and turquoise seas. We eventually descent into Pag town, the wind so strong now that we have to crawl along at snails pace for fear of being blown over. Our hotel is perched on a cliff and we are on the top floor! Good views if we could stand the wind! We hope it will be more peaceful tomorrow.

Tuesday 16 June: RAB to LOPAR and back

Earlyish start as it's such a beautiful day, breakfast on the terrace before anyone else. We ask the waiter, who comes form Korcula, about the ferry to Lun on the tip of Rab which is shown on the maps but there's no schedule for anywhere that we can see. He isn't sure either. On our way to LOPAR beach, about 10 miles away, we ask at numerous tourist offices and get a broadly favourable view that this might be possible, though with bikes?...LOPAR beach is a wide sandy expanse and very family orientated so we head off to the lunar/martian landscape beyond and spread out on the weathered sandstone and swim in beautifully clear water with the cloud-capped mainland rising up steeply in the distance. The island of Goli Otok nearby looking barren and shining white in the sun light. Eventually we make our way back to Rab up and down the hills on smooth new tarmac and reward ourselves with a large Karlovascko in the harbour. The mystery of the boat to Lun is then solved when we see it arrive and the owner confirms it leaves tomorrow at 12 and he'll take our bikes. 

Monday 15 June: RAB

Happy Birthday Izzie! We breakfast in the rather swish dining room of our hotel and I'm pleased to find muesli, yoghurt and some fresh fruit. The weather is rather cloudy so we take the opportunity to explore further the old town of Rab. As we pass the bell tower of the Cathedral we notice a sign saying "sightseeing at your own risk". Intrigued, we pay 15 kunar each for the pleasure of an extremely vertiginous ascent up the tower which involves several precipitous ladders. We even have to crawl through a small opening to get to the top. By this time I am pretty sweaty but the views are spectacular and the weather seems to be clearing. After some more exploring and photo opportunities (and shopping - Simon buys some swimming trunks) we decide to cycle to the peninsula recommended by our waiter last night. Sadly the clouds are gathering again and we are soon sheltering under a tree in a downpour. We wait for it to clear but it looks pretty set in so we decide to head for home. We enjoy a pleasant picnic on the balcony of our hotel room and the weather improves again. We walk over to the town beach and find a sheltered spot for some reading and swimming.

Sunday 14 June: Krk to Rab

After breakfast amongst the Roman ruins of Volsonis nightclub opposite where we are staying the nice lady from our hotel appears and shows us round the remains of what was once Volsonis's house ( he was a Roman soldier). There are great lumps of Roman walls just lying around and all now incorporated into the night club - even a sacrificial altar. After the mini tour we head off ever upwards for 4 miles eventually getting to Vrh, hot and very sweaty for the lovely long swoop down to Valbriska ferry port. An uneventful crossing to Rab Island. It's incredibly hot and humid and feels like there will be a storm later (well hopefully later and not whilst we're on our bikes). We are staying in a very posh hotel - the Arbiana, and they receptionists are most amused that we have arrived on bikes! We walk around Rab old town, with its beutiful churches before a storm arrives, which we observe from the shelter of one (!) of our balconies. Another cheap meal out in the evening for £26 for both of us including wine!

Saturday 13 June: KRK

Another day of rest. We breakfast within the ancient walls - best coffee yet - before getting supplies from the fruit market. We are making the most of the plentiful supplies of local cherries : delicious and incredibly cheap. We can't pronounce it in Croatian though. We decide that our white bottoms will stand out too obviously in the FKK so you will be relieved to learn, dear readers, that we keep our pants on and find a magnificent spot on one of the terraced concrete beaches just out of the town. Being early mean we " bagsie" the best spot and even treat ourselves to sunbeds. This is going to be a long session. We are both so enjoying a book called All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and manage to spend an indulgent 7 or 8 hours engrossed in our reading with the odd swim, and some cherries of course. The usual beer on the way home to revive ourselves after such a strenuous day. We  admire an ancient mosaic from a Roman bath circa the first century AD and an unusual 16th century clock with a 24 hour face before refreshing showers and more preprandials. 

Friday June 12 : Cres to Krk

We're away before 9 and take the road ever upwards towards the ferry port at Merag. We climb for about 4 miles and then there's an amazing swoop down for several miles to the ferry port. The boat leaves at 10 and with 12 minutes to go we still have another mile or so to cover. There 's  a long snaking queue of cars waiting to board and we thread our way through them to the ticket office and board after 10. To our amazement the ferry departs late: you can normally set your watch by the Jadrolinjia departure and arrival times! At Valbriska we have a reviving coke and wait for all the cars to disembark  so we can have the uphill road all to ourselves. After more climbing to a place called Vrh the road then descends to Krk ( can't think of any English place names without any vowels!). We take a circuitous route into the centre find where we're staying and then head off to try and find a beach. For a panicky moment it looks as if the FKK one is the only one available....

Thursday 11 June: CRES

A short entry today as we didn't do very much! At least we allowed ourselves to do what most people do on their holidays and lie on the beach all day: reading, sunbathing and swimming. We started with a modest breakfast at the restaurant below our room and then walked down into Cres town to buy provisions and wander around the old town - pleasant marbelled streets, old Venetian style architecture and old churches with domes and frescoes. I buy a sun hat. We then cycle round to the beach we were at yesterday afternoon having got used to the FKK ( Flabby Knobs and Knockers! ) We are both reading good books so no need for conversation (bliss!) An occasional front crawl out to the swimming boundary and back and that's it, bit of picnic lunch under the trees and then our beer with a view. Maybe not so well deserved today. Home to cool off on the balcony. We think we will eat at our restaurant below tonight as I feel sorry for them and we have just seen two guests arriving. Stop press they have sat down looked at the menu and left. We have a dilemma.... I'm afraid we dont go and follow advice from Trip Advisor instead finding ourselves in a pretty nasty spot out side of the old town and I am looking at a car park. We are surrounded by Germans and Italians so at least we're not on our own. We have some Sea Bass and spinach washed down with a jug of local Merlot. It is okay but nothing to write home about. Perhaps we have missed a treat, albeit a lonely one, at our local Konoba!

Wednesday 10 June: MALI LOSINJ to CRES

Away at 08:30 and the road takes us up and out of Mali Losinj, past the old Yougaslav military base that Igor pointed out from the boat as we arrived - sadly no photographs allowed! Up and up we seem to go with 7, 8, 9 and then 10% gradients. We drink litres of water! We get to Osor which is the link between Losinj and the next island of Cres ( pronounced Tres - I saw a cyclist in Mali Losinj with a T shirt that said "No stress in Cres", I also saw another bicycle related quote in the cafe in Zadar that said "Life is like a bicycle ; to maintain your balance you must keep moving" - which I thought quite apt).Well we are certainly moving along on this holiday! We have coffee and coke in Osor and wander around. It's quite an arty place with painters with their easels in the main square. The road then takes us up and up out of Osor and we wonder whether there will be any downhill - perhaps it's a cliff edge descent to Cres. Barbecued pig on spit roast in the middle of nowhere - not ready for another hour though. Eventually we are rewarded with a 4 mile descent to the town. We have a lovely apartment overlooking the town and harbour. Picnic lunch bought at Osor on our balcony then we head into town for essential provisions ( wine and nibbles) and then to the beach. We cycle along the coastal path that eventually leads to a FKK area - in other words lots of naked Germans - none of which you really want to see without their clothes on. We retrace our steps and find a lovely spot for swimming and sunbathing. Late afternoon beer ( this is becoming a firm favourite habit), then back home for drinkies and nibbles on the balcony wondering if anyone will come to the restaurant below us.... no one comes so we sneak off to another place nearby. The menu is only in German, Italian and Croatian. Fortunately our years in the choir enable us to recognise (Agnus Dei) the lamb, which we order, and a large platter of it arrives. Ice cream in the old harbour on the way home.

Tuesday 9 June: MALI LOSINJ

Breakfast downstairs includes muesli and yogurt, fruit juice and coffee. Simon has eggs and there is homemade apricot jam to go with bread and mini croissants. We head off to the next small town of Veli Losinj but seem to take a very circuitous route which involves pushing the bikes along gravel walkways and cycling up some rather steep main roads. However, we arrive and admire the attractive port before heading back along a lovely flat cycle path that hugs the coast under the pine trees. We buy fruit and supplies and head off over to the west coast. We find some flat rocks near a campsite and make use of their shower facilities and a couple of shady sunbeds for our lunch. A lazy few hours reading and bronzing with frequent dips into the clear blue sea. We cycle on round to the next cove where the Russians are building an enormous and extravagant luxury hotel complex which seems a great shame. A quick tour of Mali Losinj Church - up the hill again - before showers and preprandials in our room enjoying the spectacular views of the harbour. We are planning pizza tonight.

Monday 8 June: ZADAR to MALI LOSINJ

Church bells and breakfast on the go. We grab a delicious croissant and coffee in a local bakery before hugging the coast south of Zadar to the new ferry terminal. We board in good time ahead of the cars and try and work out the best spot for our 7 hour journey. Unfortunately this is our longest Croatian ferry trip and on the oldest and worst boat. We can only sit at the stern which smells of diesel, obscures the view and is too hot most of the time, out of the wind. However we manage to while away the hours reading and basking while stopping at many virtually deserted Islands on the way: Ist, Olib, Selba and Primuda before our arrival in Mali Losinj. We chat to a Croatian who has lived in Preston for 16 years and who speaks fluent English with a Scouse accent! Our accomodation is metres from the ferry and we unload hot and exhausted! We cycle off to find some refreshing water and swim off the rocks until early evening before a reviving beer on our way back. Our room has spectacular views over the harbour and a hot tub on the terrace ( should we want it, which I rather doubt we will! ) Our hostess has recommended a Fish restaurant up the hill for this evening's meal, so I hope it will be worth the walk! It was! We sat in a pleasant courtyard at Konoba Corrado and their was plenty of room. Our pleasant waitress recommended fish cooked in the oven which turned out to be generous portions of Turbot and Bream with roasted vegetables which was very delicious. We had some Grasevina white wine which was very tasty but rather alcoholic at 14%. Down the hill for an ice cream before bed. (10 miles)