{"id":2283,"date":"2018-05-21T10:58:06","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T15:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/?p=2283"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:52:13","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T22:52:13","slug":"180521-the-great-escape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/180521-the-great-escape\/","title":{"rendered":"180521-The Great Escape"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before leaving Dubrovnik I stopped at a supermarket to spend the last of my Croatian kuna on groceries I’d then have to carry. <\/p>\n

Climbing back out of Dubrovnik I meet a British couple in Dubrovnik via a cruise ship. They had brought foldable bicycles with them and were cycling to Cavtat, about 15 km away. We bonded as we walked our bicycles across a three-foot wide ledge with a 100-foot drop to one side. They had to be back before the ship left at 5:00 pm. Given the hills and their 7-speed bicycles, I hope they made it. <\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

While I initially followed highway, when the option presented itself I switched to a smaller road. More vertical roads. I spent the day slowly climbing, walking, or zooming downwards. <\/p>\n

I encountered two big dogs while climbing one of those backroad hills. They came baying for me from a distance, and I figured they’d stop when I reached the edge of their property. I crossed that border and one veered off. When he emerged ahead of me I realized he’d intentionally cut me off, and he wasn’t barking any more – very bad. I came off the bike and shouted at them while continuing to walk away. And kept shouting. They eventually backed off but they scared me. <\/p>\n

Approaching the border to Montenegro, I worried that the small border crossing might cause me problems. Instead of risking a 20 km reversal, I added 5 km to return to the highway. Approaching the border, little traffic remained, although I walked the 8% grade up to the border crossing. <\/p>\n

A Croatian border guard called me out of line and asked if I had a green card for the bicycle. He confused me; the green cards indicate insurance status when traveling across the borders. As I expressed confusion, he laughed. He was just screwing with me; they stamped my passport. The Montenegro border control officer didn’t have the same sense of humor. He just stamped my passport and sent me on my way. <\/p>\n

At the outskirts of Herceg Novi I spotted two cyclists in the shade of a tree with their gear sprawled around them. Like two other cyclists I’d encountered earlier, they were German, these on day 45 of a 6-month trip. One of them had hit a small rock on a rapid descent and taken quite a spill, having scraped up his leg from his fall. I didn’t have much farther to go so I stopped and chatted for a while. They planned another 50 km today, and pointed out a ferry for tomorrow. They passed me while I was checking in to the B&B. <\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

Today was short (62 km) but I want to pace myself in the mountains, and explore Herceg Novi. I checked ferry schedules last night, and off-season the ferry in Bar runs only on Wednesdays. That works out well — a short ride to Kotor tomorrow, and then to Bar for a ferry back to Bari in Italy at exactly the 3-week point.<\/p>\n

I spent the evening walking the Old Town, visiting the two castles, and swimming in the Adriatic. A typical evening!<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

I have a lovely view from my balcony.
\n\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before leaving Dubrovnik I stopped at a supermarket to spend the last of my Croatian kuna on groceries I’d then have to carry. Climbing back out of Dubrovnik I meet a British couple in Dubrovnik via a cruise ship. They had brought foldable bicycles with them and were cycling to Cavtat, about 15 km away. … Continue reading “180521-The Great Escape”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-touring"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2283"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2296,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2283\/revisions\/2296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}