Day 19 - Pag to Rab (Lopar) - Oh The Places You'll Go - 2025

April 29, 2025

Day 19 - Pag to Rab (Lopar)

Timed to Perfection

We’re three weeks into this tour now, and that’s always when the ‘penny drops’ , the door in the back of our head opens, and whatever baggage we brought along with us falls out the back.

It always happens, and it always takes about three weeks.

We were pretty tired and feeling a bit burnt out when we got into Pag last night (thank you Mr Beaufort and your fresh breezes), but a great night’s sleep and waking up to a beautiful morning gave us the reset we needed.

The ride north out of Pag was one of the best of the tour so far. We had about 15 km’s of fantastic riding on virtually deserted local roads until just before Novalja, and then a little over 10 km’s of highway riding with moderate traffic to reach the first of our two ferries. We felt some pressure to keep the pace up in order to make our first ferry at 11:30, and fortunately we had no headwinds. By the time we were at Novalja we were confident we were going to be fine, and we were.

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So long Pag. Departing the lovely Villa Revelin and Mario

A great breakfast on the balcony at 7:30. Croatia rises much earlier than Italy!

Looking north towards Novalja and Zrće beach (apparently one of THE party beaches in Europe - just Google it - another reason to come here before June)

I just read this in another journal, but it bears repeating …”This is why we tour”

Pag saves this sort of stuff for the small interior valleys

Looking back south into the morning sun.

Was so beautiful we had to close our eyes…..

The ride from Novalja to the ferry at the coast was back to the rugged barren Pag from the postcards. Given it was a road to a ferry, there was very little traffic on it until half an hour or so before the ferry was scheduled to depart. We arrived about 40 minutes before departure so we had the road more or less to ourselves. There was some traffic going the other way from the arriving ferry, including a few other touring folks.

At the ferry terminal there were quite a few other bikers, but the motorized types. We usually get a faint nod of ‘kindred’ acknowledgement from most of them (but the underlying body language is ‘you’re nuts’), but this group included Dave Bailey. Dave is from Montreal and he’s a very outgoing guy. We spotted the Ontario plates on his bike (borrowed from a friend who lives there) and he spotted our Canadian flags. A great conversation ensued essentially around mortality and the need to do things with your life (Dave’s in the funeral/ grief management business - and he’s full of life)

I could go on at length about our conversation but I’ll give you a link to this NYT article that will give you a good sense of what we discussed - the need to have a ‘Plan Be’ - be someone, be something - go out and live (Dave does a podcast where he interviewed Jason Brian Rosenthal, the husband referenced in the NYT article and author of this follow up piece). Both K and I had read both of the pieces and fully embraced the feeling and thinking, as did Dave.

Who knew you could have a fleeting moment in time like this in a parking lot on the Moon?

That’s all part of Being.

Okay, getting too deep again. The ferry arrived, we got on, sailed for 20 minutes and then had 2 hours to make our next one, 17 km’s and 320 m of climbing, later.

We did it … well mostly K. She climbed like fiend and I was compelled to keep the camera mostly stowed and to keep pressure on the pedals.

Although the ride was on a larger highway, the majority of the traffic seemed to be ferry oriented, so after the first rush of vehicles, it was pretty quiet and again, stunning riding.

The final run to the Žigljen ferry terminal for a short sail to the mainland

The bike collection with one errant alien

Great chatting with you Dave! Hope we cross paths again. Now go out there and BE

First sight of the next destination … looks somewhat like the last one

Oh, the most unusual places to find fences

Gaining elevation, and a better look at Rab.

Elevation mostly gained now, let’s pick up the speed

Getting close … and time is tight. No more pics.

We literally rolled onto the ferry at Stinica and it left a few minutes later for Rab. If we missed this one we were in for a two hour wait.

Since we managed to catch the 2 pm ferry at Stinica (thanks to K for pushing the pace) we were in a much more relaxed frame of mind for the final 25 km’s of riding on Rab to reach our destination of Lopar on the north end of the island.

Why Lopar, the smaller town in the north rather than the larger town of Rab itself?

Ferries my boy, Ferries.

In order to continue our quest to go north, without retracing our steps, we needed to catch the ferry from Lopar to the island of Krk (please, please donate a vowel to Croatia), and since it’s low season still, that ferry leaves Lopar once every morning at 5:45.

So Lopar it is.

Turns out is was a beautiful ride, Lopar is a nice low key place and we had a great apartment with a pool, dishwasher and a clothes drying rack. That pretty much lays out what we did for the evening. Dinner was a very simple but good pizza and glass of wine and we were in bed and asleep by 9. Tomorrow is coming too quickly!

Although the first impressions of Rab was that it was as desolate as Pag, it turned out to be a little more bucolic.

Although this looks like a bike path, and we did see several bikes on it, it is actually a two way local road, albeit without much traffic.

SOTD

How could we not believe - Ellen and Ben Harper

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 991 km (615 miles)

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Karen PoretJust asking..do you like your hi-viz safety sash? Is it a hindrance? Does it attract or detract? Do you have a preference for one brand or another or does it really matter? I am asking because I don’t really like to wear the “usual” light yellowish green jacket, and might want to change up the “viewing program”.. 👍
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19 hours ago

Suzanne GibsonSo inspiring! Although I know I won't be riding those roads in this lifetime. I loved the barren moonlike landscape. I did camp on Krk with my three children in the 1960's though, not cycling yet.
Too bad I couldn't read your NYT links, would have to subscribe to have access.
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18 hours ago

Kirsten KaarsooTo Karen PoretWe have been wearing them for a number of years. They are very adjustable and I don’t find them a hassle in anyway. I have my high vis sun sleeves but Lyle does not. So I think they work well especially in hot weather as they are not hot to wear. No particular brand we got them from amazon 2 sets for about $6. The old ones lasted about 4 years before they fell apart. They are much better than what we were trying to cobble together on our cross Canada trip.
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18 hours ago

Lyle McLeodTo Suzanne GibsonHi Suzanne,
I sent you ‘gift’ links to the two articles to your email. Hopefully you’re able to open them, shame about the NYT keeping things behind a paywall. Let me know if you got the links, or not.
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10 hours ago

Suzanne GibsonTo Lyle McLeodThank you so much, Lyle! I got the emails and can open the links. Now let's see if you got my email.
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9 hours ago

Scott AndersonThis was probably our favorite ride through the islands too seven years ago. And coincidentally we just barely made it to the ferry before it pulled out too - but the first one, not the second. Really a great day all in all.
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4 hours ago