May 6, 2023
Skocim to Mostar
We started off the day with a pile of very wet nappies to pack onto the trailer. Although the washing machine started again after our power outage, it didn't seem to do it's spin cycle properly. The nappies were electrocuting James when he was emptying it so he opted to evacuate the washing and leave it alone rather than spend too much time fiddling around, drying the nappies in a towel instead. Luckily it was a very sunny day for our last day on the Ciro trail into Mostar.
The first part of the day took us through a region with lots of produce growing. There were some amazing strawberry fields and lots of tomatoes. Also lots of little tractors which kept Tobias occupied. The traffic was pretty busy until we passed through the town of Capljina and turned onto a secondary road that seemed to be 90% bike path. I was surprised to find the trail still well signposted and quite pleasant all day. I didn't really have high expectations for this section into Mostar.
We stopped for coffee at what is probably a restaurant in the summer, but for now was just a really nice spot by the river. Would have made a great campsite. From our spot we could see the construction on a new highway spanning over the whole valley. It was an impressive construction. Started in 2019 and should have taken 30 months, but it definitely still had some big gaps in the road.
We didn't ride long before we stopped for lunch at a shaded picnic table. We've seen a few of these on our rides, but we always seem to come across them before we are ready to stop, or 10 minutes after we've given up looking for a good lunch spot. Tobias raced around the table and played his imaginary stick guitar, then we loaded him up for a nap. I had to force Komoot to stick to the Ciro trail for the next section, and I guess the reason is that about 15 minutes after lunch the road turned to gravel littered with potholes. The sort of road we would look for at any time except when towing our sleeping kid behind in a trailer. It was short, but took a while.
The closer we got to Mostar the more the day trip bike traffic started picking up which was cool to see. There was a big crowd of people at a bridge over the river. The view started to open up to some big mountains in the background, making us glad we decided not to bike the backroads to Sarajevo after all. In the outskirts of Mostar we ended up in the industrial area and James' front pannier decided to fall off. How he managed to avoid hitting this with the trailer and our sleeping child I'm not sure.
We are staying up on the hill behind the railway station so there was a bit of traffic dodging in skinny steep streets to get up here. We were earlier than we'd arranged with our host so we had to wait 15 minutes for her husband to come let us in. We didn't mind waiting but there was a small disaster when my bike fell off its stand and down into the ditch. James swore, Tobias started crying, and I took a picture. Luckily Tobias was very compliant and went back into his trailer to sit and watch (we were beside a busy road, so he couldn't run around) while we hauled it out. At first glance nothing seems too damaged. The brakes were rubbing, but once James put the wheel back in properly that stopped.
Our house in Mostar is great, though very clean and tidy which is always a bit scary with a toddler. After showering we walked down into town for groceries and ended up finding a small stony beach by the river to eat chips and have a beer. We are here for 4 nights to catch up on some sleep, laundry, and rest our legs a bit before the next part to Ljubljana. We also hope to visit some museums and take a tour, though we might have to do it separately and share our information afterwards because it's hard to absorb much with a toddler.
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Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 727 km (451 miles)
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11 months ago