Cycling Muo to Podgorica (Montenegro)

Bay of Kotor

It was another wet morning. The rain had stopped long enough to get us prepped and on our bikes. However, as soon as we got on the road, it started sprinkling. We stopped to put on raincoats. Today’s route took us along the bay to Kotor. Then we started climbing the switchbacks out of town up to Lovcen Park.  I’m very thankful that the climb was gradual enough that I could grind up in my second to last gear, the lowest gear currently working on my bike. Thankfully, the rain stopped; and, we soon removed our raincoats. It ended up being perfect cycling weather for the long climb up at the entrance: overcast and cool. Our tour leader was waiting at the entrance; and, she informed us that we’d need to skip Lovcen Park and take the alternative route, or we wouldn’t make it to our hotel before it was dark today. That saved us 10 km of distance and 500 meters of climbing elevation. 

Bay of Kotor

The rest stop at the entrance wasn’t open, so, we followed the alternate route to the next cafe. The door was locked but a server on the level below said that they were open if we came downstairs. They were closing for the season tomorrow. Inside, there was even a cozy fireplace! After quick hot drinks, we were on our way.

Former French Embassy

Today we went through three different tunnels, all well paved and well lit. Our lunch stop was in the historic city of Cetinje, which was originally the capital of Montenegro. As we were getting close to the lunch stop, there was a very unique building that made us stop. It was the former French Embassy, completed in 1910. Beautiful architecture! We lunched at Gradska, where I ate a ricotta cheese salad with beets and oranges as well as a delicious piece of chocolate cake and drank hot chocolate. 

Cetinje Monastery 

After lunch, we wandered over to the outside of the Njegos Museum of Biljards, the medieval castle church and the Cetinje Monastery. Lots of fun architecture with informational signs! Then, we hopped back on our bicycles and headed out of town for some more climbing. By now, the sun was peeking out. We were on a busier road but then turned onto a narrow road through wine country. The road could barely fit a car and a bike across yet was a two way road. Along the edge, wild pomegranate bushes grew. When the vegetation cleared, the views were magnificent!

Rural vista

However, a rain cloud caught up to us, which cut short one of our photo breaks. Rain jackets back on, we cycled until we got out of the rain. At that point, we were in a small town, next to a monument that looked to be for soldiers from WWII. We looked up some Yugoslavian history on Encyclopedia Britannica while we ate. Then the rain caught up to us again; and, we were back on our bicycles, climbing up through the wet. 

WWII monument?

When we eventually escaped the rain again, we could hear loud music coming from a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It was a happening place full of cars. We pulled off nearby to get photos of yet another terrific view, this one of the Pavlova Strana River.

Pavlova Strana River

It was time to make up some mileage, though. We had to get back on a busy road. Our shadows were beginning to grow longer. At least we were cruising downhill into Podgorica, before turning off into an
industrial area on the edge of town. We had to make one final photo stop for the rainbow behind us. Then, the wind picked up; and, too late, we realized that we’d soaked in the scenery too long today, as the rain pelted us all the way to the hotel.

Cycling Cavtat (Croatia) to Muo (Montenegro)

Waking up to overcast skies and wet sidewalks is never a good start to a day of cycling. Today was the first cycling day of our three week tour. All of the contents of my suitcase had ended up outside of my suitcase by breakfast. I ran downstairs, inhaled some food from the buffet, then, returned to squeeze everything back into my carryon suitcase and squish it into zippered closure. Then, we dropped off our suitcases at the van, pulled our bikes out of storage to load water bottles, pump up tires, attach cycling computers, and stuff our bike bags. It started raining. The tour guide gave us a briefing indoors.  By the time she’d finished, the rain had mostly cleared to heavy humidity. Off we rode!

First we climbed back to the main road and turned toward the airport. That was a stressful ride on a wet, two-way road with no shoulders and much traffic due to the airport. Finally we turned off onto a quieter road. I felt pretty strong at the beginning of the climbing. However, it was getting tougher and tougher as we kept going. Eventually, even my bike was making sounds of protest. Then, my radar light fell off. When I stopped to pick it up, I noticed that my under saddle bag was rubbing the back tire. Upon assembling the bike yesterday, I hadn’t tightened done the seat post bolt enough; and, the saddle was slowly sinking. Had a good laugh about that while fixing it on the side of the road!

The wet roads made me paranoid about falling. In my training, I never cycled when it was wet or raining. Unfortunately, that meant that I was braking even more than usual and falling further and further behind. In addition, after spending so much time on Garmin Express to download European background maps on my cycling computer, none of them were working. Often, my computer simply showed a blue arrow in a blank background, without even a red line to follow. Thankfully, for me, the sweep and my friend fell back to cycle along with me. 

Our border crossing between Croatia and Montenegro was uneventful. Then, we cycled on to meet the rest of the group at the coffee stop. As we pulled up, I was so grateful to be off the bike after all the wet roads, that I absent mindedly leaned the bike against myself while attempting to take off my rain jacket. BAM! The bike fell on the pavement in the derailleur side. Picking it up, I stashed it next to a planter, then went to use the washroom. All the other cyclists had been sitting around for ages and started packing up as soon as we arrived. My friend and the sweep slurped their coffees; and, then, we were back on our bikes, too. Unfortunately, at this point, I started to realize that something was wrong with my shifters. Shifting down to climb, my chain fell off into my wheel. I stopped to get it back on, but then it happened again a bit further on. By then, I’d lost everyone; and, the Garmin was a blank screen. I started walking the bike to the upcoming roundabout, decided to turn right and hope for the red line to reappear on the Garmin. Then, the sweep came back down the sidewalk to find me. 

We made it to lunch last, got my bike on a stand and assumed it was a bent hanger. Ate lunch, biked back to the ferry, crossed over and then biked the final 10 km to the hotel in a narrow road wide enough for one car that was actually a two way road. Near the end, it started to rain. At the hotel, one of the other cyclists was nice enough to try to fix the bent hangar since this tour has tools that we can use but no mechanic. Unfortunately, once reassembled, the gears were still wonky. The tour leader then sent me to ask the receptionist to find out if there was a bike mechanic in town. The receptionist was very helpful calling and texting around. However, she couldn’t find anyone, not even in nearby Kotor. It’s Saturday; and, the bike shop there had closed at 4 pm today for the weekend. The tour leader asked if I couldn’t just cycle to Podgorica tomorrow (2500 meters climbing) where there’s a bike shop. It is a frustrating set of circumstances caused by my own folly, yet, I’ve learned now that I won’t book another tour without a mechanic support person.

Dubrovnik Old Town (Croatia)

Every European vacation seems to involve running for public transportation. Yesterday afternoon, my bicycle (in a box) and I arrived in Cavtat, Croatia, after an overnight flight from Toronto, with a layover in Munich, of which the highlight was an hour nap in a reclining chair. It had been a long day of travel; and, even the excitement of meeting up with my friend could barely keep me awake through dinner. We delayed assembling our bicycles until this morning after breakfast. Other cyclists helped us; yet, it took longer than expected; and, then another person on the tour asked if we’d be ready to catch the bus in 12 minutes, which involved frantically stuffing our packaging materials into bike boxes, haphazardly attaching bike bags, entrusting our bikes to others to stash in the hotel while we disappeared down the maze of stairways to the street. Ahead we saw the bus crossing the street, which is when our fast walk turned into a jog to make it to the stop while the bus cleared the roundabout. (Libertas bus number 10 from Cavtat to Dubrovnik costs 4 Euro. Can be paid for by credit card. Approximately 45 minute ride.)

It’s been 12 years since I’ve visited Dubrovnik. In September 2014, I had purchased a Dubrovnik Pass in order to walk the walls and visit several small museums. At that time Croatia still had its own currency. And while still there is still the option to simply walk the walls or to purchase a Dubrovnik Pass which includes both the walls and several museums, the cost has gone up to 40 Euros for either option.

Fort Lovrjenac

Today before entering into the walls, we hiked up to the entrance of Fort Lovrjenac to get a view of the Old Town across the water. 

Old Town

Then we descended to wander through the streets in the Old Town. Much of it was damaged during Siege of Dubrovnik in 1991. However, it has been well restored. Up from the central main street, pedestrian paths are ascending stairs with stone ditches along the sides. The further the climb, the fewer restaurants, shops, and accommodations. Laundry hung on lines between buildings, high above the many steps. Eventually we came to the inside edge of the southern side the city walls. As we continued walking, we saw people emerging from the wall and followed others through the narrow opening to a beautiful view of Lokrum Island and the Adriatic Sea.

Lokrum Island in Adriatic Sea

Back within the city walls, we entered two different churches, both completed in the 1700s, albeit in different styles. The first was St Ignatius Church. It had a gloomy interior with the smell of incense. However, in the dim light, we were still impressed by the magnificent painted frescoes behind the alter. The second church was the Cathedral Treasury, which was filled with light from many windows. Inside, the most interesting art work was a modern version of the stations of the cross.

By this point, we were hungry. Stopping at Fox Bros, we ordered loaded fries. They were just the right amount of food for us to continue our Old Town meandering. (I have a premonition that I’ll be eating lots of versions of potatoes this trip.)

Bell Tower

We continued walking toward a square, which was edged by the bell tower. There is a sphere in the middle which I assume is showing the phases of the moon. Below it, there is a Roman numeral for the hour and digits for every five minutes. Accurate enough.

 

Continuing on, we ambled through the streets on the north edge of the Old City, eventually hearing the sound of a dribbling basketball. Peeking through a doorway, we saw a basketball hoop installed apin the city walls. The edge of the court had an unobstructed view of the Adriatic Sea, with the breeze cooling off the players.

After our Old Town peregrinations, all there was left to do was climb all the stairs back up to the road to the number 10 bus back to Cavtat. We made it back in time to the meetup with the other cyclists participating in the tour. There are twelve of us: five women and seven men. 

Exploring Nanaimo

After a week on Denman Island (population approximately 1500), Nanaimo feels like a big city! I walked down to the Bastion, a tower used as a trading post which was also fortified with cannons in case anyone tried to take over the rich coal mining area. Coal became even more important once the gold rush started on the west coast. Interestingly, one of the tools on the inside walls was the same type of draw knife that I used yesterday for shaving bark off a tree.

Next, I did a whirlwind tour through the Nanaimo Museum in the 30 minutes before they closed. They had a very nice exhibit on coal mining, with a staged coal mine. There were lanterns outside the entrance that visitors could take to walk through the dark mine and read the placards.

In addition, there were many artifacts from the Salish people, including from an archaeological dig on formerly Salish land. There were drawers of stone tools; however, my favorite pieces were the beautifully woven baskets and hats.

A very well done traveling exhibit was of all the Japanese Canadians forced into internment camps during World War 2. There was a map of all the blocks in Vancouver where Japanese-Canadians lived, listing all the inhabitants. There were many different stories from individual Japanese-Canadians. After they were allowed to leave the interment camps, they were banned from returning home. Instead, their options were to go to Japan or east of the Rocky Mountains. A wall map shows how many migrated where.

At the ground floor of the museum was the Nanaimo tourist information desk. They had a much better map with walking trails listed. Google hasn't figured out walking trails in the parks in Denman Island or Nanaimo. Thankfully, maps are still printed! I walked all the way to Morrell Nature Preserve, which had maps signed throughout the trails. It was a very beautiful park to walk through. There were salal berries, Oregon grapes, turkey tail mushrooms and arbutus trees (with the peeling bark). On the trail, there was the largest slug I've ever seen! It was about the size of 15 garden slugs, just a big black mass on the trail that I thought was a large pinecone until it started moving.

My goal had been to walk around Westwood Lake as well, yet, after a bit of backtracking in Morrell, I decided to head back to the roads once I reached the lake. Westoowd Lake trails were printed on the map at the information center. However, there weren't any trail names listed. I tried to decipher the few sign posts that I saw against the paper map. There were very few people hiking or cycling on the trails.

Eventually, I made it back to a residential neighborhood. Yet, then, I tried to do a shortcut which appeared to work on the printed map which Google maps wasnt showing. Walked downhill a long gravel path. It didn't go through. Ate a blackberry as consolation and then walked back up that hill. At least there was a good view from the top.

By this time, it was time to start booking it to get back to my Airbnb by sunset.  After a very long steep downhill, I walked along a paved path by the main road. It looked almost brand new! Only saw one person on it while walking there. Didn't see the sunset but made it back before dark.

Last day of cob workshop

This morning, we walked over to the host's mom's house. Originally when the host purchased the land, there was a large shed on the land. The host built on a small cob extension on one side, which is now her mom's sewing room. There is another cob extension on another side which is a kitchen. Only recently has the kitchen drain had a pipe hooked up, which runs the "grey water" out to the garden. Before that, there were buckets under the sink to collect drain water. The host's mom had really made the house her own with painted walls, a painted floor and bright rugs. She had healthy looking plants all around the house and a nice covered porch/living area out front. Even the ceiling had been plastered over; and, the host pointed out some stains where something had leaked in bad weather but then dried out again. The mosaics inlaid in the exterior cob were very nice.

Afterward, we took a group photo in front of the house we've been working on before snack time and then started work for the day. I returned to double sieving manure.

After another delicious lunch, some of the other participants and I drove into town for more ice cream. Today, I enjoyed a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream in hot chocolate. Delicious!

In the afternoon, I returned to sifting manure until I'd finished double sifting all of the manure that I'd first sifted. Now, I am officially retired from manure sifting! For the last hour of work day, I switched to shaving bark off cut trees so that they can dry out and be used for either this house or another structure. For this, we used a draw knife, which is a blade with a handle on each end. We'd straddle the log and draw the blade toward us to shave off the bark. It is harder than it looks, especially around the knobs where branches had been cut off.

We had early dinner tonight, since some participants had already left and others were leaving this evening. Tonight's delectable meal was shepherd's pie! I tried the vegetarian version. There were also beef and vegan options. In addition, there was a big greens salad and beet sauerkraut. 

One of the other participants invited me along to circle Denman Island this evening. First we went to the northernmost tip,  Morning Beach Park. The tide was too high to walk the land bridge out to Tree Island in the evening. It was still a great workout going up and down the 105 steps to the beach and trudging through the sand.

Then, we drove to the southernmost tip to Boyle Point Provincial Park. From the entrance, we hiked all the way to the tip where we could overlook the Chrome Island lighthouse. By now the sun had set; and, we could see the bats starting to flit around below us on the cliff. On our walk back to the car, a deer went crashing through the brush, probably wondering what two humans were doing out there at that time of night. A wonderful way to end my stay in Denman Island!

Ice cream, lake swimming and sunset

This morning, the sun came out while we were eating breakfast! It was such a welcome sight. Plus, we could see the ocean from the balcony of the common house. 

After breakfast, our instructors took time to answer questions and talk more about the cob building process. Spending so much time working on the house has helped us have more specific questions. Then, I returned to my duties of sifting manure, except today the request was for manure to be double sifting, which meant that I had to sift all the manure I'd already sifted through a finer screen. It was a very slow process. Manure sifting was now the bottleneck in making plaster, even though it was only 1 part compared to the 3 parts double sifted sand.

Another participant was keen to try out the local Ima's ice cream sandwiches at lunch, so, we hopped into her car and ran into town. Ima's is a coconut based ice cream with date cookies to make the sandwich. It was a little too coconuty for me.

After lunch, I helped clean up around the cobbed outhouse near the common house. Then, one of the instructors took us next door to another neighbor's cob house. She pointed out that the window cobbing was sloped down on the outside so that water would drip off. While on the inside of the glass, the owner had built a flat shelf for her plants. One of the panes of glass was cracked. We asked about how to replace it. It would involved scraping out cob around it, taking out the pieces of glass, then installing a smaller piece or glass. This makes me think that it would be better to install framed windows instead of sheets of glass, for easier replacement of broken panes.

Back at the job site, I went back to double sifting manure until our end of day at 5. At that point, a large group was going to Chicadee Lake; and, they invited me to join them. It had been so warm and sunny today that I'd taken off my leg warmers. It was really nice to wade in the lake and wash the manure off my legs. Everyone else jumped right into the cold water and swam out to a log in the lake. On the way home from the lake, we stopped at the free shed, where I found a CD of Big Band music.

We arrived back at the common house to find four different lasagnes: cheese, vegan and a special gluten and tomatoes free version. In addition, there was broccolini. I ate the cheese lasagne version, which was packed full of vegetables. 

After supper, our instructors started a slide show of other cob work that they'd done. Another participant and I wanted to see the sunset, so. we left about 10 minutes before 8; and, a few others joined us to walk up to the ridge. There were so many beautiful colors tonight!

After walking back, some were already in the sauna and others were joining them. Everyone raved so much about it, that I tried it out, although only for a few minutes. It was quite hot inside. Then, I walked to my tent and fell asleep rapidly.