Stobreč - Croatia

I sit here writing this with the sun beating down on me, with the faintest Croatian sea breeze blowing through my hair. Well what is left!! I have realised that 2 things are occurring, the first, I am losing more hair than I am growing. Yesterday I washed my face and hair in a sink to find more than 15 hairs left in the sink! The second is that I am bearding quite nicely, slightly patchy but on the whole, well. I do have a definite grey section. When I start getting animals nesting, I believe this will be a good resting place for the elderly animals.

Anyway, enough of the flora and fauna, let's get to the travels.
I believe Croatia makes my seventh county I have set foot in, or at least ridden through. The weather has been fantastic, apart from having to pack up the tent and ride from Postojna to Plitvice in torrential rain. Good thing was that as soon as I got out of the mountains the weather turned hot again and soon back to being glorious. Weather has to be covered, as Brits always ask about the weather!!

My days have been mixed into a blur, and I have no clue about the date! With covering so many miles and always pitching and packing the tent (or so it feels), I enter Croatia knowing that I would spend some R+R here. That was until the stressful rain-soaked journey, which ended in me getting very annoyed about getting repeatedly lost trying to search for a campsite - not knowing if there was one or not!! (Note to self: Always make sure you know where you are going to end up) This would have also help as I entered Split. I knew there was a nice campsite to the north, (thanks to Steve Boud). Although my sense of direction kept sending me into the city centre. After 45 mins I found myself about 4km south in a pretty village called Stobreč.

R+R seems, to me, to come in the form of sunbathing, swimming and exercising (not a prerequisite, but as I find myself with a lot of free time, it fits in nicely).

Camping, although good fun for the most part, doesn´t seem the best way to meet people who are like minded. There are a lot of couples but very few people to actively interact with. I made a mistake in leaving Postojna, I left when it was good. The campsite was nice and I was settled - probably the most settled so far. There was a Brit couple from Manchester Uni. They were cycling from Ljubljana to Trieste. I also got chatting to a German couple who do a lot of touring by motorbike and they were filling me in on the places they have been. Ralph and Andrea a really nice couple.

As far as chatting in Croatia, there are fewer and fewer people able and willing to chat in English. I know that is the reason for the route, to step out of my comfort zone and to learn more about different cultures, but Croatia seems more reluctant to initiate conversation. Maybe it is me, but the last couple of days has given me a lot of time to reflect on me and the past. I have been missing contact with people and am starting to realise that the further south I head the more this will become a reoccurring issue.

As a result I have decided go to bars and restaurants in the evening. At present I have had one night where I was up later than 10pm!!

So the journey so far (cont)
Tournai
St Goar
Wertach
Kobarid
Postonja
Plitviče
Stobreč

I think that that covers it.

Croatia: A spectacular country. By the sea the hills are so green and they just seem to roll an roll until they disappear into the sea. Whilst inland it is the complete contrast. The land is quite baron and flat. Tiny villages and almost nothing to do. A stunning contrast.

My journey is def going to continue south, although my thoughts currently linger with my friends and family to the north.