I spent six weeks from the end of August to early October following the Trans Dinarica bike packing route through the eight Balkan countries.
I started by flying into Ljubljana, Slovenia and generally following the whole route and finished by doing a little bit extra in order to finish at the coast at Split, Croatia.
I need to say that I did deviate from the main route a few times during the ride but I estimate that I followed it about 80% of the time.
Excellent route and experience….very hilly as expected.
So, just crossed into Bosnia and the Hzgoina. The passport stamped and still climbing up there. That’s looks like that’s the path over there. Hopefully around that corner. Oh my god, finally made it. Oh, that was about nearly 900 m vertical scent with a real nagging headwind all the way up apart from on the left hand side of the hairpins occasionally. But going to have a nice long descent now. I think it’s probably four miles of descent, maybe five. So, I’m going to film a bit and then I’m going to put it away and enjoy it. Now that looks epic. I am going to enjoy this. Woo! All the way down there. So dropped down that mountain road. Absolutely stunning onto this kind of plateau area completely surrounded by mountains. Kind of a little bowl. It’s absolutely amazing. and following this road now. It’s totally totally flat to Livno. About another five or six miles to go today. Awesome. Okay. Okay. Well, on the way from Livno to Tom Mistlerad, which is a place I’m going to stop at for probably early lunch uh before heading on towards Mustar. And just stopped off by the lake, Busco I think it’s called, on the way. Okay, that’s the first mountain pass of the day done. It was about 300 m climb. So, not too bad. No wind. Now, we’re going to drop down into Tom’s Slavra. Something like that. This is a quiet back road to Mustar. Much better. I think this is the final two to 300 m of climbing today. Some of which is probably going to be off road in a bit. It’s got a gap in the mountains over there is where I’ve come from today all the way along. I’m double back on myself now. Coming back up and over into a off-road valley somewhere over there probably. Looks amazing. Really green. Well, made it onto the little gravel section at the end of the climb. It’s a bit loose, so struggle going up, but I think this is the highest point. It’s going to be, I don’t know, 12 mi of downhill. Probably the first 3 or 4 miles off road. This is going to be pretty epic. Okay, it’s time for lunch. Quite a late lunch, but I knew there’d be a nice stop if I carried on onto the off road. And here it is under this tree. Absolutely beautiful. Not a solar round. This is what I’ve made the trip for. Absolutely stunning. And on the menu for lunch, cheese roll, uh, crisps, olives, and some dried fruity mix and hari bows for rafters. How good is that? heading down there. Unbelievable. Look at it. We got to lose about I think it’s about 1,200 m of descent. So, it’s going to be incredible. It’s not all off-road. first third of its off road, but it looks pretty amazing. Absolutely mind-blowing that view. Look at it. Okay, looks like the last bit of gravel. I can see tarmac. The road is tarmac down there. My god, that’s been hard. Not really properly ridable. brakes on all the way. Really loose. Big chunks slipping over the place. My hands are absolutely wrecked. But nearly out onto the road section, but still incredible. Absolutely amazing. That’s where I’ve just come from. All the way through there. Well, this is a seriously amazing descent on the road. It’s been going on for miles and miles. I think I’ve got another two or three to go. Absolutely incredible. Well, there’s a couple of tunnels on the road into Mustar. Shorter ones don’t have any side riding area, but the longer ones do. bloody noisy and it’s a pretty busy road going into Mos following the the river. It’s the only way in from this end of uh the river. Okay, so I’ve been following the Naretva River all the way up towards Musta from down that end heading uh another 67 milesi up uh up that way which is downstream. So I made it into Mustar this morning following the Naretto River. about 20 miles. Very, very easy day. Well, it’s my rest day really. And uh right in the middle of Mustar. And there’s the old bridge. There are some people on top. Jump, I think, or just um having a look. But yeah, it’s pretty pretty spectacular bridge. Well, here I am at the uh the old bridge and the Red Bull diving competition. I think it’s still going on. Um kind of early evening now. It’s cooled down a bit. Nice. Yeah, there’s a lot going on. Well, I had uh one night in Mustar. Well, I had the whole afternoon actually cuz it was a really like short day, almost a rest day to get here. Stayed in this really good little hotel last night in the old town. Great breakfast and just heading out of Malar. Um, got one massive climb to do today. All the climbing in one go, I think. Probably about 1 th000 mters. But, uh, yeah, got plenty of water. Let’s, uh, just give it a go. So, we just spotted this building on the way out of, uh, hostile. Still got all the bullet holes from the war. So, looks uh, pretty scary actually. And, uh, amazing that it’s still here like this. It’s a bit uh strange to think that this was all going on in the n 1990s. All in this area, completely wartorrn. Incredible. Right. Well, I’m out of Mustar now. Found the road I need. Heading to Gecko. About 50 miles from here. But there’s the big lump I’ve got to get over. Okay, into the climb now. There’s Mustar back there. And I guess I’m not even the fifth into it yet. But it’s a lovely steady gradient. 5% good road. Pretty quiet actually. So should be okay. Just keep plotting away. Well, I do believe that is the top of the climb straight after breakfast. Just over 1,000 mters of climbing. was actually once I got up to the kind of the tree line gradient wasn’t quite so steep and it was a bit cooler and also in the trees. So yeah, glad to have got that one out the way. Not exactly super scenic up here. There’s a little bit of a drop off, maybe a couple hundred meters, and then there’s kind of a plateau, slightly uphill plateau to where I’m going, another 30 mi. So, yeah, got that done. Hardest part of the day completed. I was a little bit worried about that one last night, but yeah, not too bad. Not too bad. Oh, this is better than I thought it was going to be. So, I’ve been following this valley road for the last ooh 10 miles on the way to Gecko, which is where I’m staying tonight. And it’s been a lovely road. Pretty quiet and kind of rolling flat, slightly uphill, slightly downhill. uh profiles like that all the way to the end. So, we got about another 15 miles to do. But yeah, it’s been a really nice kind of second section to the ride after this morning’s exertions. Even got freshly laid tarmac on this section. Absolutely beautiful. Okay, just got into uh do well about an hour ago actually and found a place. Uh great little spot. So the lady’s up there and she showed me to where I’m staying which is in here and it’s a little apartment on its own. It’s got four beds. So, uh, I’ve got a bit of a choice. her little kitchen, her fridge, which was stocked up with juice and stuff, which is all free. Uh she’s really, really generous. She bought out a coffee, some juice, some pancakes, some biscuits, and some of her homegrown tomatoes and cucumber from the garden here, which I’m going to use to make a pasta sauce tonight. and just popped down to the supermarket. The only one that was open on a Sunday evening. Luckily, there was one open. So, I got a couple of beers, some snacks, and I’m going to sit down here in a nice quiet garden, chill out for a bit. Okay, this is what I’ve rustled up tonight. Same as most nights when I’m in a double apartment with kitchen, but um yeah, some pasta with vegetables. looking pretty good actually. So, um that should get me going for tomorrow. I’ll just climbing out of Gako. It was a nice day last night, but uh the smell of smoke in the morning. valley is just full of I think wood smoke. Everyone’s chopping wood and burning wood I think around here. There’s also a big power station back there which isn’t exactly scenic but there we go. Okay, just come over a little climb out of uh Gako, couple hundred meters and now um dropping down to Lake Cling. Going to be cycling along that for a little while. Well, I’m in a pretty long tunnel and there is a little walkway on the side luckily. So, lighter anyway, but uh it’s pretty uh worrying that Oh, wow. That was not a pleasant experience going through there. So loud. Very very close to the uh trucks, but wide enough section to ride on. Uh no lights in the tunnel at some stages. So uh definitely needed my lights. It was downhill. I don’t know how long it was. Quite long. Popped out into kind of a nice view. Another tunnel coming up. Heading down there now. Quite a long descent, I think. And after that downhill just entering the Sjetska National Park. Looks pretty stunning even from this little bit. Okay. Up on the roads. Wow, this is a stunning valley. Crazy drivers though. Well, the lries are absolutely crazy down here. So, I’m really really taking it steady. But beautiful valley. So, the valley’s opening up now. The road’s a bit wider. I feel a bit safer. But that was pretty stunning. So, I’ve been chasing this logging truck down the hill. Yeah, he took me on the other side going up. Gave me loads of room. It was really, really light and friendly. But on the downhill, obviously, I’m going quicker. But I’m happy just to sit here. Right, just dropped down to a little town of Broad where I’m going to cross the river. It’s the river Dina. down there. So, I’ve been following the course of the river, although I’ve gone quite away from the river. It’s gone up probably 100 m above the river, winding its way along, and now seems to be dropping back down again. Well, it’s another beautiful morning. Just leaving the camp and the little uh mini chalet that was in last night. Excellent night’s sleep. So yeah, just heading down the road a bit into Montenegro. Okay, just been through the uh exit border for uh Bosnia and then crossing the bridge of the Dina River into Montenegro.