Gravel and Rain on the Road to Sarajevo

In the next leg of our adventure — Two Kiwis, Two Bikes, One Continent — we ride from the Bosnia–Croatia border all the way to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

From muddy gravel trails and soaked gear to breathtaking mountain views and local encounters, this ride has it all. Two Kiwis taking on the backroads of Bosnia and Herzegovina — soaked, sore, and smiling all the way! Sharing the highs, lows, crashes, and storms that make this journey unforgettable.

⚠️ Safety Note:
Bosnia and Herzegovina still has areas affected by landmines from past conflicts. If you plan to explore or ride here, please stay on marked paths and check the official mine map provided by the Bosnian Mine Action Centre (BHMAC). Available as a free app on Playstore and the App Store.

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👉 Watch Part 4 here: https://youtu.be/Gq75-FUDFLE?si=FJRQyvvh_-923oAM
📸 See regular updates and photos on Instagram: @bannahsue

Music:
‘Cicadas’ by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au
‘Effervescence’ by Scott Buckley – released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au

Are you serious? Oh my gosh, that’s so cute. You a little friend. might throw a bucket and the water goes like this. Don’t hit it. After having spent the last few weeks in Slovenia, we crossed Croatia at the skinniest point and climbed up into Bosnia in Hersiggoina with a storm on our heels. Ahead of us lay 4,000 m of elevation gain over 407 km to the capital of Sievo. Our plan was to stay up in the Daeneric Alps rather than taking the more popular coastal route across this part of Europe. To add to the challenge, a heat wave swept across Europe. Our days quickly became full of ups and downs and unexpected paths of a new kind. The hard work after being previously warned about the up to 180,000 active mines left over from the recent war in Bosnia. Are you serious? Of course, this was our first thoughts seeing the road abruptly end like this. But after checking with a mind map created by the Bosnian mine action center, we were confident enough to continue. Both of us prefer quiet gravel paths to busy sealed road veres. But what neither of us as newbie bike travelers were prepared for was how small 38 mm tires would be against big gravel. You okay? The cup’s not. This is the road. Why is this? It’s on Google Maps. There’s a road, too. It’s a track. Oh, you’re good. Ow. I’m fine. No. Yeah. My narrow drop bars made balancing on the steep gravel descent even more of a challenge. Before we knew it, we popped out into a township back on well-paved roads. It was as if the settlement at the bottom wasn’t friends with the one at the top and decided the path wasn’t worth keeping. We later learned this was actually most likely the case. We had unknowingly crossed from the area known as the Federation of Bosnia and Hersavenia into the Republic of Sepska. The country is made up of three distinct ethnic groups and the regions were implemented at the end of the 1995 war to relieve tensions between them. or something. Oh my gosh, this one’s getting so While stopped to check our maps, a local woman and her adorable kittens greeted us, insisting we come have lunch and even make use of her outdoor shower. Looking back, it’s quite clear why we weren’t exactly neat or clean. a little friend. We got very lucky this afternoon. So sweet. Yeah. 100% apple juice. There is She has a drawer full of just cucumbers. An entire drawer in her fridge. It’s amazing. And the garden that wraps around the side here. And homemade bread. This is very heavy looking. Do we have No. Huh? Yeah, we do. Look at those. Oh my gosh, they’re so cute. Hi. With 36° on average each day, a chance to swim in the river was exactly what we needed. Sniff, sniff, sniff. What do you think you’re doing? I’d love this more if we weren’t trying to eat. Yeah, we’ve gone very far. Leaving our campsite early, we headed for the biggest climb so far, up and over into a canyon. We had a storm on its way, so the plan was to ride hard and have an early finish before it hit. It didn’t take long for rain to find us, but powered by dinos, we continued. with a few thunder cracks to announce Since his arrival, the storm was upon us. Ah, they’re probably Oh my god. We made a crucial mistake by stopping for lunch only 9 kilometers from our accommodation for the night. We ended up in the most drenching rain you could imagine. Paths and roads with streams and rivers within 5 minutes. The storm only lasted for the 30 minutes it took to ride to our destination. Clearly, we would have been better off to wait it out somewhere. Luckily, we had somewhere to dry out. Yeah. Like I can feel them like they’re a bucket and the water goes like this. Yeah. You tip it back and then there’s a little one in your hair toes. One of your waterproof boots and jackets didn’t stand a chance. Wow. Yeah. It’s okay. It’s good. Despite what we had expected, fresh water has not been hard to find in the Valks. These roadside springs are abundant, and we were often met by locals who have come to collect bubbles with themselves. To this day, carrying a water filter seems to have been a waste of space. Heat. Heat. I don’t know how that is so Oh, that could have Terrible. That’s a That’s the one and a half. Yeah. What is that? What is going to go under? Okay. No, we don’t. Back to this. I guess the rest of our route from Bits to the Zako felt far less remote. Though held their own challenges. The alternate to a busy highway was a railway maintenance track which made us again regret our skinny tires the Yeah, I’m telling you. Are you hungry? Yeah. Huh? Okay, we were eventually pushed back onto main roads for the final stretch to our destination. After 6 days, we arrived in Vako as sitting on the outskirts of Surro Yeeo. Affordable apartments allowed us to settle for a while, do maintenance on the bikes, and immerse ourselves in the area. Exploring Sieo, we learned about the horrific and sobering recent history of this country. It was unlike anything we had seen or experienced before. The kind of thing you read about, but from our own eyes and set our expectations for what was to come as we headed further east next to Serbia. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Still a drop.