Let’s go cycling

Well…some slow down and beach time was due… so we’ve had a few days of small distances and fabulous beaches.
Montenegro has been something else! Spectacular scenery both inland and coastal.  It’s gotta be up there amongst my favourites 🙂. And it seemed to be always sunny!
Nice quiet roads, just as long as you keep away from the major M1 highway.

8th October Molunat to Herceg Novi, 23 km

What a spectacularly beautiful bit of coast!  A quick border crossing and a breathtaking descent into Herceg Novi and the little country of Montenegro.

We meandered along the esplanade and found a place we to stay on the waterfront.   Perfect for a lazy afternoon and some Mediterranean swimming. The water temp is a bit cool now but by Tassie standards it’s still sauna like 🤣

9th Oct to Kotor, 34km to the City of cats…

A mostly delightful ride and not too traffic heavy. 

Kotor is a gorgeous old town, manic in the daylight hours and so delightful once the cruise ship crowds disappeared for the day! A couple of nights here, in the tiniest of rooms imaginable and yet described as an “apartment”. 

11th Oct Kotor to Budva, 37km

Hmmmmm.
Took the quiet road out, a bit of a hill, and very scenic.  Commented frequently on how wonderfully quiet the roads are in Montenegro.

Then we hit the highway. Combined with roadworks. Nightmare material.  So…another change of plan and we find ourselves on a “better” and quieter route, with the added benefit of a substantial hill to climb.  Have a guess as to how much joy that added to my day… but the views at the top were speccy and there was a downhill to compensate.

We did have to face a little more highway on the way into Budva, no way around it. But we lived to tell the tale and escaped to the boardwalk where we just had to deal with pedestrians as we made our way along the shore.

Two nights here in an “apartment”, which was actually bigger than our house 🤣 and very cheap.  Great to explore the seafront, the sunsets and the many places to eat, drink and take in the ocean.

13th October, Budva to Petrovac.  Just 16km…because the beach was too inviting and 16km was enough  highway for one day!

We booked two nights at a well priced and “all inclusive” hotel.  However, on arrival they told us they were closing for the season tomorrow so we could only have one night! The room they gave us was already packed up for the closure 🤷‍♀️ so we ended up with a fancy balcony room and awesome sea views.  Who’s complaining!

14th October to Virpazar, 32km, 760m elevation. From Petrovac, we had to choose.  Heading toward Albania- but the only way along the coast was via the highway, which reportedly gets busier and much more dangerous toward the border.  So, we opted for the longer and much hillier inland route via Lake Skadar.

Glad we did- the ascent today wasn’t too evil and the views made it all worthwhile.  Stopped at a little homestay for the night where the parents sat around smoking (no English)  while their teenage kids did all the communicating and cooking. A bit of a different experience! But dough balls for breakfast…the perfect calorie booster for a day of hill riding 😉

15th October to the Albanian border, 65 km, 1080m elevation and probably one of the best days of cycling we’ve had.  The hills were decent but manageable…and the outlooks were simply stunning for the entire day.