We are cycling the Trans Dinarica route from Tirana in Albania, heading north, up through the Balkans then turning west to head across the Alps and across France to Roscoff where we hope to catch a ferry back to the UK.  We have been cycling now for 20 days since leaving Tirana in Albania, through Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina which are covered in my previous blogs.  We are now in Croatia having already cycled 900 kms and climbed 20,000 m.   For the full Trans Dinarica route and all the regular updates visit http://www.transdinarica.com.

Below is a map of the route we took through Croatia.  If you cannot see the map it is because you are looking at the blog in an email link.  You need to click on the top right of the email “Read on Blog” so you can see the maps and videos.

Monday,  25th May 2026

Livno, Bosnia to Sinj, Croatia

Climb 604 m, Distance 54.52 km

Our apartment in Livno was lovely and quiet so we had a good night’s sleep and were up early to head out and find breakfast.  Everything had been shut yesterday as it was a Sunday and a very religious area.  There is a church next to our apartment.  They broadcast their service on speakers outside the church to all the people standing out there as the church was so full.  After church all the family groups headed to the numerous ice-cream parlours for large, dripping ice-creams.  There was a bakery round the corner so we got some freshly baked apple turnovers and yoghurt,  but we only had 5 Bosnian Marks left and it cost 7.  This is the first place that hasn’t taken Euros or Cards, so no yogurt then.

It was 21 C in the shade as we set off at 8 am, and half an hour later was 34 C in the sun, with no cooling wind.  We had gone about 18 km across a pancake flat flood plain so had created some breeze just from our speed.  But then the climb began.  Fortunately as we got higher it got a little cooler, and the high speed descent was great.

At the bottom we spent quite a while sitting outside a village bar under a shady tree.  But back in the sun it was very hot all the way into Sinj.  As we entered the old centre of the town cars had to pay to enter for an hour so there were blissfully few cars and lots of pedestrian areas full of bars and very helpful people. 

We were standing on a corner trying to spot a restaurant when a man came up to us and not only told us where to eat but what to order from the menu,  the history of the town and it’s Roman origins and various other things.  By the time we cycled on we had forgotten where the restaurant was, but never fear, another man who had overheard the first conversation soon sent us off in the right direction to the Ispod Ure traditional restaurant, where the owner assured us we didn’t need to lock our bikes here.  (We did anyway).

The traditional food suggested was indeed delicious.  Feeling stuffed we set off in the heat to find our apartment.   More circles!  Eventually an old man waved at us from a shady café, he was the owners dad.  He put our bikes in his garage and bought us a cold drink.  We had an interesting conversation over Google Translate covering everything from football to politics, neither of which I know anything about.  Finally we got in our thankfully cool apartment and chilled out for the afternoon.

The only disturbance being about 4 earth tremors, the first being the worst.   Here’s hoping there won’t be any more.  We are planning to leave an hour earlier tomorrow before the heat, as we have further to go and will not be climbing to cooler heights.

Tuesday  26th May 2026

Sinj to Knin

Climb 792 m, Distance 74.4

As it was forecast hot for today we were on our bikes and away by 7 a.m.  It was already 21.5 C in the shade and heating up rapidly.  We had a lot of rush hour traffic for the first 5 km until we turned off down a tiny lane that wound round little farming communities and wild flower edged fields recently cut for hay.  This probably explained the number of squashed snakes in the road.  From the information sign by the road I would say most of the squashed snakes were Balkan Whip Snakes that are non venomous although quite large.

As we are now out of the mountains we are hearing different birds. According to the Merlin app we were listening to Hoopoes, Corn Buntings, Greater short toed Larks, Nightingales and Turtle Doves. 

We went past the ruins of the oldest church in Croatia, St Salvation, 9th century with 14th and 15th century headstones in the graveyard.  Then up to the tiny village of Centina from where we looked down into the Karst Spring source of the Centina River, called the Turquoise Eye.  It was getting really hot by now so we were disappointed that the only shop was shut.

We managed to find a tiny bit of shade a little further on where we stopped for a snack and drink.  It was now 32 C in the shade and 40 C in the sun.  Too hot. 

The next section of dried rocky scenery reminded me of the landscape in Spaghetti Westerns, for those of you old enough to remember them.  We had two sections of gravel.  The second one was perfect, flat and fast, alongside a river, with ruined mills and farms along the way. 

Just before Knin we got to the 22 m high waterfall that falls into the spring source of the river Krka.  All this time we had been cycling around Mount Dinarica which the Trans Dinarica route we are following is named after.

Arriving in Knin at 13.00 we dived into an air-conditioned Bistro and then found our air-conditioned apartment.   This involved carrying our bikes up to the third floor,  7 flights of stairs!!  Nice comfortable apartment though.

We are planning on starting even earlier tomorrow as it is not cooling down this evening and the forecast shows it being hotter.

Wednesday  27th May 2026

Knin to Obrovac

Climb 586 m  Distance 58.9 km

We had meant to leave at 6 am but it took longer to get the bikes and bags down the 7 flights of stairs so it was 6.15 am before we were rolling and already 21.5 C in the shade.  We had a steady but not intense climb to start, then turned off the fast road into rural lanes.  We went through some tiny hamlets and we noticed that although the farm walls were old most of the houses had been rebuilt.  There were also more ruined abandoned houses like those we had seen in Bosnia.  From various pamphlets we had seen in Knin we gathered that there had been some fierce fighting in this area in the 1990’s.   One village, Ervenik, where we stopped for a snack, was almost totally in ruins except for the town hall.  Even the WW2 memorial had bullet holes.  They had started building expensive looking houses outside the village, but the centre seemed to have been left.

The scenery today was not that exciting.  We were following parallel to a low range of mountains of our right, but the rocky land around us was mainly scrub.

So that we could finish cycling by about 10.30 when it gets to about 36 C, we had cut off a bit of our route and headed for the little tourist town of Obrovac.  This is by the river Zrmanja and has a hotel, were we are staying, a couple of restaurants of sorts and bars and one or two boats.  The tiny old town is quite pretty which is more than you can say about the new apartments along the river.

We have decided to change our route tomorrow.   Instead of sticking to the hills, with big days and very few places to stay, so we can’t do short days in this heat, we are going to head down to the coast and the islands.   Although it will probably be hotter down there we should find accommodation if we want to shorten our days.  At the moment we are finding it’s too hot to cycle after 10.30 am

Thursday  28th May 2026

Obrovac to Rtina

Climb 603 m    Distance 43.3 km

Even though we didn’t have far to go today we still left at 6.15 am and it was already 24 C in the shade.   As we were at the bottom of the canyon we had to climb out but luckily the sun hadn’t got to this side of the cliffs yet. 

As soon as we got to the fast road at the top, and the wind farm, we were met by a howling gale  which was a bit of a surprise.   Luckily it was almost behind us, but the gusts still managed to blow us across the road.  Fortunately the road was fairly quiet at this time, but what traffic was there was travelling very fast.

After dropping down a bit and turning onto a less busy road we found we had no wind at all.  We were now getting lovely blue sea views with the mountains in the background.   We undulated steeply and were eventually deposited back on the now much busier main road.

About 10 km further we stopped at a cafe.  One of the problems with starting so early is that after cycling for 3 hours it is only 9 am and most places aren’t open yet.  We spent a lazy hour in the cafe and I was able to have my first coffee in a month as this is the first place that had decaff.  I love the taste just can’t take the caffeine.

There were quite a few heavy lorries who struggled to pass us as the road was a bit narrow, so it was all a bit hairy.  Most of the drivers were really impatient and two vans went past with their horns blaring angrily.   We stopped off at a roadside store to get cold drinks which we drank sitting in the shade on the steps while a house martin fed it’s chick’s in the nest above our heads. 

Luckily our apartment said it was no problem arriving early so we were there by 11 am.  And the lovely lady who owns it is a keen gardener so it was a meeting of kindred spirits.   As soon as I had praised her garden it was hugs all round.  It was 35 C by then so we popped the bikes on the porch and cooled down in the shade with a view of the sea.  Thankfully it’s a bungalow so no stairs.  The downside being we will have to cycle back along the main road to a shop.

We did this at lunch time and found the bakery cafe full of cyclists hiding from the sun.  It was over 40 C now.  Glad we have stopped for the day.

Friday  29th May 2026

Rtina to Novalja

Climb 358 m,  Distance 50.6 km

After another early start we had a great day on the bikes.  I don’t know if we are getting used to the heat or the fresh sea breezes just kept us cooler, but we didn’t struggle so much with it today despite being over 30 C by 10 am.

We started along the coast with views across the dark blue water of the karst limestone bare rocks looking like a moonscape.   This is shaped by sea salt, water and the fierce Bora wind.    On to Pag Island where we had a lovely little ride along a gravel track that took us alongside the salt pans, which are apparently still in use although they didn’t look like it.  They produce 30,000 tonnes of salt from here every year.

We arrived in Pag itself thinking that 8 am was probably too early for anything to be open.  But we found the cafes and bars doing a roaring trade along the quayside, so we joined them.

Then over a new looking old bridge and we were climbing.  The moonscape suddenly turned into a lush oak forest, the only one on the island.  It goes by the memorable name of Dubrava-Hanzine Special Forest Vegetation Reserve and is mainly Downey Oak, Holm Oak and Oriental Hornbeam.

Then change again and we were back on gravel but this time climbing.  We were on one of the Kolan old routes across the island.  There was no sign of the karst rocks here except in the wonderful dry stone walls on either side of the track.  There are 100s of kms of these built by shepherds over the centuries to border pastures.

All was very lush looking here despite the heat, with the farmers cutting and bailing their hay.

In no time we found ourselves in Novalje, sitting in another café  on another quayside drinking more coffee, eating ice-creams and watching the world cycle by.

We are staying in an apartment just up the road and are planning an earlier start tomorrow to try to catch the 6 am ferry 9 km and one hill away!  Mainly because there is a much bigger hill on the other side that we don’t want to climb in the heat.

Saturday  30th May 2026

Novalja to Senj

Climb 1022 m  Distance 65.5 km

Although we were rolling by 5.21 am we were a little later than hoped.  So after a frustrating time getting out of Novalja on all the tiny alleyways that people blocked by parking their cars in the middle of, we pedalled up the hill as fast as we could.  When we had glanced at the profile it looked like it was up one side, down the other and you were there.  In reality there was another hill, then another before just the last 3 km were steeply down.  All the cars that had passed us were lined up neatly as we arrived the same time as the ferry, and 5 minutes later we were off.

So by 6.15 we were climbing the steep 225 m up to the main road with no cars, as they left the ferry first, and no sun as we were tucked into the side of the mountain which the sun didn’t make it over until about 9.30.  We also had lovely views behind us of the karst islands glowing in the sun and the deep blue sea. 

Below is a video of the harbour.   If you can’t see it, it’s because you are reading this as an email version and you need to click “Read on Blog” on the top right of the email.

The rest of the day fell into two categories really.  We were climbing steadily up to 366 m with stunning views, big rocky drops to the sea and towering rocky cliffs above.  We then had a fast descent back down the sea level where we stopped in a pretty fishing village with church bells ringing and had coffee in a quayside cafe.  All very lovely.

The other side to the day was the traffic, and in particular the motorbikes.  This built up gradually but in the few hours we were on the road we must have been passed in both directions by a minimum of 500 motorbikes all moving at great speed on the high winding road and often in groups of 20 or more.  It was terrifying as the road wasn’t that wide so they didn’t give us much space.   On the downhill section with the wind in our ears we didn’t hear them coming until the last second.  I had one eye permanently on my rear view mirror and found I had to concentrate really hard.  It was impossible to enjoy the ride.  The constant roar and rumble really got to me.  When we finally got to Senj we had a brief reprieve as we came in via the castle and old town.   But once on the quay there were so many bikes and the noise was awful.  We retreated back into the tiny alleyways of the old town but we could hear the distant rumble of their engines all day. 

We have an amazing, and very tiny, apartment in a 300 year old building in the old town.  It’s nice and cool as it is slightly below ground in the corner of a stone courtyard next to a pizzeria, which is handy.

Sunday 31st May 2026

Senj to Crikvenica

Climb 972 m   Distance 44.7 km

We had a really wonderful day today with about half the ride being off-road with stunning views, flowers, butterflies and songbirds.

As usual we were away before 6.30 so we got the bulk of the 604 m climb, straight up behind Senj done and dusted before the sun came over the mountain and it was still only about 23 C.  Later it went up to 32 C in the sun.  The last 2.5 km to the top was on gravel, well stones really.   We had been  serenaded on our climb, and along the gravel, by a Cirl Bunting, Nightingale, Red-backed Shrike, Chaffinch, Wood lark, Hoopoe, Cuckoos, Blue Tit, Serin ( although having listened to the Merlin version of a Serin it could have been my brakes!), Great tit, Blackbird, and lots of Blackcaps.

The gravel was a bit rough in places but all rideable.  After about three sections of gravel we headed back down to Crikvenica at sea level, stopping off in a village on the way for a coffee.

Our navigation in Crikvenica went a bit wrong.  First because we are doing the route back to front, so our map took us the wrong way along miles of one-way streets.  Then trying to find our apartment  we ended up lifting fully loaded bikes up a series of steps.  But our apartment was great when we found it.  We headed into town and the sea front on foot to try out one of the many restaurants lining this tourist haven.  Just glad we are seeing all these places off season.

In the next blog I will cover our cycle north into Slovenia.  If you have any questions or comments please get in touch.