Mechanical issues only much worse.

And the day all started so well - a lie in of sorts, a relaxed & hearty breakfast on the lawn and some gentle climbing until the bike route started proper. Ambled through the next village of sorts - a restaurant & some tourist type caves. Planned to stop if open but no - only workmen. Pushed on through increasing farm establishments to eventually be 'greeted' by a very irate / territorial dog agressively barking as they do & then jumping up and lunging at me. Got the handlebars causing something of a crash. Eventually the owner gained some semblance of control. Tried to establish damage - seemed to be just a toe clip issue but as a made I hasty exit it became clear the wheel had been badly buckled. Not good. Spoke key out & try as I might it wouldn't be trued. In fact I might have made it worse. Eventually it dawned that, with 29 miles to go cycling wasn't an option at the moment. Help was needed. The question though was who - I was in the middle of no-where. Decided to head back to the workmen & see if any of them spoke English & had any ideas. This did mean getting past the devil dog again. Made sure bike was between me & it. Unfortunately the workmen spoke no English. They got a lady from the cave ticket office who spoke a little, who got her colleague who spoke a bit more. He phoned the restaurant owner who spoke good English & was glad to help (if he could.) He offered to call his cousin who was good with things like this. Failing that either he would take me to Dubrovnik tomorrow or he would phone around & find someone going today. He assured me things would be fine. When I saw his cousin's methods I was less sure - jumping on the wheel to remove the buckle. Didn't work. Lift to Dubrovnik. Theo was all for introducing me to his parents & having me as guest of honour - which would've been an experience but a lift had been found for me & the sooner I was in Dubrovnik the better. Felt very ignorant. As it happened the lift was just back to Ravno, where my actual lift was going from. Here 2 other guys proceded to hammer ten tonnes of shit out of my wheel. I knew this wouldn't have an impact until the spokes were adjusted but god knows what that is in Croatian. My lift appeared, knew where the hostel was & assured me he had a number for a guy who could sort my wheel. Compared to all this the border crossing was a breeze.Read more