Motovun to Plomin ... it rained

We were up early and lining up for the hotel breakfast buffet to open at 7.30am. The scrambled eggs were good, and we needed our energy for some big climbs this morning. It had rained a little overnight and was overcast and drizzly outside.

We hit the road by 9.00am with rain forecast. We have rain jackets in our jersey pocket ready for action. We rode down the steep incline from Motovun and turned off onto quieter single lane roads near the bottom of the hill. The roads were a little slippery, but the rain held off - at least for a while!

The ride started off on the flat, but it wasn't too long before we hit the hills. It was pretty steep to start, with about a 5 to 6km climb, and then the ascent was at a better gradient for another 6 to 7kms. We had fantastic views back to the hilltop old town of Motovun, and we could see how much we'd climbed. At about 16kms into the ride, we hit our highest point, which was 459m above sea level!

I felt like I coped with the hills much better than my last ride - perhaps I'm more accustomed to the bike now, and yesterday's rest helped my recovery. Others definitely had a worse day, with two riders coming off their bikes in the slippery conditions - luckily, no major injuries, but those abrasions are going to sting tomorrow.

Our morning tea stop was at about the 30km mark, and we could feel and see the weather turning a bit nasty. Gayle and I pulled over to first lock the screen of our GPS to stop the rain affecting the touch screen. It wasn't too long before the shower turned into heavier rain as we were getting closer to our morning tea stop in Pazin. We probably had 4 to 5kms of rain pelting into our faces and on a busier road!

We arrived at Pazin and went to a friendly cafe to seek shelter and caffeine. The rain had really settled in now, and the Odyssey team made the call that our day's ride was over - it was just too wet and misty to be safe.

As we arrived in the back half of the pack, we copped the rain more, and our riding knicks and shoes were soaked. We opted to head into the hotel, Guesthouse Renata, in the vans in the first shift, while others went and visited Pazin castle - they were dryer than us 😅 As much as I love a good castle, the hot shower and change of clothes was always the winner. We have our wet gear hanging up in our room to dry - the socks and shoes might be an issue 😄 🤣

The Odyssey team are just so adaptable - the rain caused them a lot of logistical grief with packing all our bikes, arranging taxis, rearranging lunch plans etc, but they just took it all in their stride and kept smiling. We had our 'picnic ' lunch at the hotel and enjoyed a good local beer.

Looking forward, the weather forecast for tomorrow and future destinations is looking like it will be warm and sunny 🌞

Our rooms are very quaint, more guesthouse style with an attached bar and restaurants. We are located 12kms from tomorrow's ferry ride to the island of Cres, where we have the biggest ride of our trip.

Tip for drying wet shoes - stuff them with rolled up toilet paper to absorb the moisture! It seems to have worked.

Dinner was at the guesthouse restaurant, and the food was again lovely, with enormous portions.もっと詳しく