Bicycle touring Balkans

Today is going to be a longer ride and it happens to have a serious climb at the end. The weather however is announced to be stormy and rainy from noon on. We will have to brave it, we already have reservations at the other end in Stari Bar.

It's a beautiful small path down the hillside out of Cetinje into Virpazar. We pass by the natural reserve Skadar admiring it from above. Not much traffic, it's great cycling. A quick food stop in Virpazar as the bitumen will start pointing up. Meanwhile nature gives us a huge break, the weather keeps holding off, hour by hour we are still in great conditions.

We ride up an old rail way grade, a nice and steady climb. The valley is huge and rocky. The mountains are dark, Montenegro!

St John's church cemetery talks to me, I felt a superb sense of communal cohesion of those resting together here. "We are here bound together".

Reaching the summit of this, as yet unknown, pass requires tenacity. We are grinding it out one hairpin at a time with not one car on the road. At the top we're on Posturman pass, much like Cottonwood pass but twice as much vertical. Over 4400ft up today. It was epic.

We roll down into Stari bar with 6500ft descent total for the day and almost 9 hours from departure. Phenomenal touring day.

We have the most amazing place to stay with balcony view on the old fort. We're hungry!Leer más