Day 15: From Sibenik to Split (85 km, 820 vm)

My day started a bit later again than planned. I just couldn't get myself out of bed. When I finally had breakfast and had everything packed up ready to go it was past 7. The way out of Sibenik turned out to be much more complicated than I thought. I hit a lot of dead ends and when I was finally out I was already on the bike for 30 minutes and hadn't made any ground.

The first few kilometres went, as usual, up and down. At kilometre 20 I had to decide weather I want to take the coastal road or head inland into the mountains. The coastal road would have been flatter but with much more traffic. On the side roads in the mountains there was really no traffic but I had to cover quite some vertical meters. The first ascent had 10 % and lasted for about 300 vm. The higher I got the less shade there was. Today was going to be another very hot day. At a little village I had a coke in a small cafe on the road and then headed on. Shortly after the little tarmac road turned into a gravel road so I had to go a lot slower.

My next stop was Trogir. A very beautiful little town about 25 kilometres from Split. I wasn't feeling to well. I felt a bit nauseous probably because I didn't have to much breakfast. I got some snacks, found a nice place close to the water, jumped in to cool and then ate. After the snack I could have just stopped for the day. My body was shutting down and the heat was getting to me. But I wanted to get to Split as it would be a nice destination and a perfect spot to decide on the next parts of my trip - either via some islands or inland towards Bosnia.

The last overall 30 kilometres really were more painful than most of what I have done so far. It was boiling hot and once I reached the outskirts of Split there were some mean ascents that took the rest out of me. Once I finally arrived in Split at the main promenade I found a cafe, ordered coke and a bottle of water and many ice cubes. Once I cooled down I booked a room with air condition - I would not have gone without one today - and took a bit of a rest.

Now, after dinner, I will plan my next steps. From here on there are many options: Go inland towards Sarajevo, take a ferry to the next island to cycle parallel to the main land, go along the coast, ... . Let's see.