Day 19: From Mostar to Trebinje (145 km, 830 vm)

I left the window this night open. I thought that the Muezzin would wake me up anyway at 5. When I woke up at 5:15 there was still no calling but I was glad that I woke up automatically. I packed up and left the apartment at 6.

Right outside of Mostar I had my first encounter with the Bosnian wild dogs. 2 dogs homeless dogs saw me approaching and started running at me. Filled with adrenaline I went as fast as I could. One of the dogs ran after me for about 10 seconds then stopped. Shortly after I rode by the next stray dogs. This time I didn’t sprint by but kept calm which did not spark as much interest for them. The ran to me but when they realized I didn’t go any faster the lost interest. So if you are ever come across stray dogs don’t try to out cycle them but just stay calm.

I followed the same road that I came yesterday for about 40 kilometres. Because it was flat I made distance quite quickly. After about 55 kilometres at the lake of Hutovo, a bird reservoir, I had to climb for about 500 metres to get to the small village Hutovo. The vies over the lake from the pass were stunning.

In Hutovo the road flattened. I now followed the Austro-Hungarian railroad track that was built in 1901 to connect Mostar to Dubrovnik. The landscape is quite spectacular. The railroad track was built along various mountain ranges in this very mountainous terrain but remains mostly flat. The railroad was closed in the 70ies and the stations along the way were destroyed and abandoned during the war in the 90ies. In the new millennium an EU funded project built a cycle path along the track. I came across old, destroyed and abandoned villages with war ruins that had already trees growing out of them. I also had some encounters with cows in the middle of the road. In Switzerland I would have just cycled by, but I was not quite sure how Bosnian cows in the road would react. I stopped, hoped that the cows move but the just kept staring at me. A bit daunting. I even had the pepper spray in my hand that I brought along just in case. But when I cycled by they reacted just like Swiss cows – not at all. The absolute advantage of this route is that there is virtually no-one. No cars and and also no people. It feels a bit like you are out of this world.

I had a lunch break after about 95 kilometres in Ravno, another old railway station which has now been turned into a hotel. This was the point when I had to decided if I want to stay here or cycle another 50 kilometres where I could stay. Since it was only 11:30 and Ravno has not really much to offer I decided to cycle on.

The next 30 kilometres to Hum, another abandoned village, went pretty fast. Here I needed do decide whether to go to Dubrovnik or to Trebinje. Since I was in Dubrovnik before which is swamped by tourist by plane, road and cruise ships I decided for Trebinje, a small town still in Bosnia. From here I could enter Montenegro the next day via a hopefully not so busy road.

Once I arrived in Trebinje I found a nice apartment for just 20 Euros. I did my washing and went to the local beach on the river. The water felt freezing compared to the Mediterranean Sea but was very welcome after the long cycle today.

So tomorrow I will go to Montenegro which is only about 20 kilometres away from here. I slowly can feel Greece getting closer. But there is still Albania in the way.