First nights in Bosnia

July 18th, 2010


First nights in Bosnia

Reading about Bosnia we saw that campsites were few and far between and that wild camping was potentially dangerous due to the risk of landmines. To date we had camped around 70% of the time across Europe and we weren’t too keen to change our plans (and budget) to encompass hotels or something similar. – Posted by Justin

Croatia by numbers

July 16th, 2010


Croatia by numbers

Arriving in Croatia to a new language, currency and climate (read very very hot) we weren’t sure what to expect. Like the rest of Europe we enjoyed some holiday time in Croatia finding small family run campgrounds, quiet beaches for swimming and many shady spots to sit out the heat of the day. – Posted by Emma

Day of food – Croatia

July 15th, 2010


Day of food - Croatia

We tried to document a Croatian day of food on three different occasions, failing each time to capture our evening meal – maybe it was sun stroke? We finally managed to photograph every meal on our last day in Croatia. We stayed in a caravan within a campground with a kitchen and we invite you to admire the fine china used for our dinner. – Posted by Emma

Camp Croatia

July 15th, 2010


Camp Croatia

Good weather, figs, apricots and plums in season, clear blue water for swimming – we’ll try not to bore you with too many of the details of our trip down the Croatian coastline, but suffice to say that the soundtrack playing in our heads was that of our summer holidays. – Posted by Emma

5000 kilometre photo

July 6th, 2010


5000 kilometre photo

We’ve been going a bit slower lately because of the “so hot it cooks your banana in your panniers” summer heat, so this 1000 kilometres sort of crept up on us. After a breakfast of fresh melon, muesli and yoghurt in Novalja (a town on the island of Pag in Croatia), the bicycle computer clicked over to 5000 kilometres as we were taking one last look at the waterfront after early morning espressos. – Posted by Emma

Greeting to the Croatian sun

July 5th, 2010


Greeting to the Croatian sun

As I watched the sun came up over the ocean from the deck of our ferry the size of the mountains ahead made my legs ache in sympathy. The mountains seemed to stretch the length of the coast and extend into the ocean where only their tips were visible in the form of strings of bobbing islands. It was 5:30am and already I could feel the heat of the sun and see small glimmers of heat haze on the bleached white hulls of the becalmed fishing boats as they passed through the wake of the ferry. – Posted by Justin

Italy by numbers

July 1st, 2010


Italy by numbers

We’ve always loved Italian food, and while we had some substandard focaccia and gelato in Italy, overall the cuisine lived up to our expectations (oh and the scenery was spectacular as well). We left food heaven with more insect bites than we arrived with, possibly more weight (see gelato figures below) plus fantastic memories of the roads we travelled and the people who stopped to talk to us in every small town we passed. Here are some facts and figures from our time in Italy. – Posted by Emma

Surreal ride up coast to Ancona

July 1st, 2010


Surreal ride up coast to Ancona

We were at danger of staying in Italy forever, so looking at maps and timetables over beers in Montegello we made a rash decision to cut our hilly meander short and head straight for the coast, then up to Ancona to catch a ferry to Croatia in just three days. – Posted by Emma

Road to Piano Grande

June 28th, 2010


Road to Piano Grande

To the title music from a spaghetti western we headed off into the sunset on the road to Piano Grande. Well at least that’s how I had pictured it when I first read a guide book description of the Piano Grande area. – Posted by Justin

Day of food – Italy

June 24th, 2010


Day of food - Italy

This is what we ate during one cycling day in Italy. We ticked all the boxes for the clichéd Italian food as our day started from a forest free camp continued as we cycled through towns pre-occupied with the Italy vs Slovakia world cup match and ended in our quietest free camp yet next to the Fonte Avellana monastery. Maybe the monks vow of silence has spread to the forest critters! – Posted by Emma