Day1: 12 hours, didn’t make it to intended camp, detours and collapsed roads. Spent at least an hour in the 50t cog. No dinner so just ate peanuts and an apple, Jack gave me some crackers. Kilometers of Bosnian ordinary life. WW1 Assassination bridge, 1984 Olympic bobsled run, multiple Spomeniks. Our tents are up right near the Zeneca one.
Day2: seems like it was uphill all day, intermittent hike a bike way into the mountains, towns receding below. Went to one of the cool Spomeniks and then this old guy came out with a bottle of some kind of wicked alcohol and talked our ears off, we didn’t understand a word of what he said but he was very kindly and hammered and I drank some too. Fell short of camp again, freezing rain for the last couple of hours so when we found an unlocked crap mountain hut we were grateful. We’re in there now, marginally warmer than outside, we’re shivering but soon in our bags. Failed again on dinner, so only a can of sardines and a packet of Tucks crackers. And a Twix bar.
Day3: We were pinned down in the shit tastic mountain hut by freezing rain and gale at 6000’ until 10am this morning. When things let up we suited up and continued on the ridge track, rocks dirt and mud. A few hours later we found a proper mountain hut with the caretaker there who gave us tea and bread and a local cheese. In return I had to drink schnapps with him, which I did (Jack doesn’t drink so I had to do the lifting). We continued on through majestic wooded mountain roads, usually on each side a red sign with skull and crossbones-MINES. One of the legacies of the civil war here is tens of thousands of unexploded landmines in the forests. Fully creepy feeling, I just stay on the roads, to piss, to crap, everything. Didn’t see a soul. End of day descent into a town under a fortress, ate pizza. Everything we have is covered with mud and soaked. Tonight in an otherwise empty hostel.
Day4: swept mud from the hostel floor, lubed chains outside and set off at 7:30. Jack is hobbling like an old man but hanging tough. We did 20 pretty miles mixed gravel and asphalt then got into the woods for a purgatory bike push in persistent rain. After an hour I checked map and figured out a bailout back to the road and we sailed along all day. Sorry to miss one of the dirt sections but a mud pit with 29% pitches, screw it. We later found out that the exit point of that section is through a severe landmine field, so we might have been turned around. Having to retreat would have been funny and ghastly in equal parts. Ended the day early enough to set up camp in the light. Have done a fair job making up distance. Unfortunately still raining on and off and everything being wet sucks. And also disaster: I had a small bottle of schnapps from that guy the other day in the frame bag and the top came loose. NOW EVERYTHING SMELLS LIKE SCHNAPPS. Amusing.
Day5: We got deep, hours deep, into the mountains on my planned dirt route but then the track just petered out. We searched around for a long time, couldn’t make it through so had to do a multi-hour backtrack to loop around the range. Cold raining hard the whole time, all our stuff falling apart from the grit and wetness. Filthy as. So then I routed us on back to a later point on the route on some dirt roads that were gorgeous, but we’re missing a couple of Spomeniks and off-road sections. Rode with headlamps to get to this town. Luckily Ramadan makes it such that dinner is served late. Jack’s rental bike is wrecked, brake pads scraping metal against the rims and dubious shifting. MAYBE the timing is back in line, but probably not.
Day6: most fucked Bosnia mission yet. Started the day trying to have someone repair Jacks phone which was destroyed by rain. Waited for two hours during which time we visited a bike shop with no mechanic, so I recabled Jacks rental and we visited an amazing Spomenik. No go on the phone. Jack is super bummed. It’s 1pm, we head out of town riding in rain on the road. Visited two more Spomeniks and got sorta back on track. Then went deep into the woods in this national park on a gorgeous mud road. Rode for two hours and the road was washed out so we started hiking up a bulldozer trail. Got lost took two more hours, got to the top of the mountain in the fog just as it was getting dark to see another insane wonderful spomenik. I think Jack is broken from the long hike a bike.
Day7: wouldn’t be a day on this trip without it being spectacularly inside out and sideways. Woke in a freezing rain like every day. Frustrating to pull on all the clothes brought for the rare emergency and know that you’ll be wearing them all day with no way to go warmer. Visited an incredible monument (Kozara) then descended the mountain to get to the Croatian border. The descending track got smaller and smaller until it was a left turn into a new watercourse from all the flooding and beyond that a hiking trail. To hell with that, we climbed back up the mountain, 2 solid hrs. A tour bus driver gave us the alternate route down which was a road under construction so descending it was a bath of reddish tan mud, head to toe, and dodging cement trucks and bucket loaders. At the bottom we cleaned up best we could at a stream. By the time we reached Croatia it was 3pm, we’d intended to be there by 9am. Sticking to roads with intermittent sun and downpour, we bee-lined for Jasenovac, the site of massive death camps where ethnic Serbs and Jews were brought from Bosnia during ww2. We’re outside of there now, and will visit the museum in the AM. Canned corn, crackers and chocolate for dinner (but we had a hot lunch).
Day8: last day, this trip has battered us. Start out with something heavy, a visit to the museum at Jasenovac, where there was a Nazi/Ushtase death camp. 80 thousand people killed in four years, 1941-45, mostly ethnic Serbs, Romas, some Jews and Muslims. The commemoration monument is spiritually enormous, a massive concrete flower-like organic sculpture that digs into the earth and reaches toward the sky. We were both deeply affected. From there it was a time trial toward Zagreb, country roads with short breaks. At least sunshine. All the rivers overflowing their banks. Mudslides and road reroutes. We visited one more spomenik at Pleso. Rolled into town at sunset, returned Jack’s bike to the startled rental people who it seems have never seen a bike so beaten down in one week. Checked into our Airbnb, desultory celebratory dinner. Exhausted.