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Douglas Brown's Travels
We set of from Plitvice in Croatia at 8:15am on our longest days ride to Sarajevo in Bosnia. A ride of 405km over 9 hours. We travelled via Bihac, Bosanski Petrovac, Drvar, Livno, Suica, Rumboci, Rama and Jablanica. Light rain was falling so we all set off with our wet weather gear on. The rain meant that I could not mount my GoPro on y helmet as it suffers from fogging in damp weather. I would have to restrict my photo taking to stops along the way. We stopped for coffee at the Mellennian Cafe in Bosanski Petrovac. We crossed the boarder from Croasia into Bosnia and the scenery immediately started to change. Although we were still travelling through many villages, many of them were deserted. And others displayed severe destruction. Many villagers had fled during the 1992-95 war as either refugees or simply moved to the cities and not returned. The scenery is spectacular with sweeping hill lines and villages nestled in the valleys. There were very few signs of active agriculture. However, the roads were filled with modern European cars which contrasted strongly with the derelict infrastructure. We travelled som wonderfully twisty roads with several very tight hairpin turns.by lunch time we had all honed our riding skills and taking the mountain roads in our stride. We are lucky that all twelve riders on our tour are good riders and no one really holds the group back. We stopped at Livno for lunch. We had a choice of meat, cheese or spinach Burek and drinking yoghurt. While eating lunch the rain increased in intensity and we new we were in for a wet ride ahead. We made two further stops. One at Titov Voz ( Tito's Teain) which is 100meters off the road on a gravel track. Our guide then explained gather recent history of the area and the influence Tito and Milosivich had on the Slavic people. He also briefly touched on the 1992-95 Serbian conflict. The second stop was at the road above Rama lakes for a photo stop of the valley below. We then descended the tight twisty roads to the valley. As we approached Sarajevo the traffic increased and tested our traffic riding skills. Luckily the car drivers in this country are mindful of motorcycles and give them their rightful space on the road. As soon as you put your indicator on a space opens up for you.. Surprisingly all 12 of us managed to remain together as one group all the way to our destination the ART Hotel. We arrived with time for a shower and hours rest before the evening meal. A rest that several riders needed as I spied them in my rear vision mirror stretching there legs, shaking their hands or standing on their pegs several times in the last hour of riding. Our guide took us to a resturant for a local specialty Cevapcic which is ground meat, kajmak cheese and onion served in a pocket bread.
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Ross Bar the wet weather it looks great. I should have gone with you guys