10/06/2023

The HIVE Tour - Episode 18 - One more ride to a WWII Croatian monument

Still struggling to find slots of good weather here in Croatia so that I can enjoy rides around and later you can enjoy what I harvest out of them. The forecast looks good for today but...look at how the day starts:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 17 - A (partially) mountainous ride up to a Croatian WWII monument

Weather might be better but it is still challenging and not quite early summerish yet. Therefore, every chance for a dry ride should be taken hence I am rolling my wheels over Croatian soil:

The HIVE Tour - Episode 16 - Cooking and house spotting @ East Croatia

My first sleep in this agricultural rural corner of East Croatia SE of Zagreb was hard to get any better. The studio I rent is brand new, and while it's tiny, it sets the bar really high when it comes to taking advantage of the available space. It's got a bathroom that can embarrass even medium houses and the owner even managed to fit an ironing board in it! Not that I use one but just saying...


Moody weather means less excursions and more indoor time which equals to more cooking time. More than happy to do so since this tiny thing even has an (almost) fully equipped kitchen. The stuff here is so brand new that I even have the honour and privilege to unbox this IKEA peeler 🙂

The HIVE Tour - Episode 15 - My first morning @ East Croatia

This is what I see as soon as I turn left from my AirBnB here in the least famous village on earth called Vidrenjak:

04/06/2023

The HIVE Tour - Episode 14 - Hello Croatia

As I get close to the Serbo-Croatian border I see a queue of trucks as long as several kms. That doesn't make me that happy cause I don't want to imagine that anything similar might be the case for the rest of the vehicles, especially on a day that the weather can rain anytime and the forecast said it should be raining already. Fortunately the queue for us non truckers is much shorter but nothing to not worry about. Fortunately, soon the queue splits in two for EU residents and non EU and luckily the EU one is shorter and faster.

In both sides they just ask my ID and bike document so after a short while I am riding over Croatian soil. Looking for some Croatian fuel though cause I already run on my second reserve. No worries when you run an efficient bike and you know the fuel gauge is rather pessimistic. Many would question this choice to run so low in fuel but logic says that there's no way they won't have a gas station if not a full rest area near the border. And after a few km I realise they really do.

With a full tank I ride the rest of the km to my Croatian AirBnB and the surprising absence of rain puts a smile on my face but a regret that I believed the forecast and didn't put my camera on. It's a pity you miss this part of the ride cause it's nice green though flat. Finally it rains for a few km around the last quarter of the distance but seriously, I don't care at all. I'm dry by the time I arrive.

Ladies and Gents, welcome to Vidrenjak, Croatia: