Saturday, September 9, 2023
Thanks to the dog Rozi for waking us up at 6:30 AM, we now have plenty of time to pack up and catch the 9:45 AM ferry. It’s incredible how many things manage to escape from our bags and hide in the van over just two days. We really hope we’ve taken everything with us; if not, it will be a lesson for next time.
After breakfast and packing, we head toward the ferry (3 km). We also get support from Primož’s parents and Rozi to the ferry, and personal photographers for our boarding and waving from the deck. We boarded the same ferry that brought us here a few days ago (we recognized the stickers). We didn’t know then, but we are on a double-decker ferry, which completely fascinated Iris! Despite the ferry’s capacity, the line of vehicles was so long that a few didn’t make it on. We hope their four-hour wait for the next ferry passes quickly.
In Valbiska, we waited for the ferry to Cres for about an hour, managed to be among the first ones there, and secured a spot in the shade. This ferry is cheaper, €4.25 per person and €4.25 per bike. We boarded among the first, in a convoy with five motorcyclists, and parked behind them, with Iris eagerly posing in front of the bikes. During the ride, we managed to sneak into the ferry’s underdeck despite the prohibition to see how the cars were parked. After about half an hour of sailing, we arrived at Cres in the port of Merag.
To say the hill from the port was long would be an understatement; the hill seemed never-ending. We tackled a solid 8 km in first gear, consoling ourselves before each bend that it was the last one before the top (it wasn’t, none of them were). The sun beat down on our heads as we smartly chose to ride around one o’clock in the afternoon. We took a few breaks but didn’t dare to check the remaining distance on our phones. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.
After a few false summits, we finally reached the real one and were rewarded with a 5 km descent toward the town of Cres, followed by another climb, around 6 km long. We took a longer break in the shade, ate nectarines, and noticed we were running low on water. Though not thirsty, we reached for our reserve liter and daydreamed about how much we would drink when we found more water.
The last 20 km of the route were mostly downhill, occasionally reaching speeds up to 60 km/h, a significant improvement from the meager 6 km/h on the steeper climbs. We were joined by a bug named Franc, who uninvitedly and aggressively collided with Primož’s face, then moved to his sleeve. He stayed with us for a over 5 km, posing for photos on the handlebars before leaving us.
We were eager to reach the Bijar campsite near Osor. The distance from the ferry to the campsite is about 47 km, but our butts, legs, and backs felt like it was more. Although the campsite is among the pricier ones in Croatia (a night for two people with a tent and other less obvious costs comes to about €40), it is probably also one of the nicest. The shade of pine trees, proximity to very clean sea, and quiet neighbors (at least near us) made the effort of cycling across Cres in a day worthwhile. Near another cyclist, we set up our tent and caught the sunset while swimming in the sea.
After a shower, we cooked a mushroom stew for dinner and caught the last light for a few pictures. Currently, it looks like tomorrow we’ll head back along mostly the same route and try to get off Cres and back to the mainland by evening. We hope the hills don’t grow overnight, as we’re not fond of their current height.
