Day 13
Fruska Gora Mountains, Serbia
95 miles. 2479 ft climbed.
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I’m blogging a day late as last night much to my fellow team’s excitement we camped wild in the Fruska Gora Mountains hidden away from sight, but with permission from the local farmer and although I had reception after over £26 in fees had not produced anything like a blog it was going to have to wait.
That was something of a contrast to the start of the day in Croatia where on paying the campsite bill , Nigel phoned us just as we were getting ready to get on our bikes and said you’ve got to come up here and see what they’ve got.
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After having entered Croatia and had our only climb of the day just before the end, the hills used to grow the vines were also backed all along one side by houses. The owner explained originally they were troglodytic dwellings that over time were incorporated into wine cellars behind house fronts as they keep a constant temperature.
Of course we were offered a tasting and ending up buying some of his produce. He had good English and explained that whilst we are now in Croatia 90% of the population of this area are in fact Hungarian and speak both languages It is quite sobering to think that politicians decide boundaries ( in this case originally after the First World War) but the population carry on trying to live the way they know how and to retain their own identities.
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Deciding to run a bit off the main route we found some more straight roads across agricultural lands and a couple of poor villages, Nick wisely not looking to invest. Above we ran through a dust cloud which smelt wonderfully of mint from the tractor cutting the ditch.
Finally coming off the flat lands we ran on larger roads into Osijek, the largest Croatian town in Slavonia.
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Running along the opposite bank to the main town we crossed the river Drava on the pedestrian bridge which was famous as a symbol of the war of independence, although it has had to be rebuilt since.
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Osijek looked an interesting place so we cycled into the old fortress part of town which was preparing for a music festival at the weekend and was full of activity. A very enjoyable trip round.
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We then had to leave on a mix of cycle lane and road as the cycle lane was being built. This made us detour through a little market and we decided to pop into a bakery to find a local speciality to add to our coffee stop routine. This would prove to have been a good decision.
Carrying on to our revised coffee stop at Aljmas we had our only real wrong route of the trip when roadworks threw us off scent. To get back on track we ended up cycling down the yet to be made up new road.
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Back on track and nearing our coffee stop a hill loomed into sight, something that always excites Nick. Then lo and behold a cyclist appeared from nowhere. That really got Nick going and he left us to chase the cyclist up the hill. By the time Chris & I caught them up Nick had a new friend in Sabrina from Munich who was cycling round Croatia to write a book on cycling tours.
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Joining us for coffee Sabrina explained she is an architectural student and had diverted here to look at the unusual rebuilt church commissioned after the previous one had burnt down.
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As she was going to run the same route as us as far as Vukovar she joined the train and seriously outpowered us as we covered the next 12 miles at over 18 mph.
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We stopped initially at the Water Tower which has been retained as a symbol of the resistance to the Serbs having withstood hundreds of direct attacks. Vukovar is also known for the awful massacre that occurred when a prisoner exchange deal went wrong and 300 were left in the control of Serb paramilitaries and summarily executed a few kilometres out of town.
The building that the prisoners were held in has been turned into a very respectful memorial to those unnecessarily killed. This was yet another moment on this tour that makes you think about what drives people to do such things.
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Taking lunch nearby we were entertained by some bank voles popping in and out of their holes. Sabrina left us to continue her exploration of Croatian cycle paths and we headed for Ilok on the border with Serbia.
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We ran along quite a busy road but on seeing the road closed signs we ignored them as we do in the U.K. and had a three mile stint where we had the road to ourselves. This was fine until the last 200 metres which was unrolled stone and sadly a bit like in Sweden I caught a pinch flat. The first and only mechanical of the tour. We speedily changed it in 10 minutes and got through to meet Nigel just short of the Serbian border.
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I had chosen a quiet crossing point. Leaving Croatia was easy and we had to cycle uphill to the Serbian border control which was manned by a jolly fellow whose English was confined to Novak Djokovic and a rather more surly woman with good English who questioned where we were going to check we said the same as Nigel.
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Touching base with Nigel we had decided to wild camp in the Fruska Gora Mountains and he went ahead to try to find the perfect spot, on the condition it was no more than ten miles away, as we did not fancy too much climbing. This he did as explained earlier with Monica posted at the roadside to stop us cycling away as the camper was as ever hidden down a track.
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We all had our camper showers before dinner to smell sweet and with Internet connectivity poor I joined the others in cards but came out the shedhead of the evening.
We whizzed through Croatia but could see the huge amount of work being carried out on their infrastructure both for cars and cycles. Definitely a work in progress.
We have now made our ninth country of the tour since leaving France on 1 September. Todays blog will hopefully be written on the journey home.