Day 19 (Croatia): somewhere on Pag - Drage

today’s distance: 106km
total distance: 1782km
riding time: 6-7h

Didn’t sleep too well despite a good spot and woke up exhausted. Usually a sign to rest up. When I was about to get out of my tent, the rain came down in droves. Back in my sleeping bag with my bike shorts on and out about an hour later. Rain and more rain until the town of Pag and more rain after that. Eventually it stopped and I headed to Zadar. Only 50km - not much really, but I was tired. And I felt it. The road crosses a number of ridges, it had become sunny by now, gorgeous views on the right, various shades of grey, mostly of the dark kind, on the left. Which was my general direction. The road takes the ridges in a perpendicular fashion - shortest way across, also the steepest.

It was all good until I reached Zadar when the rain hit again. I got out from a grocery store and waited … and waited … and waited. After about two hours, the sun came back so I set out south. The idea was to cover a bit of distance from Zadar. It turned out to be glorious. Big puddles of water on the street made even the otherwise rather aggressive Croatian drivers a bit more defensive when they saw me … thanks for not spraying me. But because of all the moisture in the air, the colors were especially intense.

 So I pedaled along the coastal road, stopping here and there to take in the views. The islands before the coast were an amazing backdrop. Continuing along the same road, I eventually found a nice place to camp near an olive grove and turned in.