Day 28 (Montenegro): Njegusi - somewhere close to Virpazar

today’s distance: 69km
total distance: 2485km
riding time: 4h

Feeling better today - no more problems breathing at night. Woke up to a bunch of Bosnian construction workers enlarging the house not too far away. Took off soon enough and climbed the actual pass between Kotor and Cetinje. More switchbacks with a great panorama. No clear blue skies though, always a bit hazy today. Bad weather looming?

The Montenegrin cousins of the Italian caterpillars were out in full force - and similarly unsuccessful in crossing the road they had set their sights on.

Downhill into Cetinje, where the first thing I noticed was how hemmed in the town is by the mountains (it’s the former capital), the broad boulevards and the massive amount of people standing opposite the president’s palace. Not sure what was going on.

Hung around Cetinje, did lunch and eventually after updating the website and speaking with Aleksander (the son of the internet cafe owner, who is learning English on a U of Montana website and through playing Counterstrike from the sounds of it), left town.

More uphill I thought, but the it soon turned into a constant downhill into Rijeka Crnojevica, complete with almost no one on the marble promenade but with a pleasant atmosphere. The views on the downhill section were great … birch trees had taken over from mostly rocky terrain and the surroundings were lush light green. Good stuff.

Headed on, went the wrong way, returned, took the right way and off I went on a roller coaster. Kirsi had promised a “varied landscape” and she sure was right. The road doesn’t follow the river to Lake Skadar, but rather goes up and over some good climbs, the road going through various small hamlets and villages and the mountains taking on a range of shapes. Eventually I reached Virpazar, which I had thought would be much bigger. Found a great camp spot for the night and will check out Lake Skadar in the morning.