reading, 'riting, and rain

Croatia

Rain pours down over Hrvatska - the most we've seen all trip, counting even our housebound day on the farm and the storm back on our way to Baie de Mont-Saint-Michel. It cascades down the steps, snakes down the blacktop hills and concrete surfaces to wash out into the Adriatic, beating against Ivo's roof in Opatija where we await the good weather promised us tomorrow by the admittedly imperfect forecast...so, for now, we are held up from biking. No problem; there are always ways to pass the time...

...so we start off with a quick trip down through the rain to the local Konzum supermarket and nearby bakery, Ivo's makeshift shoe-slippers squeaking against the drenched pavement as the rain drums down upon our umbrellas. Rain is a beautiful thing provided you are not stuck biking in it; if you are, it is difficult to appreciate - the clothes in your panniers become damp, the clothes on your back weigh you down and steal much-needed body heat, every road is a treacherous challenge against the elements. Fortunate for us that we are not stuck in that situation...

...and we pick up the usual - bread, pastries, yogurt for breakfast; vegetables to cook into our bean mix for lunch and dinner; a couple of beers to pass the time - before trudging back up the hill to hide from the rain at Ivo's. There are some English-language books on the shelf - we pick out one dumb American laws and another about a doctor who treated civilians and soldiers from both sides during the Russian-Chechnyan conflict, alternately reading and writing blog posts to the ever-present sound of the rain. Eventually it nears lunchtime; we set some beans to soak, pass another couple of hours writing and reading...

...day becomes afternoon, and the rain shows no signs of letting up. Hopefully it will not delay us further; we've got a destination to reach. The beans are ready to cook, but that means another 2 hours or so of boiling and simmering. We prepare the vegetables for the stew, cooking them in as much olive oil and spice as we can cram into the pot without thoroughly destroying the meal. Back to reading and writing for now, with short breaks to check email off Ivo's computer or stare outside at the incessant rain - or, on occasion, receive more of Ivo's encyclopaedic knowledge of the region, its history, its minutiae of corrupt officials and distance-obsessed racing cyclists...

...afternoon slowly fades into night, and with it the rain at last drops off to a low murmur before stopping altogether. Maybe we will be able to ride out in the morning! Our blog posts are caught up, our legs well-rested from a day of near-complete inactivity. We finally tire of reading and retire to the warmth of the blanket, drifting off into sleep. Another day closer to our departure. The past couple of weeks have been uncommonly restful - save for a few bursts of all-out stop-to-stop cycling - so that we feel more and more that it is time to go, to return to the trip of multi-day wild camping stretches Out There. Next up: the stretch along the coast opposite the Dalmatians, reputed to be scenic beyond all belief, and then on down the coast of Hrvatska through Split, the token borders with Bosnia, and Dubrovnik - and then on further, further into yet more unknown territory, into Montenegro and Albania before at last arriving in Greece to tackle the final stretches into Istanbul...exciting!