After Sisak we set off dodging the rain (which seemed to keep most dogs indoors, so no chases this time!)  However, we are still not into the camping zone, so our Croatia has been a tour of B&Bs (Bike and Beds). Our stays have ranged from traditional wooden houses (with log burner) to restaurants-with-rooms and private houses. Hopefully we will have more luck camping later in the trip to bring the budget back into line.

Following the Sava River into Lonjsko Nature Park we went through THE Stork village (Cigoc) The nests are huge!! There were literally Storks everywhere, could even make birdwatchers of us both! Later on whist going through one forest the stealthiness of our bikes caught some wild cats by surprise as they scurried away into the trees, although at dinner that evening, and without photo evidence we couldn’t convince the pukka nature lovers. 😦

After the lovely countryside, it was time to catch a train to avoid traffic. Why are continental railway platforms so low? Or in the case at Osijek, non-existent? Getting the bikes down required serious teamwork, however getting them on at Novska was even harder! The previous train stopped for ages so we’d assumed that we would have plenty of time to work out how to get the things onboard. Whilst surveying the train, the number of people hanging out of the windows watching us suggested that this train wasn’t actually going to be stopping for long! Realising that the conductor/guard hadn’t got off but was now actually ready to blow his whistle, we threw the bikes at the nearest door and another passenger helped pull them up – the train set off seconds later, doors closed or not!! More pedalling along mostly flat terrain and we passed through Vukovar, the destruction from the 1991 war is still obvious although works are ongoing to restore the historic buildings to their former glory.

  

We are currently averaging 50km/day, compared to the epic 90km first day, but our average speeds are going up and we can now sustain 20km/h so we must be getting into the zone/fitter! Across the boarder and Serbia will be another story….