We left Dubrovnik with the aim to reach Herceg Novi in Montenegro. We were excited to be cycling Montenegro, assuming we would be leaving the tourists and their buses behind. It turns out that Montenegro is just as touristy as Croatia. So we still had to share the roads with a hundred tour buses.
Once arriving in Herceg Novi, we decided it was time to find a wild camping spot. Unfortunately the bay area was a lot more developed than we anticipated and the further we got towards Kotor Bay, the less likely it seemed we were going to find a suitable wild camping spot. We asked to camp at one gas station, they neither agreed or disagreed. We decided they didn’t seem to happy about our presence, and ventured on. Eventurally we came across a camping site, and decided, with the dark stormy clouds closing in, instead of pushing on, it was best to stop for the night.
Kotor Bay and the Old City
The following day was supposed to be an easy day of cycling around the breathtaking, Kotor Bay to the Old City of Kotor. It was something we had both being looking forward to. We wanted to take it slow and enjoy the scenry. After about 5km we got the first puncture of the trip… or rather the first 3 punctures of the trip.
1 hour 20 minutes later we had fixed the puncture, the sun had gone, the rain had started, and we were soaked, but we were back on the road… for about 30 minutes, then the tyre started to deflate again! Wet and frustrated, we stopped at a very souviet looking café bar for a coffee, to rethink a new plan. There was a particularly cheap guesthouse only 10km away, we decided to reinflate the tyre and head there for the night…. making the day the shortest cycle day of the trip so far, covering a total of about 25km.
The guesthouse didn’t have the most central location, with no nearby supermarkets or restaurants, but it did have an amazing view of the Bay.
The following day was sunny
We continued around the bay, and finally made it to the old town in Kotor (along with the hundred tourist buses with hundreds of tourists). Kotor is probably one of my favorite ancient towns of the trip so far, unfortunately we had our bikes and all our gear with us, so we couldn’t walk the old town walls, but we did push our bikes around the town, and enjoyed some cheap coffee.
We had a few hours in the town before it was time to set off for Budva, where we were staying with the first couchsurfer of the trip, Justine. We spent a few days chilling out in beautiful Budva, with beautiful weather, yummy pizza and great company, before continuing on cycling Montenegro.
From Budva we headed further south along the coast to Bar.
It was unexpectedly hilly, and very hot compared to our other cycle days (late 20’s – I’m sure my Aussie friends will laugh at that). We heard about a “short-cut” inland to the Albania border crossing from Bar, and though the road was a bit narrower, and started off with a steep incline, the cycle along the road was amazing. Minimal traffic, good views, relatively good road. After a couple of days cycling Montenegro on good roads, we eventually made it to the Albanian border. From then onwards, “hello roads with pot holes and mud“.
Cycling Montenegro stats:
Accommodation: 1 night in an “official” campsite, 1 night in a guesthouse, 2 nights couchsurfing, 1 night wild-camping
Kilometers cycled in Montenegro: 130km (“mas o menos”)
Total kilometers: will have to double check… around 1500km (maybe)
Total days in Montenegro: 7 days (5 nights)
Total days cycling: 30 days
Average spendings per day: 14 euros (“mas or menos”)
Puncture tally: 3 (Michael) – 0 (Kelly)