Baja to Kopacevo... 111 km 68 miles
October 10, 2023
Today was a day for navigating far&square! We used all the tools we have and hybridised as necessary to get to our destination! Route markings are pretty few and far between, but there is no shortages of routing options.
....except for the border crossing into Croatia where there was no choice but the main trunk route with lots of trucks, travelling in swarms (conveys) and at break neck speeds! Both Paul and I had to make for the grass shoulder as one particular 'swarm' came steaming past at the very same moment as a swarm of oncoming vehicles!!
Once over the border we had more routing options of poker straight roads across endless farmland. Ultimately, we left the roads completely, quiet or otherwise, and rejoined our now familiar and comfortable routing of a gravel track atop the flood defence dyke that accompanies the Donau along virtually it's entire length.... on both sides!!
The going was very good today with favourable winds and good riding temperatures for a long day in the saddle. We'd made great progress by reaching the 80km mark by about 2:30pm, so thinking we only had 20km to go we decided to stop for a restaurant lunch in the Vineyard region of northern Croatia. We indulged in a mixed grill and and a beer to sustain us. Once we left the town of Suza.... and climbed a moderate sized hill we realised that EV6 diverted from the road to some smaller paved tracks in more rural surroundings. Once again we improvised to get back on track. Fortunately, in the end this didn't cost us too much extra distance, but our post lunch distance was 30 rather than 20km.
In usual fashion we rolled up to our overnight stop at nearly 6pm, which does make for a very long day and a very short evening! But not today, thanks to our most gracious of hosts, Bel and his wife at Family AutoKamp Kopaceva. Bel is a man of great stature personality wise, if not in physically stature. He opened the gate to us donning a GreenBay Packers hat, a rather large smile, and a terrific welcome! Both Paul&I immediately, and instinctively knew we had struck gold with this venue!
Paul left me to do the deal with Bel whilst he went 200m down the road to a local shop to get some provisions for a light dinner. Certainly before he had even got that far Bel had grabbed 3 shot glasses, two different bottles of his homemade Plum Raki moonshine and a bottle of whiskey, and 2 beers. He stayed with is for about 45 mins
l for us to indulge ourselves in!! What a terrific guy was Bel! Despite all reasonable efforts to pay him for our night's stay at his campsite he resisted and explained that the season was now over, and that we were his guests! That was it, Bel had spoken, and we were his guets for the night. Great discussions ensued in his presence, on all manner of subjects Balkan, Eastern Europe, and Canada where he had visited when his son lived there many years ago! Calgary is too cold for too long to be fit for habitation in Del's view. His son is now back in Croatia helped to run a number of the family enterprises!
Dinner was an omelette al la Paul!
Dobrodosoli
Doug&Paul
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