Distance cycled: 74km from Kotor to Lake Tara, national park, Montenegro
Average speed: 20.5km/h
Moving time: 3h36m
Total distance: 4983km
Border X'ings: 18
Money spent: €18
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Having charged all my belongings and cooked Kennedy a hearty breakfast at his place with views of the rocky mountains surrounding the lake I was ready to hop on my still broken bicycle in search for a replacement wheel in the Montenegrin towns along the coast.
It seems Montenegro offers many more sandy beaches than Croatia but I didn't have the time of the day to relax with my feet in the sand.
Kennedy asked me to meet him in the coastal town of Budva where I would meet his Australian buddy in a restaurant/hotel called, unsurprisingly, Kangaroo hotel. By the time I got there I wasn't able to see either of them, however I did get to meet the receptionist who was so much more than beautiful, gorgeous or stunning but this goes for many of the girls in this area of the world. I really should stick around for longer but I am a man on a mission, I'm now almost 5000km from where I left Norway leaving me with 4000ish km to Israel.
In Budva I wasn't able to find a bicycle repair shop but I was again led to a man who does this job in his shed next to his home, again, like everywhere else I have been in Montenegro he was unable to repair the problem due to him not having a 28" wheel.
Anyway, I wearily pushed on after a filling goulash lunch along the windy and hilly coastal road.
Many people today told me to take the two tunnel's through the mountains to get to Podgorica where with any luck I should be able to find a decent bike shop. These people said that the tunnel was cyclable but when getting there I was surprised to see a sign that indicated that cycling in the tunnel was prohibited especially when a few cop cars drove by me on the road leading to the tunnel.
Here I was left with three options, one, cycle it anyway and risk killing myself, two, finding another route to the capital over the mountains, or three, hitchhike with my bike.
I chose the later of the three and it worked out pretty well, after 10 minutes a guy who worked for an explosives company with a van picked me up and took me through both tunnels dropping me off at the lake shore about 20km from Podgorica.
At this national park lake there wasn't any secluded areas other than behind a restaurant where there was an info center that had closed for the season. There was a guy who lived in a small shack here and I asked him if it was alright to camp, he didn't seem to have any problems with it so I set up under a shelter where tourists can view info of the surrounding and beautiful area.
When the Cruise ships drift into the bay of Kotor – its a little surreal
This is the coast of Montenegro after cycling through some sketchy tunnels
Boing Boing is a long way from home… despite being given to me by a girl from canada in Quebec… still, thats also a long way away.
A bit blurry in the background… but no cycling permitted in this tunnel… but i got through by hitchhiking.
Tranquillity
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