DAY 125 - TROGIR TO ROGOZNICA: 18.1 MILES (36,200 STEPS)

23 August, 2011

18.1 miles (Total: 1185.9 miles) 36,200 steps (Total: 2,305, 091 steps)

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.

Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

I set off early from Trogir, but I knew that there was something wrong as the cramps continued to bother me. I had received a call from Kike Curavic, who was a world record holding endurance diver and with whom I had been invited to stay in Sebinik, and he told me that I was crazy for walking in these temperatures and that it was going to be hotter today than yesterday and hotter tomorrow than today. I had walked in high temperatures before, especially in Albania, and thought I could make it to Rogoznica.

I had set off at six o’clock in the morning and had expected to reach Marina Frapa, where I had been invited to stay through a contact of Mr Reic in Split, by about 2pm.  It transpired that they were expecting me then and had organised a welcome celebration involving a band. I ended up arriving into the Marina at close to 7pm—five hours late.

As I had walked from Trogir, I had found that I needed to stop every hour for at least half an hour to take on board fluids and Ibruprofen. I reached a beautiful village called Marina at lunchtime and the leg cramps were getting worse. A very kind lady approached me and said that she had read about me in the newspaper and wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help. I said that there wasn’t, but we talked for about fifteen minutes and that took my mind off my legs, which was a relief.

As I stopped at cafes/bars and restaurants along the way, invariably the owner/manager would come out and say that Mr Franjo, the owner of the Marina, had called in looking for me—this must have happened at four out of six stops I made along the way and was backed up by phone calls. I felt guilty at having messed up the plans, but I just couldn’t physically have gone further, faster.

By the time I arrived, the absolutely stunning ‘Marina Frapa’ in Rogoznica, the band may have long gone, but the welcome party led by the Director, Jure Mula (picture) and Marketing Manager, Branmir Jakircevic was a joy to see; not only for their welcome, but for the ice cool selection of fruit juices and water which they had provided.

I had a quick shower and then went on a short tour of the marina, which is certainly amongst the most beautiful and best equipped on the Adriatic, if not the Mediterranean. The array of luxury yachts confirms that they are a favoured place for the ‘discerning client’.

The marina is the vision of a visionary entrepreneur called Franjo Pasalic, who developed the marina from scratch over a period of fifteen years. It is a good lesson in the power of development because with the marina, came first the shops and the restaurants to service the high level clientele of the marina at the marina itself. The marina now employs around 150 people directly, but sustains the growing town of Rogoznica, as the employees at the marina need somewhere to live and they in turn need shops, supermarkets etc. Because the town was attracting attention for its prestigious marina, property developers saw it as a place where non-sailors might want to come on holiday and mix with the ‘rich and famous’ etc. etc. What has been a struggling small fishing village of a few hundred, has now grown into a thriving town of several thousand, providing vital jobs for the local population. But without visionaries prepared to take a risk and local officials prepared to support that vision through planning, then this would never have happened. Moreover without positive welcoming staff, it could not be sustained.

I have been privileged to stay in some very special places on this journey so far, but ‘Marina Frapa’ is probably the place I would most look forward to returning to for a holiday—now there’s a thought to get the legs moving again.