DAY 133 - SUKOSAN TO ROVANJSKA: 25.53 MILES (51,060 STEPS)

2 September, 2011

25.53 miles (Total: 1283.38 miles) 51,060 steps (Total: 2,500, 961 steps)

Rob and Di Parsons would arrive into Split the next day, so I decided to make an early start and try  and complete the stretch between Sukosan and Rovanjska to try and ensure that I was able to complete the entire stretch of the journey from Zadar to Rijeka in the week which they were here. I was able to leave my rucksack at Pansion Matanovi Dvori as by coincidence Rob & Di had booked us into the same small hotel in Sukosan from which I had been encouraged to move on with a 90 euro price tag on the room.  When they called, the cost of the single room had miraculously dropped to 52 euros. I won’t mention the hotel because I understand their approach and they did look after us wonderfully well during our stay – even if the look on the managers face was a complete picture when I walked back in accompanied by Rob & Di.

The stretch of road between Zadar and Rovanska was largely motorway and direct. I decided not to chance my luck by using the motorway, even though it was more direct, and instead stuck to a more quiet road through Posedarje passing a spectacular bridge over a gorge linking the Adriatic with a large inland lake. By my calculation I thought that if I did the 40km then this would leave 150 km to Rijeka—five days at 30km per day—certainly doable. I must confess that after a very long and hard walk from Sukosan, I walked down the hill into Rovanska at the end of the day and saw the sign indicating that it was still 170km to Rijeka and my heart just sank, before my thoughts gave way to the more usual concern of how I was going to find accommodation.

There were two restaurants with rooms to let—a market—so I was able to negotiate a good rate of 25 euros at ‘Gostionica’—the owner took an interest in my journey having seen some of the press coverage and was very kind. I had a great pizza and a nice clean room and when I came to pay, she said that she would like to me to have the room for free as their contribution to my “peace pilgrimage”—such great generosity and hospitality.

DAY 132 - VODICE TO BIOGRAD: 22.05 MILES (44,010 STEPS)

30 August, 2011

22.05 miles (Total: 1247.05 miles) 44,010 steps (Total: 2,428, 301 steps)

I set off from Vodice in very bad shape (pic) aiming to reach Biograd.  Again it is a ridiculously hot day and by 9:30am I can feel the sun burning through my shirt and so brought out my fleece to put around my shoulders underneath the backpack.  The coverage from the interviews in Sibenik had clearly been quite good because the number of toots and waves I received on my way increased and that helped to spur me on.

Sometimes we surprise ourselves with what we are capable of: Just last year I recall walking 16 miles from Durham to Newcastle on a cool spring day and then suffering for a week as a result. Now I was into my third consecutive 20 mile day in forty degree heat and with a 30 pound rucksack. I realise that most of the physical barriers we face are in the mind and if we have a clear ‘why’ then we can survive almost any ‘how’.

You discover things about yourself on ventures like this and that is the reason why sport, Scouts, the army, the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and gap years have done such a tremendous amount to help young people realise who they are and what they are capable of. The tragedy is that there are many people in their fifties and older who have never really tested the full capabilities of their physical capacities and never really discovered the real person within.

On these tough days you come face to face with yourself and in my case I found only one redeemable quality and that is that I am an incurable optimist. I would often joke that my blood group was B positive. I would think that around the next corner was going to be a great little air-conditioned cafe serving ice-cold Diet Coke and chocolate ice cream; that I might meet someone who would provide me with an opportunity to talk about the truce and the walk; that any moment the phone might ring with some great advance on the Olympic Truce; that at my next stop I would find a beautiful clean hotel with a bath, buffet breakfast and broadband for thirty euros per night. Sometimes in safe environments that optimistic tendency reveals itself, as being a bit of a dreamer, but under pressure it becomes a wonderful strategy for survival.

I arrived in Biograd, which is packed full of tourists, and there is very little accommodation. I eventually found a small chalet in the woods, which was perfect as it was only 20 euros. I quickly changed and headed down to the beach as night was beginning to fall and floated in the sea under a glorious red sky and gave thanks for being a day and 20 miles closer to the visit of Rob and Di. I slept better with the help of some cool red wine and a great pizza, although the mosquitoes clear liked my choice of pizza Napolitana as much as I did.

DAY 131 - ZABORIC TO VODICE: 21.1 MILES (42,200 STEPS)

29 August, 2011

Zaboric to Vodice

21.1 miles (Total: 1225 miles) 42,200 steps (Total: 2,383, 291 steps)

I set off for Vodice, but stopped in the beautiful coastal city of Sibenik for meetings and press interviews. It was hard going as the heat was intense. To get a taste of the beauty of the former Venetian city of Sibenik, just put ‘Sv Jakov, Sibenik’ into a Google Images search engine and you will get a feel. The heat was unbearable at times as confirmation came through that this was officially the hottest August on records in Croatia, with average temperatures above 40 degrees.

I meet up with my friend Kike Curavic, who runs a great NGO called the Global Underwater Awareness Association. Kike is relaxed and charming with the type of physique that I used to see in magazines advertising ‘Bullworker’ machines when I was a kid. He is noted not only for being the world record holder for diving under the Arctic ice cap, for holding his breath under water and being the love interest of many of some of the most eligible single female celebrities in Croatia, but also because of his work on the ecology. Kike organises dives to clean up great areas of the Adriatic coast—because of the crystal clear waters of the Adriatic coast those discarded items of rubbish are visible from the surface and also present a hazard to marine life and tourists. This is where GUAA comes in to clean this up—they remove tons of waste from the seabed, everything from cars to shopping trolleys to redundant lobster nets. It is an extremely worthy charity and we discussed how it might be possible to raise the profile of the group. I sensed Kike is a kindred spirit – even if we look physically like Popeye meets Homer Simpson – because we are both championing unfashionable causes.

I set off out of Sibernik and received an unexpected and wonderful call from my dear friend Rob Parsons, who told me that he and his wife Di had decided to come out the next week to support me on the leg between Zadar and Rijeka, which was going to be one of the most difficult of the walk to date. I was so excited about the prospect of seeing Rob and Di again and also the help of a support car during the 100 miles stretch of sparsely populated coastline, that I missed my turn to Vodice and ended up in Gradina before I realised that I’d taken a wrong turn. In the scorching heat I needed to walk back about 7km retracing my steps—I think I felt so incredibly low at that point, I confess my eyes began to well up because of the sharp juxtaposition of the great news about Rob and Di and then taking a three hour wrong turn in 40 degrees of heat with a full backpack.

I struggled on to Vodice, but arrived in very bad shape physically and emotionally. Although it was dark I did still go for a swim and that helped. I found a cheap room to let, but the meal I had at the cafe next door disagreed with my stomach—I don’t know whether this was the food—spaghetti bolognaise—or my total exhaustion. I slept very little that night. There was no air conditioning, so I opened the windows that meant that the mosquitoes came in and had a barbeque on my upper arms and legs. Again I had bad leg cramps and was relieved when the sun rose and I got up and  walked on.