A Blind Woman, Two Wheels and 25,000 Miles – Day 24

I am feeling a little better this morning and wanted to explore the ship after breakfast. As always, Bernard, camera firmly attached to head, took multiple pictures as we entered the Port of Split. When we went down to the car deck and everything was secured back into the panniers and onto the bike a deckhand magically appeared to guide me to the bike. This morning there were no arguments about pillions walking off the ship! He was so gentle and considerate in the way he guided me to the bike. We pulled off into a blazing hot sun and trundled towards the police check point - the formalities took seconds and then we were waved through into Croatia! The next couple of hours we spent walking around Split looking for the elusive pin badges to no avail and eventually we had to give up and move on. If anybody out there has two Croatian Pin Badges then please feel free to email us!

With the way I was feeling I didn't want to spend too long on the bike today and Bernard had been up most of the night and so we decided to find a hotel as soon as possible.
The roads and driving came as a relief after Italy as everybody seemed to drive slower and more considerately and Bernard relaxed a little as we searched for a hotel on the main highway from Split to Dubrovnic. Lots of people rent rooms out and they stand on the side of the road holding signs saying "Rooms" or "Apartments" and this seems to be the main way of finding accommodation outside of the agency approach which the Rough Guide seems to say is common.

We stopped at one Hotel and dripped our way into the foyer and Bernard winced and said "This looks really, really expensive" and he was right. The receptionist seemed condescending as she responded to our polite request for costs of one night "Well first I have to check if we have a room available!" and then lo-and-behold she did have one available at 150 Euros. I could hear Bernard choking and spluttering but managed to usher him out of the hotel before he went off on one of his - by now international famous "HOW MUCH!" rants. We clamber back on the bike and set off again looking for somewhere that was not seeking to pay off the Croatian National Debt!

During the next couple of hours we rode carefully and gently onwards until, on one right hand corner, the bike's rear wheel slid sideways and an exclamation came from the front in terms of "That was slippy!" and onwards we went. Little did we know at that time what we were to discover later on. Soon after we found the Hotel Merlot and we gratefully accepted as tiredness had truly set in by 3pm as it now was. We had planned to have a couple of hours sleep to take the sting out of the tiredness but plans soon changed.

As Bernard unloaded the bike I explored the room and orientated myself to my ever changing surroundings.

After a little while he reappeared with the first load of belongings and told me we had a problem. It seems the shock absorber had slipped on the mounting bushes and it was this we had felt earlier when the bike slid sideways. He reassured me it could be fixed and after unloading the bike out came the tools and exhausts were taken of and after much swearing and cussing the offending shock absorber came off under a very hot sun shielded by a very British umbrella!

We decided that the next morning a reinforced heavy duty part would be required to restore the bike to something Bernard would be happy to continue on. So we left everything until the next morning (it was Sunday now) when everywhere would be open for business.