The early ferry got us into Split at 9. Finn went off to find a mechanic to fix his bike and got back, good as new, just before noon. We then went out to the post office to see if anything had arrived and, unfortunately, nothing had. 
  

 
Leaving the post office a bit dejected we rode to nearby Lidl to pick up some food and started out of Split not long after that. Split rose up into mountains almost as soon as we left the coast, so for the first hour of the ride we were climbing back up to about 400 meters above sea level.

  
Almost as soon as we emerged on the other side of the mountains very thing suddenly became a lot quieter, more dispersed, more rural. We rode along a road that followed the motorway for a bit. This road then turned into a rocky, unsealed surface for almost 5km for a while, which made for some interesting riding.

  
We turned back onto a bigger road shortly after this though, crossed a big gorge and then followed the river all the way down into the sleepy town of Trilj. Here the land was flat for miles around, ringed by some small hills with a river snaking through the plains. We followed a dirt track out along the river for a while until we found a small grassy bank where we could camp. It was a good nights sleep, the grass made a welcome return after all the rocks we had been laying down on for the night the week before.

  

We woke to find that we had pulled off a lot closer to the road than we thought, and the bush that had seemed so big that we sheltered behind was half the size in the light of day. We got dressed quickly as cars whizzed passed us under a thankfully clear sky.

In the morning we followed the road along a beautiful stretch of coast, all rocky bays and inlets. The road wound around the creases in the coast and the clear turquoise Adriatic looked extremely inviting. This continued for fifty-odd kilometres until we cut inland for a short while.

After our brief overland excursion we arrived at the back of another inlet. The last few kilometres to getting back to shore had been a bit difficult as the inlet and the mountains functioned as a funnel for the wind which blew in off the sea and was concentrated on the road we were travelling.

After lunch at the inlet we started on the last leg to Split. It had gotten quite warm in the afternoon and instead of waiting it out like we normally would we pushed on through. There was a big climb out of the inlet that tuckered us out, but from there it was a long descent and then flat almost into Split.

The last few kilometres before Split was on a busy three lane road that oftentimes narrowed to one as road workers were frequent but dispersed. This made the riding, especially in this dusty heat, pretty unenjoyable.

When we finally arrived at the centre of Split, the magnificent ancient site of Diocletian’s Palace we were wrecked. Tired, dusty and sweaty we wheeled our bikes though the narrow streets crowded with tourists trying to find the accommodation Caroline (Finns mum) had booked us.

Well, Caroline had done a great job (Thanks Caroline!) the place was right in the centre of the palace ruins. We got the room key and were greeted with the refreshing blast of an air conditioner and – what a treat – two comfy beds and a shower. After getting clean for the first time in a week we collapsed on the beds for a long nap.

We had most of the day to kill, what with our ferry not leaving until 4.30. We just sort of bummed around, did some admin putting up blog posts, sorting through photos etc.
We knew that we were going to have to cycle into the night once we got off the boat so taking it easy in the morning seemed like a good idea. The ferry ride was going to be long, about 7 hours as it stopped at a lot of smaller islands along the way and wouldn’t get into Zadar until 11.
We boarded the ferry and found somewhere we could lay down for a nap. Maybe halfway through the trip a Croatian guy, another passenger on the ferry came around and asked if we wanted to pass the time playing board games with him and some other passengers he had rounded up. The rest of the trip did, indeed go by much quicker sat around one of the small tables on board playing games with this motley crew of international passenger: Germany, Canada, Ireland and Croatia.

 

 
We got into port a bit before 11. I don’t really remember much of the ride, there wasn’t that much that stood out in the dark. We then rode through the night sixty kilometres until 1.30 and then pulled over into a field by the road and fell asleep. It rained for the majority of the ride and through the night as well. It was enjoyable though, riding in the cool of the night. We didn’t get to see much of the view, but I suppose that’s the trade off. We were happy to go for it anyway, knowing that tomorrow night there would be a bed waiting.

Down into Osor in the morning where we got food from a bakery in the small town. It was a nice little place, it was Sunday morning when we rolled in and the square was busy with people milling about after church.  
Our plan today was to ride to Mali Lošinj, a town on the island right next to Cres and we get a ferry from there. It was a short ride from Osor along the coast and up over the low land of the island.

 

 
We got into Mali Lošinj and got tickets for the ferry, it was leaving at 4:30 so we had a bit of time to look around. Now, we had planned to go hang out by the shore for a bit, have a swim then head out to Lidl to get food for lunch and dinner. A big storm blew in at 2 though – all the restaurants and cafes by the shore rushed to get their stuff indoors. 

  
 The storm continued for hours, and in the excitement of it all – or at least in trying to take shelter from it – we sort of lost track of the time. An ill advised last minute rush to the shop to get food for the 7 hour ferry trip after the storm cleared resulted in the boat leaving without us.
Normally this wouldn’t be to bad, just take the boat tomorrow. This time though, we actually had somewhere to be, a timetable to keep. Finn’s mum had booked some nice accommodation in Split and we were supposed to be arriving the day after tomorrow. With the only sailing to the mainland at 4.30 (arriving at 11) the next day we realised the only solution was going to be a night ride tomorrow evening.
We went back into town for the rest of the night, it had gotten busy now the storm had passed over. When it was time to sleep we rode our bikes over to the other, uninhabited side of the coast only 10 minutes from town and camped by the shore.

We started the day rolling down hill into the bay that the ferry would depart from. It was about 5km winding down to the coast and at 2km from the the shore the line of cars for the ferry started. It was bumper to bumper the whole way down but we just rolled past them all, down to the kiosk to pick up our tickets and then onto the ferry. 

 

  
It was a short journey, the island of Cres is really close the the shore and we were off the boat after 25 min. We waited for all the cars to pass us and then started up the climb on traffic free roads to the top of the island.

  
It was a long but gentle climb. The peak was a thin spine that you could see either side of the island from, the mainland to the right and more islands off on the distance on the left.

  
From here it was a long descent all the way back down to the shore and into Cres town. By now it was the heat of the day so we left our bikes and went to get lunch and wait out the afternoon in town.

 

 
It wasn’t until 4:30 that it was cool enough to start up again. We left Cres and started the ride out to Osor, the last town at the southern end of Cres. We rode along through the middle of the island, past rocky fields with sheep and olive tree farms. 
The plan was to keep riding until a bit before Osor and camp, however around dinner time we passed a small restaurant on the side of the road cooking pig on a spit. It looked so good we had to stop. It was delicious, and cheap too now that we had left the tourist hotspot of the island behind.

  
We left the restaurant with full bellies and rode on until just before dark. We pulled off on an access track to a cell tower and the continued a bit behind it and camped in a rocky field overlooking Osor.