The most challenging days for me are the ones where we return to the boat midday. A rough sea means more Gravol to get though lunch, and another long period of sleepiness to manage. But I am starting randomly in the middle of the day – so back to the beginning we go.

Our ride plan was along the water, across the island through quiet country roads, into the busy town of Tisno, where we would cross a lift bridge over the canal, then on to the tiny town of Betina and ultimately Slanica where we would then be collected by our boat.

(Aside) Brenda – do you remember someone named Betina Herzog at our school? I wonder if she was Croatian? One never thinks of these things as children.

Our familiar breakfast done, we collected on the stone path next to the tiny boat dock. There were two boat loads of cyclists waiting to depart and keeping all of our bikes separate proved to be a bit of a challenge. Thank goodness for the tiny nameplates on the back of each seat.

The first group departed with a 15 minute gap, intended to reduce our overall size from 60 to 30 cyclists, making it easier for drivers to pass us on the road. And then it was our turn, we were off on our two island, 27km ride.

In order to simplify the ride there are a few rules:

1. Use hand signals.

2. We ride single file in groups of no more than 3, with 10m between each group to allow space for passing cars.

3. Any time the route requires a turn to another street, or crossing a busy street, someone in the front of the group is assigned the job of signalling the rest of us along until Sina, our sweeper, arrives. Having never been near the front of the pack I had never had the responsibility of signalling on the others, though today Rick did it twice and I kept him company one of those times. It is not a bad job to have signalling responsibility. Everyone waves and thanks you as they glide past.

Foolish young blonde Brit girl had the responsibility once today – crossing a busy stretch of highway. She could not focus or signal appropriately (too distracted by the sound of her own voice I fear) so we all ended up calling back to each other when it was safe to go. I know this sounds unkind, but it is a big deal to have even a small amount of responsibility for the safety of 30 other people, and she can barely ensure her own. Moving on!

The first section along the water was lovely. The Italians have a name for this type of relaxing ride “undavalet”. (Confirmed on DeepL Translate). Thirty minutes later we turned inland along beautiful quiet roads with an occasional small incline but nothing too strenuous. About an hour in, I was already scanning for a coffee stop.

Overall the ride was the flatest so far, only one small steep section, and Rick did brilliantly. He is my measure of the difficulty of the ride, as he must manage all the climbing without any battery assistance. He will be in amazing shape when we return home.

Rain threatened all morning with ominous skies, headwinds, and a bit of thunder and lightening in the near distance. We did not stop for anything other than a water break in the first half of the ride.

The descent into Tisno was fast. Another cycling group was coming up and out of town while were heading in. There were many friendly greetings called out across the two lanes of traffic. The cars must have been beside themselves at times as one cycling group each side made passing a significant challenge for them. I did see one young boy, maybe 8, cycling up the hill while speaking non-stop to his distracted parent. Such energy! And great cardio.

Tisno was a challenge. The small streets and parking zones for trucks meant that cars seemed to be everywhere at once. It became a bit of a Frogger game to navigate around so many others.

Murter is one of the quieter islands and there are campers and tents scattered everywhere. Parks run right down to the sea with campers in their little plots lined up in neat rows along the entire route. It seemed like a lovely place to holiday – once we had escaped the core of the busy town.

Our next stop was Betina, where we had time for a coffee at a litte cafe that looked out towards the harbour. Betina is a pretty spot, known for its 100 families of wooden boat builders. The small wooden dinghies and sail boats are constructed from wood transported across the island from Tisno.

We did a group photo just outside the town – which actually turned out rather well considering our various shapes and sizes and backgrounds.

The last 4 km or so along the water was very pleasant. The water is the most beautiful turquoise colour and we all stopped multiple times for photos or to just stand and admire. Although this created an occasional traffic jam, we were all patient with each other.

Next: lunch on the boat. Delicious. Truffle pasta. We were sailing on to Telascica as soon as we could once the bikes were loaded.

It is quite a choppy sea today and many of the passengers were retrieving their personal treatments for seasickness, which included a medical cream rubbed on the skin that I had never seen before. I need to follow up to see if it worked. Perhaps this would be a good Gravol alternative for me? No seasickness and no sleepiness?

We had a 3.5 hour sail today to get to our next port – at Dugi Otok (love that name) and the nature park. It was quite bouncy at times but I survived. We did a hike up to the cliffs – beautiful and impressive in their size.

Then, on to Silver Lake which was featured in a well known European western called “Winnetou”. The movie it is still a favourite here, though it was described as a tad ridiculous. It was made in 1963 so that may explain it in some part. I am not sure that films from that era age well.

We had a swim in the bay after the hike and it was glorious! The water is warm and buoyant. (By swim I mean a relaxed float for a half hour or so.) We had to enter the water by jumping off the wharf. The adjacent boat has a lovely set of dual staircases leading to and from the deck to the water below. We considered swimming over for an easier haul out than climbing over the slippery rocks.

Tonight was the Captain’s Dinner – so pretty special. Our Captain appeared and said a few words. We rarely see him during the day; he seems to be the only person on the boat with just one job. At night he can be found fishing off the back of the boat or watching TV by himself in the salon. It seems a boring life while the rest of the small crew hang out together and seem to have some amount of fun.

Dinner was marvelous; a cheese and ham first course followed by mixed grill, roasted vegetables, and then a chocolate tart for dessert (too rich for me to finish). The crew had organized some drinks for all of the guests, so we sat together and chatted for a while. Our days are busy so we find ourselves drinking very little and in bed early (like tonight). It is a very different kind of holiday.

The last thing I saw on my way to bed was one of the island cats peacefully curled up near a food dish that someone had thoughtfully filled. She is a tiny tabby and clearly quite pregnant. We first saw her after our hike and there was a long list of travellers wanting to take her home, including me.

Tomorrow is a long ride – 30km – on our island of Dugi Otok – which translates into ‘long island’. Then we head to Zadar on the mainland for further adventures. Stay tuned!