Hello Croatia, are you surprised to see us?

The beauty of travelling with only an end point, a vague plan and plenty of time up your sleeve is spontaneity.

The EV6 splits here at Mohács. You can take the ferry back across the river, and head into Serbia, where the route hugs the river all the way around to Novi Sad, Serbia’s second largest city. Or, you can take temporary leave of the Duna and head south to Udvar, cross into Croatia and go on to Osijek, Croatia’s fourth-largest city, then travel back to the Duna, passing through Vukova on the way to Ilok, where you cross the river to Serbia and join the Serbian arm of the route into Novi Sad.

We have dithered a lot about which route to take. Until last night, we had planned to go the Serbian route. But we changed our minds, because we can. To Croatia we will go!

There is a tiny, irrational part of me that is a little scared of Serbia. I can’t even pretend to understand the tensions in the region of the former Yugoslavia and the conflicts of the Yugoslav Wars more than just a little bit. I have echoes in my head of “Belgrade” (spoken in the tone of a 6pm news reader) as an aggressor, yet Novi Sad as a victim of NATO bombings. I’ve seen the Serbs and the Croats go at it at the tennis in Melbourne. I feel like I am cycling into a hotbed of continuing tension. Somehow Croatia feels a little safer to me; I can put off that entry into Serbia for a few more days.

It is hot as we set off from Mohács. The heat intensifies as we cross into Croatia. Only 20km in my water, warm and unappealing as it is, is almost all gone. We stop at a small café/bar for a drink and to get more water. We have a little local currency on us, but quickly realise we don’t have enough to buy even one cold drink, so start getting on our bikes again, hoping to find a town with an ATM before the water runs out. A lovely young woman who works at the café comes out and says, “What do you want?” We sound like poor students when we tell her we have no money, so cannot buy anything. She repeats, “What do you want? I will buy you a drink.” We are both hot and thirsty enough to accept her very kind offer and give her the embarrassingly little money we have. While we sip our lovely cold drinks she comes and sits with us, telling us about her life. The more I hear, the more embarrassed I am at being on the receiving end of her kindness. It should be the other way around!

We depart, taking full bottles of ice-cold water and leaving effusive thanks.

May this lovely young woman reap all the karma rewards she deserves.

The day picks up after this stop. We ride up and over a steep hill and find ourselves in wine country! We are surrounded by wine fields, we ride along lovely quiet roads and pass a straw sculpture of a bicycle. They must love cyclists here!

We arrive into Osijek mid-afternoon and collapse into chairs outside the Hotel Osijek, enjoying a cool drink while we figure out what to do. The Hotel is right on the bank of the Drava River, a tributary of the Duna, and we take the lazy way out, booking a room in the hotel rather than schlepping around town looking for somewhere else to stay. We fully believe we deserve a treat.

Having not planned to come here, Osijek is full of surprises. There is an Old Town and a New Town. We’re staying in New Town, but we visit Old Town, which is an eighteenth century fort on the banks of the Drava. On our way there and back we realise that Osijek is a casualty of the Croatian war. Indeed, it was subject to artillery bombardment by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) between August 1991 and June 1992 in what is known as the Battle of Osijek. I’m sure many buildings did not survive, but we see the scars on those that did – left out of necessity, history or as an F-U to the aggressors?

The Old Town has a huge central area, surrounded with bars and restaurants. We take up a couple of comfy chairs and enjoy an end-of-day refreshment (or two) before continuing our wander and heading back to New Town.

At night, Osijek New Town livens up, with lots of people out and about enjoying their evening. We find ourselves a nice Italian restaurant for dinner, and enjoy a walk amongst the local revellers. I’m feeling happy, glad that we’ve made this detour.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 78.2km
• Climb: 152m
• Average speed: 20.5km/h
• Average temperature: 34C
• Moving time: 3:48:26
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken at a café with comfy chairs in Old Town Osijek, a wonderful way to wind down from a hot cycling day.

Along the way today: