Molunat - Herceg Novi 29km
As we rode towards the Montenegrin border in sunshine, with Derya and Manuel, we had not gone very far when Adrian noticed that something was wrong with his wheel. Something serious. The wheel rim had actually worn through and cracked. It kept catching on his brake pad and made cycling very difficult and dangerous. Manuel and Derya could have rode on, but stayed with us, keeping Adrian's temper down as he did not want to have a temper tantrum in front of them and he could have a number of social cigarettes with them, to keep him calm (Thank you M&D!). And it was a Sunday. No bike shops would be open, even if we found one. We hoped we could find something in the small town of Herceg Novi.
After very slow progress and a very sour border guard we reached the Montenegro town of Herceg Novi. After no calls of Hello! or waves/beeps of support in Croatia, we had just entered the town and a man called HELLO! and waved. Manuel was so happy, as we all were, to be in a country that had not yet been dulled by the stream of tourists coming through! We had often discussed this with Manuel and Derya, and with other tourists. The travel experience changes so much as more travellers and tourists come by. People get more unfriendly and only see you as another way to earn euros. We all had less calls of "Hello!" and "Where are you going?" in Croatia than in the other countries we had cycled through.
We had some trouble finding a campsite in Herceg Novi and after a wandering around the town, we found a very sad little campsite. It may have been very pleasant once but its hey day was well and truly over. None of us wanted to use the very dirty shower block and the toilets were grimey and covered with cobwebs. Yet, the old man who ran it was so helpful and when he heard about Pugz' wheel he first told us where to find a repair workshop and then later arranged for the repair workshop man to come to us, at the campsite.
The next day the repair man came and had a look at the bike. It was decided that Pugz should go with the man to a kind of Flea market. There, Pugz managed to find a wheel which would suit his bike. The man did not charge Pugz for taking him to the Flea market and Pugz was happy with a wheel for 25 euros. He still had to rebuild the wheel as it had the wrong sort of hub. Isn't Pugz very clever!
That night rain had returned with a vengence and nearly flooded the campsite. We all went into a manky shed, which was at one time, the kitchen. We sat in there, on a strange collection of old school and garden furniture, some of which were covered with carpet (probably second hand carpet too. Oh, the stories it could tell!). Then the rain just stopped and after about half hour of indecision, we quickly packed up and went. We wanted to get to Kotor. It sounded really pretty in our Lonely Planet and from on what we saw on TV. So, after the nice old man said "Pay what you want." We paid 10 euros and headed off.
Herceg Novi to Kotor - 26km
We were getting quite lazy with short rides! We rode to Kotor with Derya and Manuel. Kotor is situated in a beautiful fjord, surrounded by small, steep hills. We took the short (2km) ferry ride and approached Kotor via the 'back way' thus avoiding a busy main road.
As we approached the town itself we cycled past other small villages, along the shoreline. We stopped for a rest and a fag/chocolate and a taxi driver pulled up and asked us if we needed a place to stay. Ais spoke to him and repeatly asked him about a washing machine. He repeatly said 'No problem!' although his wife was extremely cool towards us. But Ais ignored her. Ais and Pugz went to check out the apartment and Derya and Manuel stayed with the bikes.
We thought at first glance that the apartments were ok, if quite dated. So we agreed to the price of 20 euros a night, washing machine included. Ais asked grumpy wife about a heater as there was no heating in the little apartments. She snorted. "You only pay 10 euros! No heater!" This should have set off alarm bells ringing in Ais's head that grumpy wife was a money grabbing cow!
We went back to get the others and the bikes and rode back to the apartments. I forgot to say about the VERY steep hill that was only about 400 metres long but we needed to work together to push the bikes up it!
When Derya and Manuel saw the apartments, they were a little surprised. "You want to pay 20 euros for this?!" Derya asked Ais. Ais then noticed no toilet paper or towels, the toilet was dirty and there was only one blanket on the bed. Derya and Manuel showed Ais some pictures of places they stayed in for 20 euros. And WOW, those two know how to find really nice apartments. Ais was feeling just a little bit ripped off. But more was to come. We then decided that we would not stay there for two nights, that we would leave the next morning. So Pugz went to the family house to collect the washing. The daughter who spoke excellent English told him that there was a misunderstanding and the use of the washing machine was NOT included in the price of the apartment. Pugz was not happy. We had asked a number of times about this and were told "No problem!" The daughter said "You can't get that for 10 euros!" Pugz said "We are paying 20 euros!" and the family started discussing the situation among themselves. Pugz walked away. We all agreed that although 20 euros may be the going rate for apartments, the apartments should be clean and we should not end up feeling that the owners are trying to get every last euro out of us. The whole situation made us feel a little uncomfortable. Montenegro is a relatively poor country, but these people were not poor. They lived in a modern house and earlier, the taxi driver had pointed out other apartments he owned.
Manuel told us not to trust people who continuely say "no problem!" and we have learned a few tricks about bargaining from our German friends too.
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