Through Bosina to Sarajevo

15 October - Kljuc to Jajce approx 57km
Before we reached Jajce, we had an overnight stop in Klujc. We really got a nice feeling about this town after our initial impressions of Bosnia. Ais had a bad experience whilst cycling in the cold. She was wearing gloves which had got wet during the ride and as we descended down a long hill, her hands got so cold that she could not work her brakes properly. So she pulled over at a little supermarket and then felt ill. So she ran away from Pugz as he locked the bikes and hid somewhere in the little supermarket. There, she tried to take off her wet gloves but it hurt so much that she felt faint. Once her gloves were off,she saw her hands were pure white. As white as her face when she throws up. She told herself to pull herself together, it is only a bit of cold, but she did not feel well at all and sat down in a quiet corner. Meanwhile Pugz was going crazy, looking for her. He did not find her little corner. So when Ais felt better she appeared before Pugz as normal and he was not happy that she ran away from him when she felt ill.He told her that she may have got mild frost bite and checked her fingers and hands for movement. They were fine but Ais was surprised how cold her hands got so quickly. It was agreed that Ais needed to get more gloves and they needed to be good quality.
After that little episode, we were so cold from the snow and sleet that we decided not to camp (once again! we are getting soft!). But where would we stay? We could not find a campsite or a place with rooms.

We had an excuse to drink lots of coffee though. This is our tactic to find a place to stay. We go into a cafe bar and ask the owner or waiter about place to sleep or camp. We were not so successful in Klujc though. We tried a couple of cafes with little success. We went into the Queen Cafe and there, one guy told us that there was a place with rooms a little outside the town. We ended up staying in the Queen Cafe for two coffees each as the cafe music was 70s & 80s rock and was very cosy.

So after getting warmed up we set off in search of the rooms. We found the house but no one was there. We waited around in the cold for about 30 minutes or so. Then started talked about going back to our Queen cafe. In the end we went to another cafe, not so far into the town and waited there with more coffee. After some time we went back to the house and YIPPEE! the owner was there. I understand if this situation does not seem so important or exciting. However. we were cold, wet and did not have much choice of places to stay or camp. We have not yet knocked on someones door to ask to camp in their garden or field and both of us feel quite shy about this. We were starting to consider this an option. That is how cold we were feeling.

The Klujc rooms were well beyond our expectations and although expensive (40 euros per night), we were so happy. The owner gave useful advice about roads and our route and was warm and friendly without being false. The rooms were not rooms but an actual mini apartment with towels, cooking facilities and a very cosy clean bed. All it needed was a washing machine to make it perfect! Apparently many people come to ski in the local area. This owner was ready for the western European high expectation for not much cost. We woke the next day feeling ready for our 15 km climb up a 7% hill (not as bad as it sounds, was actually quite nice with great views). From there, we arrived in Jajce, which we mentioned in the previous post.

17 October - Jajce to Travnik 70km
From Jajce we rode to Travnik and stayed in a low standard cheap room. We had often seen calf or lamb roasting on a split outside restaurants. It was driving Pugz crazy that he had not eaten any of this slow roasted meat and he was determined to try some before leaving Bosnia. So when we went into a restaurant and the waiter mentioned that the split roast was on. Pugz was very excited. For a total of 25 euros we got quite a feed of tender veal with potatoes, veg and bread. And because we were feeling hungry we also had starters. We were stuffed and were glad that we finally got to try the slow roasted meat!

18 October -Travnik to Kiseljak 50km (snowy)
We continued through snow and sleet towards Sarajevo. Ais once again had a bit of a mishap. Whilst riding downhill at speed, around a bend. She hit some very rough road and flew off the road and lost control. She skidded in to the gravel verge and landed in a heap. Luckily she only suffered alot of bruises and a knock to her confidence. Her cycle helmet was cracked, which made her so glad she was wearing one. The front handlebar bag was broken but after some time Pugz fixed it (there should be another post about all the things Pugz has fixed so far!). Ais got a bit of a fright and now goes no faster than 40 km per hour when the road is bad, even down hill!

After cycling on for about 20km we heard someone shouting but we didn't realise it was to us. We stopped a little up the road to take off our waterproof trousers. A car pulled over and a man jumped out. "English?, German?" He asked. We replied we were English and Irish and he asked where we were going and coming from. He told us he had called to us a little while back and wanted to invite us for coffee. We went with him and found out his name was Simo. He was not Bosnian, but a Croatian (in other words, Catholic). He invited us to sleep in his garage and told us the next town had no accommodation. We went back to his home and there began an evening of what can only be described as amusing confusion, intense questioning, eating and crazy kids.

Ais had told Simo that she too was Catholic and back at the house she was questioned about Pugz' religion or lack of it! The religious artifacts (crucifix, holy pictures) in the home were pointed out to her and she said "Yes, my mother and father have that too!" Photos of Christmas were shown to her and she tried to explain that her family had the same too. This was met with a lot of approval and smiles. Meanwhile the many children, some of which were cousins, were shy and sulky. We never worked out exactly who was who. But after our attempts at trying to speak Serb Croat was met with laughter and thez became more and more crazy. They laughed when Ais tried to ask them if there were rats in the garage, Thez pretended to smoke fags and make faces at us. It is hard to explain everything about that evening. One moment involved us sampling homemade rakia which we think was made from plums. Ais didn't really like it and politely refused her second glass. (oh, the joys of being a 'Lady'! Pugz can't get away with a polite no thank you. He even got some the next morning!). Later in the evening, Ais was invited to go for a stroll with the other women and they went to a friend's house for coffee. Ais enjoyed some cherry juice and one of the women explained through sign language that she made rakia with cherries. Ais sampled some and like it much better. The following morning the lady appeared at Simo's house with a little plastic waterbottle of cherry rakia. Pugz got a bottle of the plum one. Over the course of the following weeks Ais had tofight Pugz from taking HER cherry rakia. Afterall it was given to HER!

Ais went to Mass with Simo and his wife the next day. The priest asked her if she was Catholic and to say a "Hail Mary" before entering the church. Simo's wife had lent Ais a clean coat which had 'true love' written on it. The Priest asked Ais "What is true love?" and as it was 7.30 in the morning Ais was in no way to think of any sensible answer and said "I don't know". The priest told her God is true love. She should have seen that one coming...

Although Ais was glad she went to Mass. It was quite an intense experience as the priest kept asking he to repeat serb croat prayers and Ais was worried about her pronucitation of serb croat and the questions kept her on her toes. And the little prayer he asked her to say everyday stayed with her.