Day 10 - Montenegro

Another day of incredible riding and thankfully, another easy border crossing.

Montenegro literally means Mountains Black and the traditional name is Crna Gora (Black Hills) or Црна Гора in the Cyrillic version of the local language (phonetically it reads Tsrna Gora). The name is thought to derive from the way the mountains, covered in lush, dark alpine forests, look from a distance. Most of them are over 2000 m above sea level. The sign looks to have been Anglicized as the correct spelling, as far as I understand it, is with the 'a' at the end of the words.

The cameras seemed to be switched off whenever I passed one of these signs so this picture was supplied courtesy of https://www.montenegro.travel/info/ruta-2-kruna-crne-gore. Any copyright remains with them.

Riding the ranges through ridges and troughs, mountains to the left, rivers to the right, there I was stuck in the middle of two, occasionally crossing a gorge to swap perspectives, with countless tunnels hewn out of the rock winding endlessly through this harsh but beautiful landscape. I was riding on the "Crown of Montenegro" Kruna Crna Gora - Panoramic Roads Route 1, it was majestic! I have since found out that this road is the longest panoramic route in Montenegro, it starts and ends in the capital, Podgorica taking a circuitous route virtually around the whole North Eastern side of the country.

Music: SOLO ACOUSTIC GUITAR by Jason Shaw

What looks to be a memorial. I found this quite profound.

And there were some lighter moments...

What do you want to do?

What an amazing time and when I'd finished riding there I was on the shores of the Adriatic, the water was cool and the weather was hot. What a lovely way to end the day. The only dampener on proceedings was destroying the waterproof 360 camera by putting it in the water! Oh well, I was starting to get used to the daily drama by now.

From the mountains to the beach.

What could be a more appropriate campsite than an old converted olive grove by the sea?

What more can I say?