Day 27: Pula to Rijeka, July 28th.

Up around 8. I packed as I boiled a pan and heated one of my French army rations – chicken and lentils. It was good. I felt fuelled up for the day. Most of the morning was spent climbing up hills in the steadily growing heat. Much of this was done on gravel paths through green and brown pine forests. It was tiring work. Luckily I had picked up some snacks from a supermarket, including some gummy bears which helped fuel me.

Around 13:00 I descended a steep road down to a river, which widened into a harbour. There I stopped, finished my crisps and drank some pepsi. After that it was more climbing. I got very, very sweaty. Greece is going to be hard. Soon the gravel shifted into tarmac. Just before my first GPX route ran out I stopped at a lidl and picked up more food. I think my belly will come back at this rate. I stopped for a snack by a viewpoint over very blue water.

Soon after I was going towards the coast and was confronted with a view of Rijeka apparently still 30km away, most of it downhill. Heaven. I put on some music and for 30 mins sped down the smooth tarmac with the wooded cliff to my left and sea to my right. The last 20km or so was spent dipping into coastal towns and out again. Here, for the first time, I was held back by traffic.

On arrival in Rijeka I checked the cinema. Oppenheimer is sold out. I arrived at the hostel soon after 7. Once I had checked in I put on my swimmers and a guy in my room lent me his goggles. The hostel directly overlooks a beach, and straight into the salty water I went. A shower later and I was chilling in my room with a couple of kiwi guys. A girl called Jette had invited me to go for dinner with her and a friend or 2 at 9, from the hostelworld app. When I arrived I met her friend Stein, and an 18 year old called Suus. All were dutch but spoke English the whole time. I ordered a stingray and prawn pasta. We each got a couple of pints in and had a great chat.

The restaurant was by the sea and closed at 11. After we walked 10 mins up the beach to a bar. I got some more pints, and a long island iced tea. We played a few drinking games. This ended up with stein kissing me a few times, and a lot of opening up about sex and relationships, some oversharing on my part there [...].

At 2ish we left the bar and Suus said goodbye. We hope she got home okay. Then me, Stein and Jette went skinny dipping in front of the hostel. It was a very freeing feeling. I think I would have felt more free if the hostel “bouncer” not kept coming out to keep an eye on us. There were also a few fishermen on the beach. Fun for them. The truth or dare continued. [along much the same lines as before] Later a French girl and Italian guy joined us, but by this point it was getting very cold and we soon went in. We met one of the kiwis outside who had got into a fight with a Croatian guy in a club and won. A fun and fresh experience. A hangover would follow.

Video of this day