Penguins Bike

July 17, 2026 - biked 57 km (35 mi) - biked 1043 km (648 mi) total

We had a rocky start literally. This country’s foundation is hard soil mixed with rocks.

For lunch, we met Ole from Germany who had lunch with us on the side of the Paranzana trail.

We diverted from the trail to make it across the Isteria peninsula to catch a ferry so we can do some island hopping.

In France, we never happened upon a winery but today we did! So in the name of celebrating my birthday week, we stopped for a wine sampling. It was lovely and we discovered Croatian accents sound a lot like Russian accents. We bought a bottle of red wine and headed to our campsite still 15 miles away. Little did we know we would encounter the worst road conditions ever. With 20% grade we climbed 500 m or about 1500 feet. We literally climbed, not biked. It was impossible because of the huge rocks. No car could even make it up.

We took turns pushing each other’s bikes up since it took two of us to tackle the elevation and navigate the rocks. It was hard enough to just hike it.

We kind of took a wrong turn and got some bad advice but we struggled through because what else can you do.

I can push through and still be grumpy. As it was getting darker, last dinner time and we still had miles to bike, we biked past small house farms. They were still working with a tractor or a hoe or feeding the chickens. Farmers work hard. A lot harder than myself.

We learned some lessons but never any regrets with stopping spontaneously for a Croatian wine tasting.

Wine before hills, in case the hills kill (you). Hill after wine then you can dine, is perhaps better.

July 16, 2026 - biked 44 km (27 mi), train'd 151 km (94 mi) - biked 986 km (613 mi) total

We had a big send off from Carol and Peter. A big breakfast with a macchiato, an assist with our bike bags. After we left, Peter ran to the train station because I had forgotten my water bottles. I hadn’t even noticed yet.

Finally on the train to Koper, back to the sea, we had to buy tickets for our bikes for only 3€ each. She asked if they were electric and I said “I wish.”

This begs the question, with the mainstream use of e-bikes, do we get more street cred for not using them or are we just foolish?

We feel proud of our work but we have thought multiple times of selling both our bikes and buying a Vespa.

We don’t have e-bikes but we have parents who took back about 17 pounds of stuff we brought and realized we don’t need. Maybe we will be more speedy.

We got rid of the following:

-David’s puffy and Carhartt pants -two black penguin shirts (we only wore once; too hot) -rain gear (only rained once) -Sarah’s dress, two shirts, one pair of shorts -watercolor and watercolor paper (apparently we have no downtime) -two decks of cards (same reason as above) -extra journal (we blog instead) -fuel canisters adapter (we have found other cans…so far) -bike rack straps -Sarah’s bike light (I can use my headlamp) -extra moldy headlamp we found in the tent (always do a test trip beforehand... we clearly didn’t) -two metal cups -two coozies -yellow dish towel (everything is so dry here) -soap from Marseille -EuroVelo 8 overview booklet (useless, don’t buy) -two small backpacks for city walking

Things we procured during our rest week:

-Half a sponge -few feet of water electrical tape courtesy of my sister, bro-in-law and my mom bringing it! -yellow purse bag for David -new lighter hat for David -eating utensils for David -two pairs of socks for Sarah

Unfortunately we didn’t get far today. I just happened to start my period on the first day back on the road and my energy was sapped. Still it was nice to be reunited with the Mediterranean Sea. We swam right when we saw it.

Our planned campsite fell through but we asked someone in this small town where to stay and she said she knew the hostel owner. 10 minutes later she opened up the hostel for us.