Primorje-Gorski Kotar – DJmotortouring

Found the Van – the less said about that, the better.

The walk to Punat was straight forward and didn’t take that long but I should have taken the bike. There was just the one hill as I left Krk, not a particularly steep one at that, and with the bike I could have done the journey in half the time. As it was there didn’t appear to be any bus service operating in Punat and I had to walk back too.

There was just the one interesting feature on the way over; a small church (perhaps the smallest I have ever seen) dating back to the 13th century. Otherwise, there’s not a lot to report except the route between Krk and Punat is made for cycling. There is no pavement but there is a two lane cycle path which goes the whole way.

The mini-church en route to Punat and the cycle path

Punat wasn’t particularly special although it has a massive boat yard and marina and I noticed three dive centres (and I saw two in Krk yesterday). All five dive centres are closed for winter but I think I could have been tempted. It seems there are a number of wrecks in the area (some from WW1) and certainly I am seeing a great many more fish in the harbours than was the case in Slovenia and Italy earlier this month. I’ll make enquiries about the diving as I move further south. My diving gear is in the back of the Van just waiting to be used.

Arrived at Krk late afternoon yesterday. Parked up at the Bor Camping Site and went for an exploratory walk and then a few beers before it got dark.

Krk has a small but pretty harbour and the sea looked calm despite a weather forecast suggesting that there will be a day or two of unsettled weather before the sunshine returns.

Krk harbour /marina

Walked from the harbour into Krk Old Town. First impressions are that the lanes in these old towns get narrower the further south I go. I suspect this is deliberate and something to do with limiting the amount of direct sunlight that the streets get? No matter, as dusk approached and the street lights came on, the lanes became increasingly quaint. It just needed snow and it would be fabulous Christmas card material. Not much chance of snow here just yet with the thermometer hitting 18 degrees earlier today.

The lanes in these old towns get narrower the further south I go…

With dusk, the lanes become increasingly quaint…

As time went on I headed for a small bar on the harbour that I noticed on the way in. More of a beer place than wine. Shame, the beer here is not great and I am really getting into drinking the local wines…

Tiny little bar by the harbour

I didn’t eat anything and I had a skinful of beer and I then set off back through the Old Town to find the Van. Silly move; not sure if it was the alcohol or the dark or whatever (it was probably a combination of all three) but those quaint little lanes became a dark labyrinth that confused the hell out of me and, let’s just say, it was some considerable time before I got back to the Van. In fact, and I wasn’t going to admit this, I ended up booking into a hotel overnight. Just don’t tell Dave Hoyle – he’ll never trust me to get him off a mountain ever again!