Mayan Prophecy Countdown

QUEENSLANDER – Go the Maroons, sorry Becsta, you lose once again, well done the lads, I never saw it but managed to get some updates as I rode today, thanks Shirly

So, while you guys watched the blues suck eggs, we went looking for a way up that mountain, and after asking the hotel chap, it was easy to get up there, to a place called Rorovi. This is a memorial to the war days, and the location of a cache, so we walked through the area, checked out the tank and found the location of the cache, but nothing was there!! It was covered up and nicely done, but empty? what a bummer!

So, we continued on eastwards through the valleys of Bosnia with some great scenery. It was a shame to not find a Bosnian cache, but every other one was a long hike, or well off our route, but because we found the actual location, I am going to classify in my own mind, that is was a find 🙂 It was cold and looked like rain and after a while we entered Serbia which was a mere formality, nothing was asked about any insurance nor road tax, so a passport quick stamp and we are in 🙂

We had noticed a lot of cemeteries along the way through Bosnia and now again here in Serbia, and you can tell the new war graves because they are all shiny new black marble affairs, this one even has a quaint church in it.

We stopped for some lunch and another sign of something happening in this country, we had noticed a lot of the cars had branches in the front of the grill but we could not find out anything about it at the time

We chose the home made smoked snags and chips for lunch, my cousin hoovers that tucker up, I was only half way through and he had cleaned his plate, I chew my food, he blames it on the big boys stealing his food, he is a big lad himself 😉

Now, we were taking a small detour north here, because there was a cache that had been placed last year and NEVER been found, so this would be my opportunity to acquire a First To Find or FTF, a sort of personal goal in cacher terms. The road was twisty and winding, just what we liked, but very slow going and very cold, not quite raining yet, but very close. We got to the turnoff as indicated by my GPS and rode for 2km up this crap dirt wet rocky road and we were still 300m away, but it looked like it was straight down, what a bummer! And trying to get directions because of a routing error was an experience 🙂

I only have the video of that track, too rough to take photos and I forgot anyway 😉 Well, we had come this far and there was still plenty of daylight so we continued onto the next town, trying to find a back road in, the actual cache description said a paved road, before a walk, so we had the wrong road anyway. We went a few places back and forth, but I was nearly about to give up, so we stopped at a group of bikers, to ask them. They were from Slovenia and we had a bit of a social chat, hi there fellas, nice to meet you 🙂

The best part about it was that while re-reading the cache notes, it mentioned the Monastery Celije, and just next to where we were stopped I saw a tourist sign, Monastery Celije that way, bang, new found enthusiasm, lets go Anthony and see what we can find 🙂 And lo and behold, after some tight twisties, we arrived at the Monastery and parked up.

Now we had to park the bikes and use the feet, because according to the GPS we were now 2km away from it? So, we hiked this trail/track, which took us up and down the hills and along the river, it looked like a well worn track and when we got to the cache area, we could see why because it looked like it is where people come and camp and play, in the summer! 🙂

But, the cache was there, it was a virgin and I claimed it, yippee, a lot of effort and an hours hike to get there, not to mention the 3 hours so far in this quest, but well worth it 🙂

So, job done we headed back with the horrible sound of thunder overhead and before we got back(around 45 minutes) we were a bit wet and the rain set in, with lots of lightning and thunder, yuckety yuck! The road up was interesting in the wet and we took it very easy on the tight bends. We had planned on heading to Cacak, where the other bikers were staying, and also it would put us back on the road to the east we had planned. But the rain was making us very slow and my waterproof gear is not so waterproof now, it must be too old and is not designed for these conditions.

We persevered, and when we arrived at the top of the mountain, we added some warm layers. I asked Anthony if he wanted to stay here, there were a few hotels, but he said lets keep going, next time, I will ignore him and stop! He needed fuel and after another 80km or so of slow going, it was getting dark, we found a servo and fueled up. We stopped for a warm drink, then it was back out into the rain, this looked horrible and even though we were only 20km from Cacak it was extremely hard to see. My visor was useless, it kept fogging up, I tried to ride with my clear glasses but they were the same, in the end I rode with the visor half up and the glasses on, and looked through the gap and followed Anthony’s tail light. It was a stupid thing to do riding in that weather and what makes it worse it was at night, my brain hates doing that and if things turn that way again, I will stop early rather than riding on. Here you can see what we were faced with, in fact I think it is easier to see with the camera!

Anyway, we managed to drip our way along until Ant spotted a likely looking hotel, well, any bloody place would be good right now and they had a room, great stuff and it was cheap too. It was not until we got into the room that we discovered porn mags in the cupboard, I do believe we are at a truck stop!!! In fact Ant heard someone going for his quoit when he came down for a beer 🙂 We had a couple and a small feed before hitting the sack, the weather was looking lousy for the morrrow as well. Funny thing, well, not so funny, we both have the same boots, only new and they both leak, they are waterproof!!! His are worse because his gear lever has worn a patch on the top, mine not so bad and only scuffed. I may have to contact the manufacturer and see what they can do, but first I need to inquire of the forums as to whether I should have done something like sealing it prior to riding, I doubt it, but I want to find out first.

Don’t get me wrong, we did some great riding today, great mountain roads, and I got a FTF, so the day was a success and I lived to write about it 😉

Cheers from Serbia
TravellingStrom