Day 23 - Zelenkovac to Bugojno

Waking at 8 in my pokey wooden room, I climbed down my ladder into soft, vertical rain. I had a breakfast of tea, bread and Nutella alone in the kitchen and returned to my room to pack my things, hoping the rain would clear. I climbed down again and it had. After one more cup of tea with Jan I made my way down to the main road and back out onto the plain. The rain, I thought, had killed the wind and I made my way quick and happy down the downhills through Mrkonjic Grad, past the beauty of the Plitvica lakes through to the fortress at Jacje.

I knew I had relatively little left to do in the day. I had thought this a good thing but in fact it worked against me. Since I saw no real achievement in getting through the next twenty miles, I had no motivation to fight against the same old wind which picked up with the same force for the low gradient climb up to Bugojno. The frustrations I had shrugged off the previous evening returned again. In hindsight I am disappointed that I allowed this to happen but by way of justification I compare it to taking on burned rice with a Brillo. The task is so mundane and the outcome so lowly desirable that it is tough to make yourself turn the pad round and round and round and round until finally you see the work is done.

Highlights of the trip were the clear, blue, fast stream of the river beside me and a brief stop in Donji Vakuf to see the bullet marked belfry of the town church, another reminder of the recent hostilities.

Arriving at Bugojno post office, I was received by the staff with that same perfect impatience that I might expect from the best of the Royal Mail. I called a man who had apartments for rent and soon enough I was put up in a comfortable dorm in a sort of rural suburb, the mid sized houses parted by miniature ploughed fields. I took the time to get some healthy food in and went to bed early ahead of further climbing the next day.

Distance covered 50 miles