The Ciro Trail

We were both really excited about this trail. It had been in the back of our minds since leaving home, but with so many variables ahead of us, we had no idea if we’d end up being able to ride it.  The biggest variable was, like always, the weather. Had it been a cold winter we wouldn’t have ended up venturing very far inland and might not have made it to Mostar, where the trail begins.   As it turned out, late January found us in Sarajevo, heading towards Mostar, with sunny skies overhead and a good forecast for the week ahead. There was no snow on the ground and the Ciro Trail was good to go!

The Ciro Trail is a tourism project that has turned an old railway line into a 143km long bike route connecting Mostar to Dubrovnik. It winds its way up and down valleys and across hills, most of the time actually following the old rail bed at a nice and easy 2% grade. The route passes through the old hand-dug tunnels and over the original rail bridges.  It is described online as “a big, open-air museum”, and many of the old train stations are still next to the route. Some of them are in ruins and some of them are being used as homes or businesses.  All along the route there are signs to keep you on track and provide some insight into the history and importance of this old railway.

We actually started out with a little detour to see the village of Blagaj. There’s a 600 year old Dervish monastery perched over the Buna River, next to a cave in a huge limestone cliff. Inside that cave is the source of the river; a huge karstic spring that bubbles out of the earth, out of the cave, and becomes a fast-flowing river about 10m wide. It was pretty impressive to see that volume of water appearing out of nowhere. We snapped some pictures and made our way back to the Ciro.

The first part of the route passed through some villages, and followed quiet roads with very few cars outside of the towns.  It was nice riding, but not overly interesting. That afternoon we reached the first fork in the trail: paved, which skirts around some hills, or gravel, which rides along the old rail bed up and over.  We chose the gravel, and it was definitely the right decision. It led us up a long, low-grade switchback up one side of a valley and continued even higher up the other side, with views back to where we’d come from.  It was pretty fun following what is so obviously an old rail bed.  We passed through 2 old tunnels, pitch black and deathly quiet except for the crunching of the tires and the uneven waver of the bike lights.  We found a nice little pullout with views down to the valley below and decided to camp for the night.

First thing the next morning, we got to ride across an old rail bridge. The engineering for the bridge was done by a soon-to-be famous man named Gustave Eiffel.  It was a pretty exciting crossing; even with a railing, it was very narrow and through the gaps in the slats you could see that it was a long way down!  The trail took us through a few more tunnels, past some old train stations, and to a gorgeous viewpoint overlooking a river valley below.  There were three gravel sections in total, each one with a paved detour, but we chose the gravel every time.  They were bumpy, but completely worth it. The gravel bits were definitely some of the best parts of the trail.  Towards the end of our second day on the Ciro, the route stayed high on a steep bank over a flat valley, filled with abandoned towns and old farmland slowly being reclaimed by the wild.  We wondered if these places had been abandoned after the railway closed down, or as part of the fighting in the 90’s.  It wasn’t too far past here that we started seeing signage warning of landmines in the area. We even saw some sticks poking out of the ground that looked as if they could be marking individual mines! We were a bit nervous about camping that night, but got lucky. Before it got dark we came across another rail bridge that had no pass-around for cars, so we just pitched the tent right after the bridge, on the path, figuring the chances of anyone else coming this way were pretty slim. That night we ate our dinner while sitting on the bridge, dangling our legs over the abyss, looking out to mountains on the horizon and watching headlights zoom back and forth on the distant highway. The moon was nearly full and the world was glowing; not a bad way to spend our last night in the country.

The morning dawned cooler and cloudier than the previous few days, but no rain fell.  We passed through the village of Hum, which used to be an important station on the railway but now houses only a handful of people.  The final part of the Ciro runs through a quiet valley strewn with limestone boulders, and has a few steeper sections as the trail deviates a bit from the rail bed.  This section was the most heavily mined, with warning signs on both side of the path at regular intervals.  We actually ran into a crew of guys who were working on de-mining the area. They didn’t want their picture taken, but they did stop to chat for a bit.  They use a metal detector to locate the mines and then mark mined areas and safe areas with sticks and flagging tape.  Active mines are detonated in place, and dead mines are shipped to Serbia to be destroyed.  They said it is dangerous work and doesn’t pay well, but they did seem glad that we had come to visit their country despite the perceived danger.  They sent us on our way with one last warning to stay on the pavement, and before long we found ourselves cresting a hill and rolling towards the Croatian border.

The first views of the ocean were stunning. We hadn’t seen the ocean since Denmark, and the contrast between land and sea was especially breathtaking. A short stretch of busy and narrow highway took us to Dubrovnik and more amazing views of the Old City overlooking the water.  We were looking forward to a few days of rest, and couldn’t have been more thrilled with our time in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  The Ciro Trail was the icing on the cake, and a great way to finish off such an interesting country.

B&H Round-Up

ODO Start: 3057

ODO Finish: 3488

Total kms: 431

Most kms in a day: 72

Highest pass: 1285m

Days in Country: 19

Nights camped: 2

Number of crashes: 3 (2 Elaine, 1 Steve. We survived.)

Distance ridden in a full-on blizzard: 10km

Other cycle tourists met on the road: 1 (An Australian riding from Athens to Russia)

Biggest money suck: Bakery treats, 2 litre beers, and Rakia.

Landmines stepped on: 0