Hvar cycling, day 1 (13.07.2005)

© Helwig Hauser

Note that this track has been created from memory, i.e., it was not recorded automatically.

Trip Summary

We had taken the ferry from Split to Starigrad on Hvar (just taking our bikes with us) and the first thing we did on Hvar was to actually visit Starigrad, not far from where the ferry stops. Starigrad has a nice harbor and and old town which is clearly worth a visit! In Split, we had informed ourselves about biking opportunities on Hvar and we were motivated by a map that outlined a nice biking path around the island. Accordingly, it was our plan to follow this route and thus we started from Starigrad, heading eastwards. The map told that there should be a nice connection to the east a bit north of the main road. Finding this connection, we had to understand that it was not, as assumed, a paved road, but a "gravel" road with all-too-large rocks all over the path, making it almost impossible to cycle altogether! After having passed the plains east of Starigrad, we made it back onto a street (near Vrboska), praising better conditions already that early in the trip. We then followed a road along the coast to Jelsa, i.e., another nice little town on Hvar. Our map then informed us about a continuation towards the south, crossing the mountain range in the middle of the island. We thus followed the road (via Pitve) as described on the map. At about 200mosl, however, we came to an "interesting" point, where the road lead into a tunnel, connecting with the other, southern side of the mountain range. The situation was as follows: The biking map from Split made clear that this tunnel is the only way to continue. It was also clear that there would be no other paved road to the south; the only other way to get to the south would have been to carry our bikes across the mountain range (still more than 200m higher than the entry point of the tunnel). The issue with the tunnel, however, was that it (a) was a very narrow one-lane tunnel, about 1.5km long, and without any artificial light inside! In order to enable cars to get through in both directions, a traffic light was installed that would open the tunnel in the two different direction in an alternating fashion. We thus studied the situation for a while, not really knowing, what we should do. Observing the traffic light on the northern end of the tunnel, we quickly understood that it opened the tunnel for very short periods of time, only; just about as much time as a couple of cars would need to enter the tunnel. This made clear that the timing of the traffic lights was oriented at the time the cars would need through the tunnel; not a good prospect for us cyclists, who clearly moved at a significantly smaller speed than the cars around. After some deliberations, we eventually decided to still take the tunnel; even though we clearly were uneasy with this decision. As soon as the traffic light turned green, again, we hit our pedals and accelerated into the tunnel. Within moments, everything was pitch-black around us (no artificial lights in the tunnel!). Also, the pavement of the tunnel turned out to be really bad, with large hole, which we could not see! Still, since we knew that we only had very limited time, we cycled as fast as we could (definitely a thrilling experience!). 1.5 kilometers through a pitch-black tunnel turn into a very long time period, if you are stressed (we expected that we wouldn't make it to the other end, before the traffic light on the other side would open the tunnel for the cars from the south). Approaching the end of the tunnel, we indeed started to see some head-lights moving into the tunnel and towards us. We hoped that the driver would be attentive enough to understand that we were still in the tunnel and indeed it turned out this way (the car backed out before we came through, letting us pass!). As soon as we were through, now on the southern side of the mountains, we immediately had to get off our bikes and see that we would calm ourselves down a bit! We swore to ourselves that we would never ever again do something like this! Once relaxed, again, we continued along the mountain range, now in western direction, and connected to Sveta Nedjelja at the end of the road. We then enjoyed ourselves a great lot in this lovely place on the southern side of Hvar!

Photos

Selected photos are available as Google photo album.

Useful Resources

See also the related FB-page Hiking around Bergen, Norway.