Pero and his bike

četvrtak, 13.01.2022.

The Una River - The third day 2021

You can come back on the previous part of this travelogue here.

The third day

If you don't want to read, skip the text and see the images of this day of journey here.

You can see the map of the this day of the journey here.

The sleeping was divine, both in quantity and quality, so I woke up before six fresh and in the mood for the journey. It is interesting that my nervousness, that hidden fear, turned into some form of quiet and hidden, but also constant and impatient, but in all at all cheerful desires to start once and move from "positive zero". It was as if I had had enough of that uncertainty and fear of how and in what way, so I could hardly wait to finally get going. Specifically pedalling will suppress and completely crush all irrational fears.
Because of all the above, at 6.30 AM I packed my things and started carrying them to the bike. In front of the stairs, next to a small window on the wall, hung one of the small decorations that were all around.

By the way, I must admit that this accommodation in the Bihać town delighted me, both with the general impression and the small details. Everything was somehow clean, modern, bright and comfortable, and yet it was not kitschy. The best accommodation on this journey. And all this at an affordable price. That good price only further enhanced that pleasant impression.
Before describing the continuation of the journey, I pause for a moment, wanting to explain what I planned for this day. So, upstream by the Una river to Ripač about 9 km, a long uphill of about 8 km, then turn right from the main road towards Kulen Vakuf, which is my goal today. But before Kulen Vakuf, somewhere in the Orašac place, I would turn onto the local alleyway and after 11 km of riding through it, I would reach Štrbački buk, the highest waterfall on the Una. After that waterfall, I would go back that 11 km again, which means that riding down that alleyway is back and forth.
While crossing the Una by that "main" bridge, I stopped for a moment on it and filmed some kind of embankment or dam that went to half the river. I guess it used to be used to drain water to the mills. I guess, I say, though I'm not sure. Anyway, unlike yesterday afternoon when there were a lot of people on it, this early morning it was deserted.

On the exit of the town, I passed near a bus stop, which was on the left side, and where I returned by bus two years ago. Unlike two years ago, a new architectural edifice is now on display here. It was as if this news wanted to wipe out my unpleasant memory of giving up and returning home by bus.

When I came near the camp and the restaurant next to it, my heart was beating hard. I am finally, right in the place, where two years ago my dignity was dangerously shaken by admitting that I cannot go on. A strange feeling of latent but strong lust appeared in me and got out almost violently. It was as if I had patiently and devotedly guarded this injury of dignity in the deepest corner of my soul for these two years, waiting for this moment to come out with the triumphant "Aha!" to show (to whom ?, to myself I guess?) that it is still possible. I felt a huge elation, which I could barely contain, cheerfulness, optimism, in a word, happiness to be here and to continue.
All of the above happened to me without any visible sign from the outside, and even if there was (I mean a visible sign), it is useless, because no one was around me. Wanting to get an external sign anyway, I wanted to film those waterfalls on the Una river next to the restaurant.
However, when I approached the wooden bridge, which was also the entrance to the island where the restaurant is, I was informed that they would not let me film if I had not consumed something in the restaurant. I felt like someone sprinkled a bucket of cold water on me. Injured vanities I turned with contempt and continued riding. I leave their waterfalls to them, and I shall go to the others, bigger and more beautiful.


About the next 4 kilometres, I ride through the valley where the Una river flows, true in the opposite direction from mine. This is how I will get to Ripač and then the show begins in the form of a long uphill. But before that uphill two things.
First is the fortress on the right, on the other bank of the Una river.
21-3-6
According to Wikipedia, the fortress of Sokolac is located on a hill on the east side of the hill Debeljača on the left bank of the Una river. Below is Golubićko polje, the Una river and the main road. The first mention of the fortress dates back to 1380. The oldest charter in which Sokolac is mentioned as a royal town dates back to 1395. The Ottoman army occupied the fortress in 1592. According to the census conducted in 1833, there were only 2 smaller cannons in the fortress in Sokolac ), and the updated census shows that there were only 12 soldiers in the fortress. It was abandoned after 1878.
The other thing was the Ripački slap in the Ripač place where I turned from the main road to take a closer look at it. The feeling of being in the front row of the theatre gave me a narrow bridge from which I watched the waterfalls as if in the palm of my hand. This time there was no ban on filming, and there were no people either, so I watched with pleasure the merry play of water as it crossed the travertine barriers. That fluttering playfulness of the water and the sounds it makes when jumping over barriers seem to stun me, enchant me, so I stayed here longer, much longer than originally intended "just a shot or two and I'm moving on".





Immediately on the way back to the main road, the uphill began which will last for the next 8 km. I accepted it conciliatory, as a necessary evil, to find curiosity either around me or in a mental flow within myself. At first, while I was still passing through the place, it was interesting to observe the houses and their backyards.
On the way out of Ripač, I passed a new mosque, quite large, obviously the spiritual centre of the place.

Behind the mosque, I came across two traffic signs.
The first one informed me that this road (even the main road) is closed to a horse-drawn carriage.

I haven't seen that traffic sign for years, and I won't see any horse-drawn carriage on this main road either. Whether because the "drivers" of those vehicles respect that ban or because those vehicles (no longer) exist, I don't know.
Another told me what I know myself, I just didn't know that what I know starts here at the exit of the place.

So, I was pushing my bike through the place for a good kilometre on something that lookslike to me an uphill. It just seemed that way to me, because the real uphill is only starting now, at least by the traffic sign.
The first and most of that uphill leaves the valley and climbs somewhere up to the skies.

It was morning, it was quite fresh, and therefore still pleasant, so with the simultaneous observation of the environment and "letting the brain graze" the time was passing pleasantly. Since the valley is on my left, I turned that way because I have a good view of the valley when walking and pushing my bike. At least when the plants let me, which is not very common.
Here's what the left side of the road looks like.

In the end, it became interesting what I realized now, while I am writing these lines and inserting photos between them. Although I was pushing my bike this uphill for the first time in my life, I did not stop at this place the first time, shown in the image above. I've been here before. Whether the image, somewhere deep in my subconscious, came out in front of me, or He whispered it to me from above to do it, I don't know, but it's certainly not a coincidence, because, as I said before, I don't believe it.
34 years ago, when I was descending this road towards Bihać with my fresh life companion, we stopped for a moment just at this place. Here's what it looked like then

The already mentioned valley with Bihać and the surrounding places, seen from this main road, looked like this


I know that the shots are not of some quality, but that morning the humidity in the air was quite high, so any shooting with a zoom lens was, at least for me, difficult to fix in photoshop.
After 5-6 km the valley disappeared, but the road continued to climb. I know from experience that the pass won’t be fast, though it kind of looks like that. Relaxed, even cheerful at the realization that miles of uphill pass easier than expected, I paused in the modest shade of some stunted tree to consume those nectarines, still freshly cold because they spent the night in the fridge. In doing so, I filmed the situation in front of me (you can see the ascent)…

… and behind me

The ascent goes on and on. During one of the short stops, just enough to catch my breath and calm my heartbeat, and along the way to take a sip of cold beer and wipe off the sweat, I turned around and saw an unexpectedly impressive sight behind me. Behind me loomed the massif of Plješevica mountain, on the other side of the valley. Only information for those who are interested, behind that mountain is Lika province.

When I moved the camera lens a little to the right and down, I captured the last outlines of the Bihać Valley. I will not see it again on this journey.

I climbed quite high! Giving myself the above recognition, I turned forward and continued to push the bike. I hadn't pushed it for a long time, only about half a kilometre, because I had reached the pass. The pass was mild nature, and after it, also mild, up-and-down riding.


After the pass, I was nervously waiting for the intersection where I should turn right, both because of the desire to take the road I had never driven, and because of the hidden fear that I would miss it and continue towards Bosanski Petrovac. Still, I came on that intersection, a big one, with a big signpost which told me, "Pero, turn right here towards Kulen Vakuf!"
A few hundred meters after the turn I turned around and filmed the main road I had just left.

Somehow near the place where I shot the above shot I came across a plaque that was a kind of monument of a person who lost her life in this place.

The enthusiasm that I found at the intersection soon disappeared because the uphill appeared. I concluded that after that long climb, I need to go downhill because the Kulen Vakuf town was also on the Una river. I also knew that driving downhill will be shorter, because the road goes steeped downhill, and also because the Kulen Vakuf town is upstream on the Una river. But I did not expect an ascent. Interestingly, a man himself convinces of what suits him. So, for granted, I convinced myself that the intersection was on the pass, and behind it downhill will be followed immediately. And instead of that - yet ascent.

By the way, I noted that traffic was not particularly dense on the main road, while it was almost zero here. Only a couple of vehicles have passed in the next ten kilometres.
On something that I supposed was a saddle, though it was all in the forest, I stopped a little to prepare the spirit and body to take downhill.

And now followed some of the best moments of today's riding. Better to say hours!
At these hours I finally solved anxiety and the fears that were in me driving from the Bihać town. And not just that, I forgot, I pushed to the side, thinking, dilemmas, considering what and how and with whom. All my spirit melted with the body into one aimed at how to absorb all the senses of the scenes through which I was slowly and serene passing, without the least need for a hurry.
The downhill, shown on the upper image, lasted for some 5 km, though I'm not quite sure I remembered that mileage well. Of all the impressions I have experienced in myself, of the great pleasure of the downhill, of the spicy freshness of the thick, of the rich forest through which the downhill went, that numeric data on passed miles, at least that moment, was the least important thing in life.
When the forest retreated, in the bottom of my soul, I began to feel discouragement because I thought that everything was beautiful is ended and returning to a more or less classic, boring road was followed. But my discouragement was fast, redundant and unnecessary. I was shamed after I saw what was appeared after the exit from the forest.
I was welcomed by the surrounding hills with the
forests and meadows, and the road that continued to curve through the valley with a mild downhill.


The houses, typical of Bosnia, were scattered around. But I often saw people around houses, or in the fields, doing something, slowly and calmly. It was as if they had long since realized that haste and madness made no sense. I even met a local cyclist (!) riding toward me. Considering that he was driving uphill, he made the ride slowly, but somehow calmly and conciliatory, not getting nervous at all, with the unwavering faith that he would get where he did intend to go.
As houses and fields alternated in the valley, all of them were watched from a height by the dense forest on the surrounding hills.


I ran out of liquid in thermos bottles, but I wasn’t too worried about it. I can't even explain how, but somehow I was sure that there was a shop in this peaceful Paradise, even a small, but with a cold beer.
And it was like that!
A minute later I walked out of the store with four cold and dewy cans of beer. I drank one of them in sweetness and poured the others into thermoses, and calmly and peacefully, as before, I continued riding without any meaningful thoughts except watch, listen and absorb!
There was one. Somewhere I have to turn down a narrow alleyway towards Štrbački buk falls. I asked the dealer in the mentioned store where to turn, he replied that I still have about 2 km to turn.
The valley gradually widened in that 2 km, and the hills gradually moved away from the road, especially the one on the left.

A fortress could be seen at the top of the hill on the right.


According to Wikipedia, the Orašac fortress was built in the Ottoman period. The town was built between 1703 and 1730, next to a medieval tower, which belonged to the Hum parish. It was part of the Ostrovica captaincy. The crew of 60 nefers (soldiers) was commanded by dizdar. In 1782
the dizdar was Ahmedaga, followed by Huseinaga Grozdanić and his son, and also the last dizdar of Dervišaga. In 1833 there were three cannons here.
A mosque was located about a hundred meters away from that fortress. I have already seen churches, albeit small, isolated on the hill, but I have never seen this happen with a mosque.

On the website ljutoc.wordpress.com I find out that this mosque, with the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Kulen-Vakuf, is the oldest in this area. It was built in the walls of the old town of Orašac during the construction of the mosque in Kulen-Vakuf. With certain repairs until 1941, this mosque stood on the old town when it was burned and destroyed by Chetniks and insurgents. It was rebuilt after World War II, but was relocated from the original location of the old town about 100 meters north.
The Nikšić beer, which I drank with enthusiasm, washed away my digestive tract, and I became hungry. So I set out in search of a nice place to dine. A bench in the shade was desirable, where I would add a longer rest to lunch. But as much as I scanned the view left and right, I didn’t find what I wanted.
But that's why I found a turn for Strbacki Buk falls. The road, or rather the alleyway, was narrow and covered with fresh asphalt, which was nice to see and even nicer to drive on. For a moment, I thought about how much asphalt there is, given that it is a good 11 km to the falls, but solving the problem of hunger was my higher priority.
And then, as a gift from Him from above, I was given an ideal place to dine.

A luxurious table with benches, all covered with eaves, and there was a spring nearby. The problem was the tall grass, but it was solved by a man with a trimmer. I assumed that he was the owner of a nearby house where the scene from the image above was part of a wider garden, so I asked him if I could rest and have lunch there. Of course, you can, he said just wait for me to mow.
After he had done what was said, we sat down on the bench together and exchanged a word or two. It turned out that he is an employee of the Una National Park, and that this canopy is one of the seven in the park, and his job is, among other things, to maintain them. So, this is all for me and others like me!
I offered him a beer, which he refused with an excuse to drive. I asked him how he was, is there a job? He said that he is satisfied, he has a job, and he has money, although it is not a lot. He complained that people were leaving (a well-known story from Croatia as well), that somebody opened a bottled water factory, so politicians caused him big problems (a story also known in Croatia), he got into debt and killed himself (!). After the greeting, he has put the trimmer in a van parked across the street, and he drove to the next canopy. The lower image shows him and his van, and the wellspring is in the middle of the image.


Lunch was followed by a long break. At the end of it, I started riding further. The alternation of even better after better continued. My interlocutor at lunch made me happy with the fact that most of this alleyway is paved towards the falls. Only about 2 km before the falls is not.
So, after the enjoyment of descending through the forest, after the enjoyment of descending through the valley, there is the enjoyment of riding on something that looks more like a bike path than a road.
Let's go in order! That canopy under which I had lunch was still in the village. A lot of people here are engaged in sheep farming, as evidenced by the following two shots.


The first 2-3 km, from those 11 to the falls, the alleyway goes slightly uphill and downhill meandering through the hills. The view in front follows...


After reaching at the Una river, the alleyway continues along it.


How to put feelings into words now, when that words are small, scanty, miserable. This ride along the Una river is something I will remember for as long as I live. Even somehow the traffic was lost, so I was able to completely enjoy the ambience I was driving through. Peace, quiet, gentle breeze. The blueness of the calm water on my left side impressed me. I rode slowly, from foot to foot, just enough to move, all in the desire to keep this time and these scenes as long as possible.

After the Una river on one side and the hill on the other was squeezed the road, as seen in the image above, the road had a chance to take a break by entering a small valley along the river. Even a couple of houses found their place there, generously offering accommodation to passers-by. However, in searching for a place for building the road they had to tear off the hill and secure it with a retaining wall.

And then, with the end of the asphalt, the idyll began to take on elements of inconvenience.

It was only then that I realized how carefree the ride was on the fresh asphalt surface. Now I had to spend a good chunk of consciousness on choosing the less bad part of the dusty road and avoiding the edges and rocks that ominously protrude from the surface of the road. Only out of the corner of my eye, along the way, I noticed the continuation of the beauty of the ambience, a beauty that I could fully absorb before.


Perhaps the appearance of macadam would not have been so bad if some other things had not merged with it.
One of those additional things was - the traffic. It was as if these mighty cars, with visible impatience, were waiting for me to pass that asphalt, so, as agreed, they rushed down that dusty road. And in both directions. They were passing by me so close. More than once I had to move aside right next to the greenery, which used to be, and now with a thick layer of dust, it looked kind of pale yellowish-brown. And it was all happening in a thick cloud of dust.
The second of these additions were made by the sun, which warmed relentlessly. It wasn’t until the next night when it was thundering, lightning and raining I connected the two and the two and realized that the effect of that sun was further enhanced by the increased humidity, typical of the summer weather change.
The small wooden house had the role of a cash register, in front of which two men were charging for the entrance to the Una National Park. Although there were two of them, a row of vehicles was created on both sides. As long as they see how many people are in the car, as they take the money, as they go to that wooden house to get tickets and get change, as they return ... it all takes an eternity, at least that's how it seemed to me.
So, just after I exchanged 7 convertible marks for a ticket, I immediately sat down on a nearby bench, which was in the shade, and calm down. After resting and calming my nervous tension, I set off in anticipation of that famous falls. That anticipation lasted a good mile, which multiplied by the factor of bad road, heat, the mass of cars overtaking me or passing me, and thick dust turns out to be at least 10 “normal” miles.
And finally, some extension trying to play the role of a parking lot hinted to me that I had reached my destination. The image below shows the entrance to that extension.

Lifting the lens a little higher to the left while shooting the above shot, I spotted a hill with dense noise.

The scene from the image above reminded me that I was far from the settlement, in the real wilderness, despite the huge crowd of vehicles and people here on the falls.
When I turned half a circle around me I saw the entrance to the path that leads to the falls itself..

I was not a little surprised to see the bus. All respect to the courage of the driver (which is somewhat mixed with the madness) who dared to drive this vehicle on this narrow road.
Somewhere between these two above shots is a wide meadow that is trying with all its might to present as a parking lot.

Maybe the main cause of my nervousness was not the heat, nor the dust, or the lot of the vehicle. It was as if I was delaying a problem to myself for as long as possible that could be big. So now that I couldn't do it anymore when I had to face the harsh, cold and sometimes cruel reality, I had no choice but to admit to myself - what will I do about the bike!?
And the last piece of vain hope that I caught to like a straw of salvation was dispersed by a sign at the entrance to a wooden path that bicycles were forbidden to pass! A little further from the entrance, I saw that the trail has stairs, in several places and a lot of them. Common sense did that the last desperate idea to ignore the ban and enter with the bike next to me, disappeared out before it honestly was appeared.
So, once again, what will I do about the bike !?
Pushing my bike next to me, I went toward the entrance to the wooden path, passed by it and headed to the row of small wooden stands (it looked like newsagents to me) where was selling everything from the small tourist offer. In one of those shops, I asked a younger woman if I could leave my bicycle beside her "shopping centre", to which she told me that I could but at "my own risk".
It didn't satisfy me, it would be like leaving my bike anywhere, so I went back to the parking lot.
Nervousness in me was growing more and more. Around me was a crowd of people, women children, vehicles. A concrete idea has already formed in me that, in the last resort, I should leave my bike anywhere, take my wallet, cell phone and camera with me, and with help God, or whatever.
Many times in my life so far I have been convinced that when I choose a worse, more uncertain and unreliable solution, God rewards me with a better, safer and more reliable solution. I know, there is no logic, no rational explanation, it is only a faith matter, and I am convinced that it is so.
A man stood next to a small wooden house. He was arranging vehicles were coming to the parking lot and was trying to bring some order to the "wild" parking lot.

I asked him if he was working here? He replied to me, no, he was just arranging to park.
He confused me for a moment with his answer, but I had problems that were more important to me.
"Can I leave my bike somewhere here?" I asked him as politely as possible.
- Put it inside the barrack and lock it, no one will take it!
Feeling the sunlight shining again after coming out of the darkness, I quickly pushed my bike into the barrack for fear of changing his mind. However, I caught only a moment, so before entering the barrack for a short time, I looked at the sky, and I said to Him with one "Thank you!", quiet and voiceless but deeply sincere.

Unburdened by the solution of the concern, illuminated by the possibility of visiting the largest of the waterfalls on the Una river, I set off on a wooden path.

Although the image above the trail looks wide, it is not entirely like that. In some places, it was quite narrow, less than a meter, and in many places there were stairs, so those places were the bottleneck of heavy traffic. At these "bottlenecks" there were traffic jams due to a large number of people, in both directions.
The viewpoint from which the waterfalls are best seen made as a blind path that leads nowhere. Visitors were filming the waterfalls from the end of that viewpoint.

The biggest crowd was forming there. I had to wait patiently for everyone in front of me while they were filming themselves with waterfalls in the background.
First, it was a group of three girls, each of whom leaned against a fence with a waterfall behind them, with a grimace that was supposed to be a smile (cheese), while the other filmed her with a cell phone. Film me in this position (cheese), then in that position (cheese) and once more… then the second girl… then the third...
After them. a happy family came, a father, a mother and three children, and they were repeating scenes with previous girls, only here is a mother with the first child (cheese), then with the second (cheese), then with the third (cheese)… and then the same thing with dad…
I try to wait patiently and calmly for "my five minutes", but I feel that it is cooking slowly inside me. It is easily possible that my subconscious could not bear painlessly that I am the only one without company, or companion at least, in this sea of people. Furthermore, I know that I have felt uncomfortable in the crowd since childhood, and I subconsciously try to withdraw, which some would call an escape.
I could continue to explore my subconsciousness of why I currently feel the way I already feel, but instead of that, I tried to keep (at least outwardly) calm, and take a few shots and get out of this crowd.
That torment with bike accommodation, (one part of my soul is still anxiously thinking about it) along with this claustrophobic crowd around me on the trail have greatly reduced the experience of relaxed enjoyment and fascination with the waterfall. Too bad, then, for me. I found some kind of consolation, something like a straw of salvation, in the abundance of images I made. Relaxed, I'll take a view on them later by myself, without this crowd, and with that, I'll revive everything in myself that was then hampered by these unfavourable circumstances.
So, ladies and gentlemen, THE ŠTBAČKI BUK FALLS!



The following are details of Strbacki Buk taken with the zoom lens of my camera.







It was really impressive to me to watch so much crystal clear water which was lavishly scattering through the space during its fly
toward down and at the same time, it foams profusely. I can’t help but get the impression of how small, miserable and insignificant I am in the face of this spectacle that has been going on here for centuries. I was even ashamed of wasting my time, effort, and energy on things that seem so small, insignificant, and miserable during I observe this indifferent pageantry.
I would have stayed longer, much longer in the mesmerizing observation of the lavish spectacle around me, if that mighty crowd of people had not brought me back to reality. What's more, I felt a kind of shame in front of them because I let my emotions flare-up to such an extent, while they were calm, almost indifferent. The small, miserable grains of something that should be admiration, show only with that sour, stretched, smile when they take a picture with a waterfall behind. I wouldn't want to be overbearing, but I felt isolated (although I was an imperceptible drop in the river of people on the track), unadapted, so I began to feel the urge to leave as soon as possible. I wanted to return to solitude where I don't feel lonely. Unlike here in this crowd.
On the website vikici.net, I found an image of what Štrbački buk falls looked like at the end of the 19th century.

Below the picture, the author states that numerous mills around Buk itself are visible, which meant life to the local population. The picture also shows people dressed in traditional costumes, and it seems that they are from the Lika region.
In the middle of the river, just before the crash, there was a man with a boat who waited for something and someone.

At one moment he pulled that boat and let the water take him into the abyss. After the boat floated out of the foam at the bottom of the waterfall, it set sail slowly, and then another man caught it and pulled ashore. It also took me too long to connect two and two, which I partially justify to my current resignation and figure out what’s going on. It was a team that rafting on the Una river. Since it would not be very healthy or smart to go down the waterfall with a boat, the team, except, I guess, the rafting leader, continues by land to the foot of the waterfall. When they get there, then the one upstairs simply pushes their boat down the waterfall, and then they catch it downstairs.

Right in front of the viewpoint, where I took the above shots, on the other side of the Una river was located a carved railway route in the rock on which trains do not currently run for the reasons described earlier (to repeat them, from the Bihać town to the Kaldrma place the railway crosses the border of Bosnia and Croatia in seven places, so politicians can not agree on how to control traffic). And it's a shame, I think the passengers would be delighted with what would they see out from the train.
First, a shot from a distance, which shows a piece of the viewpoint on the right.

And now the already described shot of the view from the viewpoint.

Impressed by the sight in front of me, the sound of waterfalls, the smell of water, the liveliness of the river gracefully crashing down the travertine barrier, I tried to suppress the previously described discomfort which arose due to the crowd around me.
But there were a lot of people, "traffic jam" of them frequent, so I didn't make it.
I decided to stop touring this trail and return to the bike and go somewhere where I shall be alone.
Although the trail led somewhere down, somehow relieved in my soul by the decision to leave, I turned around and headed back to the barrack where the bike was patiently waiting for me.
I found an image on Wikipedia that shows what I would have seen if I had endured the crowd for a few more minutes and reached the end of the trail.

I found the bike in the same condition I left it, pulled it out of the barrack, sat on it, and, more relieved that the inconveniences were behind me than with the remaining enthusiasm of what I saw, I set off on a zig-zag ride on the macadam.
Lots of vehicles on the dusty road again. A real traffic jam. In one place, I had to squeeze again against the wild blackberry plants so that, right next to me, two cars could pass.
By the way, the sun was heating strong, so that the border between pleasantly warm and unbearably hot was long overdue.
After those 2-3 km of macadam, coming out on the asphalt, everything calmed down. Traffic is zero, I guess the asphalt doesn't suit it, there were no any people too, it's just me, but not lonely. I felt my body and spirit slowly calm down, I even began to feel comfortable and impressed, even though the ambience at first glance was not something exotic. I even stopped at one place to film only one small waterfall, objectively looking after that Strbacki buk falls, an almost insignificant waterfall in this extraterrestrial peace, light years away from people and civilization.


And as it happens, I just concluded that this is it, regarding Strbacki Buk falls, and that I should now continue to the Kulen Vakuf town, when I saw something on the quiet surface of the Una river through the greenery on the right side. I went back 10-15 meters immediately, finding a "hole" in the greenery, and prepared the technique and took the position to film this

The ducks paid no attention to me at all, nor did they let me know by any sign that they had noticed me at all. Extremely impressed by their calmness and dedication to the work they do, I watched them in fascination until they disappeared from my sight. As I watched them I forgot everything that was before them, nor what I needed after them. Watching these ducks how they are swimming, in a way that is unique to them, and still, in a relaxed way, it is as if they merged with this ambience so simple, but due to the absence of people and their hands, again so alien and surreal. It was a little strange for me too, because the complete real one, penetrating to the core, the excitement I expected to experience at Štrbački buk falls (I was almost sure of it), I experienced here in this peace and quiet watching these ducks(which I did not expect at all). I tried in vain to figure it out. A man was and remains a stranger to himself, let alone to others!
Although I lost sight of the convoy shown in the picture above, I remained calm and motionless for a moment, as if my body and spirit wanted to soak up, to preserve another piece of this Paradise.
With a heavy heart, I forced myself to move, sat on the bike and continued riding, but only from foot to foot, slowly, quietly and gently. I guess due to the ambience and the encounter I will never forget.
As I rode my bike along the Una river, which was just two meters to the right, I began to feel tired again. And in the body because of fatigue and the sun, and in the soul because of all the excitements already described, both positive and negative. Therefore, I guess it is understandable that I had a desire for rest, preferably horizontally. And as I searched in my head for where I could find a bench or something, like lightning, a solution flashed so obvious and so simple that I was ashamed that I hadn't thought of it before — the place for my lunch today.
So I came to that wellspring and the eaves next to it. He undressed to the waist, washed and refreshed himself with cold spring water, and after that "prepared the bed", lay down and fell asleep in the dream of the righteous.

Needless to say, I woke up as a brand new man. Every time I do that, I am fascinated by the effect of those 20 or so minutes of sleep. It is as if it is drained, sucks out from my body and spirit all fatigue, discouragement and apathy, and adds, infuses serenity, energy and faith.
I didn’t immediately move on, I took out dried figs and slowly chewed them observing the surroundings. On any map, even the best one, this was difficult to find this ambience. There was only scanty, cold information about its environment. But when I came here it become for me a concrete experience with a picture, sound, smell and other things that cannot be described in words and which remain in my memory forever.
As the above ran through my head, a man with a backpack on his back came and stopped by the wellspring to drink water. I greeted him and he has done it to me too, and I pointed to my figs as an invitation to join me for a meal. To this he, politely and kindly, with a slight smile, replied that he was there, from the village, to go home, but he would still take one fig, at least for not to offend me. Here, here in this "forgotten land", I came across treatment in the manner of a real noble school. Once again, I was convinced that one should not be superficial and hasty in judging people. Never and nowhere!
Although rested, I was somehow fed up with this day. That is why I drove that 12 km to Kulen Vakuf calmly and patiently, but without any major urge to find something interesting around me. I understood driving more as a necessity to finally finish it than as an opportunity to find, see or experience something interesting.
There was also an uphill, at least a kilometre and a half, and then a downhill to get to the Una river, calm, quiet, modest, and I thought there was another kilometre of plain along with it and here I am to my destination today. Somewhere up on the left, I even saw a fortress, the old town, and I concluded that it was above the Kulen Vakuf place. But instead of that place, the road went uphill and was very steep. So, at the very end of the test, a test of the strength of my spirit, a strength I wouldn't bet too much on. But what is there is worth enduring this temptation of God. If I succeed in that, I guess they will have mercy on me, and later, although I don't know how much later, they will still reward me with some of their mercy, or at least with respect to me.
Not an hour later I will see for myself in it!
And by then I understood the earthly reason for the uphill end of which I was just riding. It was a real gorge through which the Una river ran, so it was clear to me that there was simply no room for the road. No matter what the road, there was no room for an ordinary footpath!

On the top of the image above, there is a fortress, an old town about which a few words will be written later.
After the downhill that looked like the just conquered uphill, I was finally greeted by a large board with the inscription "Kulen Vakuf", and with it the first houses of the place. Not long after, just a little over a hundred yards, I reached an intersection. I'm going straight to Martin Brod the day after tomorrow, and now I'm going right across the bridge. As soon as I shoot it with my photo technique.


Most of the place in front of me is right behind the bridge. Because of that, right after this bridge in the image above, I turned left and after a few tens of metres, I found myself in front of a house which would be my accommodation for the next two nights.

Well, that would be all about pedalling for today. It wasn't even 4 PM yet and I reached today's goal. I was overwhelmed with a sense of satisfaction and self-enthusiasm as if I was the first to cross the finish line right after the marathon. Yes, my body was tired, my face was burning, but my spirit was trembling because of the successful completion of today's ride, so full of experiences that I can barely keep my impressions from falling apart and flying away.
A cyclo-computer on a bicycle showed that the "marathon" was 59 km today. It's not so a lot, someone would, I admit, rightly conclude, but I'm proud of them.
All trembling with the said enthusiasm, I came in the front door of the house and rang the bell.
Nothing!
I rang again.
Nothing again!
I rang a few more times, but every time I did that, the hope assured me that someone would come out, but reason thought the opposite because the answer was the same every time - silence. There was no one in the house!
For the umpteenth time, it has been shown to me that reality is more imaginative than the most imaginative imagination. Something banal and prosaic like this I did not expect even in the deepest part of my soul. My enthusiasm described above was getting smaller like a punctured balloon. At first, out of sheer confusion, disappointment had no room to appear.
Still confused, I looked around, not even knowing what I was looking for. But still, I found something — a bench in the shade of a tree across from my enclosed accommodation.
I sat down on the bench, and with the pleasure of resting in the shade, tried to think a meaningful thought what and how now !? I came to terms with the worst outcome - that I would sit here on the bench until the hosts arrived, maybe even by evening.
I didn't wait that long, just a few minutes.
Here it is again, having come to terms with a worse option, God is giving me a better one. In this case, it was in the neighbourhood of my, still unknown, host, who got into his older Audi 80 and headed into the place. He did not drive for a long time with that intention, only till me, because with determination, which surprised me myself, I stood in front of the car and asked for help. I explained to him who I was and how I got here, with the special note that I have an online reservation for tonight’s stay with his neighbour.
Without a shred of anger, with extremely convincing, though a little discreet, kindness, the guy resolutely turned off the car engine, went outside and on the way told me that he will go to the house, not far across the street, where my host's sister lives. And he came back with the younger woman he brought to me and satisfied with the service done he sat in the car and left even before I remembered to thank him. And I didn't remember that because I was repeating the same story from a while ago, but this time to the woman, sister I guess of my mysterious host.
And she, extremely helpful as that young man in the car, quickly and decisively picked up her cell phone and dialled the number.
Nothing!
She type and another number.
Nothing again!
Already herself with slight nervousness, and with a dose of shame, because this dialling lasts much longer than expected, she told me that she has another number so she will try with him.
This time someone called from the other side of the "wire".
After a short conversation, and after the woman took me to today's accommodation, I realized that with this phone conversation she was currently my authorized housewife.
She showed me the room and with "Here you are!" she mentioned that I would solve everything else with the "real" host once he came because he is currently in Bihać.
And the woman left quickly. Still, I managed to say "Thank you!" on what she just waved her hand.
I stood in the middle of my room confused, both at speed and of the mighty changes of events in the past ten minutes or so. Gathering information about this journey over the internet, I read, not in one place, that I will meet people who are warm, friendly and kind. Now I was convinced of the truth of what I had read.
I guess it would be my turn in the image and the words I say about this famous accommodation in which I will spend the next two nights and the whole of tomorrow.
Even in the planning phase of this journey, I decided to take a day off when it comes to pedalling. Some would say it was a coincidence, but I mentioned earlier that I don't believe in coincidence, it happened that tonight and tomorrow the weather will get worse, so in the end, it combined nicely with my pausing from cycling.
My accommodation is upstairs which is reached by a narrow winding staircase made of rough concrete.

Those stairs were the only ones unfinished about this accommodation of mine.
The stairs led me to a larger terrace where there is a table with chairs that in a way play the role of a dining room. They do this quite convincingly because the terrace is covered, and is thus protected from both sun and rain. In the corner of the dining room, in the place where it bothers me the least, I found a place where my bike will deservedly rest these two nights and the next day.

Looking at the image above, on the right is that concrete staircase, and on the left is the entrance to a small hallway. From the hallway can be entered in two rooms, one of which is mine.

I had two beds available from which I chose the left one.
Going to the opposite corner, at the head of the right bed, I filmed the room, as they say, from another angle.

From left to right, looking at the image above first is the front door to my room, and to the right of them is the bathroom door with toilet. Between them and the window is the corner where the kitchen is located. The kitchen element has a sink with a work surface, and there are dishes and an electric stove. Right next to the window is a small refrigerator that, as I will see later, cools down well.
Everything was new, neat and clean. I made this mess below and to the right of the window with my equipment.
If the kitchen, as far as space is concerned, was modest and minimalist, the bathroom was lavish.

I was more than pleased with what I saw. Everything I needed was there.
My satisfaction increased when I later paid my host to stay in this area for only 40 KM (20 €) for both nights. So, I paid less for two nights here than for one night in Bosanska Krupa.
The rest of the day I slowly went to the store, the supermarket, for the logistics for today, slowly returned to the room, slowly took a shower, slowly made soup, and after dinner slowly rested watching youtube on TV. Either I failed to figure out how to get to Bosnian TV, or it was impossible. In any case, I was satisfied with yesterday's TV news, which I managed to find on youtube.
The end of the third day which was full of events and experiences.

You can view the continuation of this travelogue here.

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