Last Updated on 16 January 2026 by Cycloscope
Bicycle Touring in the lesser-known Croatia, across Karlovac and Sisak. Witnessing the biggest flood of the century in the region. Ravna Gora – Karlovac
Check down below for a photo map of the cycling journey.
Yesterday we slept on a bed for the first time. We take it really easy and set off at 13:30. It takes some time to leave such a nice room.
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We washed all the clothes last night but everything is still really wet, that’s the excuse we use to justify our laziness, we must wait for them to dry.
Daniele tries to straighten the back wheel of the Président, which looks a bit bent. After a few miles of ups and downs (temperature always about 10°C), finally comes the true downhill. The mountains disappear, and the hillside arrives. A soft up and down through the woods.
For thirty kilometers, nothing but woods, occasionally a car. There are some groups of houses once in a while, but aside from the barking of dogs (all strictly chained), we don’t hear any noise, not a radio, a TV, or the cry of a child.
Silence.
We arrive along the Kupa River. Impressive. Especially because it seems on the verge of overflowing. Then Karlovac, across the city, which we liked (for those who like a little “decadence”). The city was heavily bombed during the Balkan War, and the scars are evident.
It starts to rain, and soon after, in the city, we stop to sleep in the usual grove, but this time, there are no good spirits around. It was a scary forest, with tall trees with very thin trunks.
With the strong wind, some branches broke and we could hear the noise, a bit disturbing. We cooked with the helmets on!
Karlovac – Sisak
We survived the night. No trees collapsed in the tent. But it’s raining, raining, ultra-raining.
We have seen the weather reports, but we were hoping, as often happens, that they’ll be wrong. And instead, this time they got it right.
We start at 10.00 am with 30 kilometers of real flat. We get back along the river Kupa. We stop to eat under a bus shelter.
The Président falls from its stand and rolls! It almost ends up in the river! While we eat, two dogs approach, one smaller and cowardly, and the other a bit bigger; he looks like a big puppy. He brings us sticks to play with. It has a collar, so it is someone’s dog; maybe it escaped from the chain.
We leave, and the dog follows us for a couple of kilometers. In the meantime, it stops being “the dog”, we give him a name: Scoppio. We try to convince him to go back, but no way. We stopped because the Président needed a straighten to the back wheel. Something is wrong with it.
Scoppiois always here. He takes some naps, then he gets up and licks us. We go, it keeps on raining, non-stop since this morning.
And Scoppio follows us; downhill, he goes at 35 km/h. We think that sooner or later, he will get tired and come back.
After 20 km, we start to worry. It gives no hint of wanting to go back and doesn’t look tired at all.
We think we should find a room so he can surrender. In the tent, there would be no hope. Eventually, Scoppio follows us for 60 kilometers, all the way to the city of Sisak.
We’re very wet. We find an “apartmani”, we give him two sausages, and greet him. We hope he will find someone good who loves him. Or maybe it will be here waiting for us tomorrow morning.
We really do not know what has prompted him to follow us for 60km in the rain. We haven’t even given him anything to eat. Maybe he just wanted to run. We are very worried, but there’s not much we can do for Scoppio.
Although we’d like to take him with us for the whole trip!
Sisak – Novska
We wake up, and it’s still raining. We go out for breakfast, but there is no Scoppio. I am happy he didn’t wait for u,s but also sad because he’s not here.
For breakfast, we have 3/4 fried eggs with ham, juice, and coffee: the so-called breakfast of the champions. Restart: luckily flat. I always think about Scoppio.
It seems to me to see or hear him every time I hear a dog barking. Fortunately, the place where we “left” him is a park along the river, so we hope he can find someone who will adopt him.
Continuing on, we see what the flood left behind. The woods are completely flooded, we only see the tops of the trees, and it seems that crocodiles can suddenly appear. A true swamp.
We go in search of the alcohol for our stove, but can’t find it. Finally, we understand what they call it in Croatian, and that is found only in hardware stores, but it’s Saturday, and everything is closed.
The bucolic road between sheep and singing chickens to Novska.
After cycling some beautiful country roads, we start looking for a place to sleep, but it’s not simple. It seems that this is the most densely populated area of Croatia. On the left, a small road leads into the grove.
We put the tent in a field after the cemetery, just next to the road. It’s a quagmire, but we did not have many alternatives. Also, it’s quite cold, around 8°C, and with a lot of humidity, we’ll have to sleep with the hood on our heads.
Novska – Oriovac
We woke up around 7:30 and, for a change, it was raining! Few people pass by the road next to us on their way to Sunday Mass. They ignore us. At 11:00, we leave. It rains at times, but it is hotter than yesterday. Flat.
After about twenty miles, just before Nova Gradiska, a flat tire on the back wheel. I try to patch it, but as soon as we put the bags back on, ready to go, on the ground again.
I have to start all over again! Meanwhile, an elderly, bellied gentleman comes out of his house; he wants to help. He doesn’t understand why a woman would change the tube herself.
It seems to be all right, but to remove the back wheel, the shifter’s cable must be removed from the hub gear and reinstalled, and it’s a problem! I don’t think Shimano Nexus 8 is meant to be this way.
It takes us more than an hour (also because the old man’s “help” slows us down quite a bit). We leave late.
We take a room in a little village calledOriovac. They also have a very cheap restaurant called “Lui”. We are welcomed by Ilia, a truck driver with a few teeth, a nice face, and, above all, who speaks English.
The wife cooks in the restaurant. After dinner, he treats us to homemade plum Rakija! Very good, we drink three glasses, and we go to sleep happy.
Tomorrow we’ll go to Bosnia! We hope to find alcohol for the stove, but no one knows what it is, so we can’t cook.
Croatia, Ravna Gora – Oriovac
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