The last day is always sad. We’re all getting to know each other. It doesn’t matter that this was a slightly shorter trek or that we knew most of the swimmers before.

We hopped in the water and off we went. After a few days swimming you know who you swim best with. Someone with a similar pace. My wing man is Olivier. He’s from Paris.

My wing woman in Galapagos was lovely Betty from the USA and in Montenegro it was fun Sophie from England, now living Tarifa in Spain  I’ve loved swimming with all these great people

Today Steve  decided to stay with us. I like this because he becomes the sighter and I can relax and swim! He guides us in the direction we need to go which is pretty important on the crossings from island to island.

We started with  one of these crossings. Then  we hit a tough patch of choppy water and a strong current running against us. Ricky gathered us on the boat and moved us onto the end of the island and we started another crossing.

From here on it was smooth swimming and we stopped every half hour for some food – this really helps with distance swimming.

Finally we finished. 8 km! Yes, me – my personal best distance  oh boy …

We stopped at a lovely bay at the top of Ugljan island and had our last lunch together at Konoba Dali.

It was a pretty restaurant with terrific views and even better food. We had a Peka. This is a traditional dish of the island . Some had meat and the other octopus.

The 🐙 had just been caught that morning , boiled, tenderised and then cooked in a clay pot over hot coals. It was the most wonderfully tender octopus I have ever had.

 

They served it with potatoes and zucchini and lashings of olive oil.

Fantastic with a local wine – Rose.

It will be sad to leave our friends at swim trek. It was all made possible by Chris Masek, our friend from our first trek in Sardinia in 2013 when I could only swim about 1 km. He also organised the big swims Steve got to do. One the crossing from Corsica to Sardinia and the other from Spain to Morocco.

Chris, sadly didn’t get here at all for the trek. Business interfered at the last moment and he couldn’t get away.

In the evening we had the end of swim trek dinner. Photo opportunities of new friends.

As usual , Awards were given. I got mine for being a ‘record breaker!’ Setting new distances each day.

It was a great few days of swimming. Usually swim treks are 5-6 days of swimming but this one was longer distances over 4 days. Exhausting!

Tomorrow we move on to Zagreb.

We take a ferry at 9.15 back to Zadar then a comfortable bus to Zagreb.

 

 

 

Once again breakfast with the  boys and we were off and away.

Today Dan our American friend, inventor , funny man , foodie and all round good guy brought his wife Izzey and two sons Max and Luke along on the boat. They aren’t really swimmers but were prepared to give it a go. So off we went for a crossing and a lovely swim along some more beautiful coastline.

It’s a magic day – but before we go we get the vasoline treatment!

The two boys did a bit of the swims and then jumped back on while Izzey  became the photographer for the day.

We had another great lunch provided by our guides Ricky and Neil. They provided a variety of salads and assorted fruits. Very spoiled.

The last swim today was along the coast ending in a little bay with a great bar along the waters edge overlooking a waterpolo area netted off for the local kids to practice their skills.

No wonder Croatia do well at waterpolo. The kids playing informally were very skilled and fun to watch.

We made our way back to the boat to return to the hotel to do a quick change before we headed our for dinner at Konoba Roko for dinner.