Day 243 – EU – Croatia [Popovaca to Ivanic Grad]

22/10/20

29km

  From Popovaca (Croatia) to Ivanic Grad (Croatia)

Europe

The one with the litter of 6 puppies by the side of the road…

I started off late today, knowing I had only 30km to run to reach my next pitstop. The sun was up and bright, blue sky, warm temperatures, everything set up for a perfectly fine day on the road.

As I ran in between two villages, on a very quiet road, I heard something. It sounded like a baby crying, very faint. I stopped and realised it came from across the road, from a field. I went to have a look and found, to my dismay, 6 tiny little puppies, scattered around a broken crate. All crying. I put them all together and the crying stopped. They were just a few days old, their eyes still closed.

There were no two ways about it. I cleared the lower basket of BoB the stroller, laid my polar jacket on it and snuggled them all together. They almost instantly fell asleep, on top of each other. I started running, devising my strategy. I needed to find a veterinary practice willing to look after them. 6 puppies without a mum requires a lot of work. They need feeding round the clock and looking after.

I stopped by a cafe at the entrance of the next village. People marvelled at the little ones but no one could help. I kept running. Then I found a couple working in their garden, tending to their trees, a dog by their side. I stopped by and explained (thank you Google Translate) the situation. After a short while, the lady asked her husband (Ivan) to take me to a nearby farm. She explained that their son works for a vet. I was in luck.

We went to the farm, 6 dogs, two pigs, loads of cats and chickens. The family welcomed us and Ivan explained – I insisted we needed to find a vet practice. They went on to give some phone calls… and 20mn later, they had found one, in Kutina (the major city I crossed yesterday) who was willing to have them and care for them. How great! I transferred the puppies from the BoB basket to a crate, waved them all goodbye and hit the road again.

I have been very lucky. But Central Croatia, as I have experienced it so far, is a region where people care for nature and for the animals. In a sense, it was logical that I should have found people willing to help with the litter of pups.Anyway – that for sure made my day on the road a brilliant one. I ran the rest of the way to Ivanic Grad with very happy feet.

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: