Day 143 – EU – Montenegro [Budva to Bar]

14/07/20

37km

  From Budva (Montenegro) to Bar (Montenegro)

Europe

Battled a strong headwind for most of the way, turning an otherwise beautiful run into a somewhat demanding and effort-heavy day!

I left later than usual, at 6am, thinking the shorter day (only 37km) would still be manageable with a little more sleep. As I left the hotel I was once again met with very strong winds. They lasted till about 10am. One thing I learned is that the Montenegro coast is not accurately represented on Windguru or other wind forecast Apps.

Anyway… would I have made a different choice if I had had an accurate forecast…? The wind would still have been there! So I ran against it, most of the way and it made for a slow and tiring progression. It’s a double edge sword. The wind keeps the brutal heat at bay, cooling the air significantly. Yet the cost in terms of efforts, to push my 30kg stroller against some very almighty wind gusts is quite hefty too!

I take it in my stride – meanwhile the environment today was again very beautiful.I am resting tonight in seaside City of Bar. The last town before I cross into Albania tomorrow.

I wondered why I found it so difficult to find stores to replenish my supplies today: it turns out 13-14th July is Montenegro National (they got recognized as a State in 1878 by the International Community).

Then I realised today’s also France Bastille and my dear follower Fergus from Ireland was the first to send me a message in this direction: thank you for reminding me of this!

Tomorrow I will leave Montenegro behind and enter the 9th country of the World Albania!

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: