The Montenegro monsoon had us cutting short our plans and fleeing northwards. Things looked to improve somewhere around Split, so we hopped on the ferry across Kotor Bay and headed into Croatia. Mission accomplished, we’d explored most of the highlights of the climbing available in Bosnia Herzegovina and Montenegro, and caught a glimpse of the differing cultures across this diverse and complex region, even dipping into Kosovo. In the process, we’d also racked up over a month outside the Shengen Zone – topping up our “90 in 180” post-“B-word” rations which should see us through this autumn / winter.

The rain petered out a couple of hours north of Dubrovnik, and we’d successfully out-flanked another weather system. Pulling into Camping Sirena after dark, we weren’t sure if we were stopping for a night or a week.

Waking up to sunshine, and looking out of the window the following morning, it felt like we might be here for a while…

Camping Sirena is about 20mins south of Omiš, an area we’d explored extensively on previous trips.

Omis

Omiš marked the most southerly Basecamp of those previous visits, though we had made a couple of forays further south along the Dalmatian coast towards Dubrovnik. Looking back, my blog post on Brela didn’t give much away (mobile data was harder to come by in 2015!)

Brela

Sure enough, it remains a “pretty crag”, and meanwhile it’s been fully re-bolted, and the gear is generally excellent. For a slabby crag, it has also remained largely unravaged by the demon polish.

… and the views remain outstanding!

We made three visits over the course of what stretched into a ten-day stay in the area.

A few highlights included a number of rope-stretching 5s and low 6s, some routes to 60m and longer (take an 80m for maximum flexibility) including Il Marches del Grillo, 5b…

Here’s Helen on Aurora, 6a, squeezed in as the setting sun painted the crag a golden orange.

Whilst “grey and slabby” is the predominant style, there are a few splashes of orange to mix things up towards the right hand end of the crag. Ein Traum fur Ingrid, an excellent (if tough) 6a+, is highly recommended. The adjacent Susvid, 6c, has a stopper move (or two!) and Nostromo, 6c+, is a properly steep and cracky antidote to all that juggy slabiness.

Venturing onto new ground, nearby Vrulja deserved the rave reviews in the guidebook for the approach (along a beautiful medieval path)…

… and for the gorgeous outlook.

On our first visit, I failed to note the warning of exposure to a chilly north wind, wearing shorts and forgetting a jacket, and absolutely froze! We just bagged one of the “easier” routes, La Freccia nella Roccia, 5c, before escaping for a defrost.

On a return visit, better decked out, we did Cuore Matto, a sustained three pitch 6a up the full height of the first sector.

The crag is visible from a viewpoint parking spot on the busy coastal road, and we had a small crowd of onlookers on a busy Sunday – here’s the view from below. Our route was on the righthand buttress. We didn’t explore further left, but there are a couple of very impressive steep sectors including a stupendous cave (just about visible) – home to Croatia’s hardest route: Dugi Rat, 9a+ (well, you’ve got to leave something to come back for!)

With Omiš just up the road, we alternated slabby and steep, with a couple of trips to previously visited crags, favouring the shady as the temps spiked towards 20C. The chert-crusted crackiness of Mile Gojsakic was a favourite discovery from 2022, and I did Zagomilje, 6b, Čovići, 6b/c and Za Petra, 6b+/c.

A chilly return to sector Vojan served as a reminder that it’s not always a good idea to revisit prior recommendations, with Plaurita, 6a+, proving a struggle and Splitski Imid, 6c, a right battle.

Back at the campsite, things settled into “holiday” mode – I know it all looks like a holiday, and I’m not expecting sympathy, but much of our travelling is surprisingly hard work, with the constant toil of finding open campsites out-of-season, dodging weather and exploring “off-the-beaten-track” crags.

The alignment of a working washing machine, sunshine, and enough of it to warrant a rest day, prompted the once-a-trip CAC parade…

Even the occasional “work” call takes on a different aspect by the seaside

In further evidence of “holiday mode”, and our magnificent seaside plot…

… we were finally able to unpack our beach toys. Helen’s paddleboard (a bargain purchase from the Decathlon just up the road on our visit in 2022) has since been joined in the RockAroundTheWorld fleet by an inflatable kayak.

Despite spending much of the trip camped by water, it’s all been too fast-flowing, too choppy or just too cold to set out paddling, so we were making up for lost time.

We were even graced by a passing pod of dolphins.

Another “holiday” aspect of camping Sirena is that the restaurant is open most evenings, despite it being the arse end of the season. Sunday night’s “Pig Party” is the highlight of the week (unless you’re a pig I guess) and every dinner is accompanied by the resident guitar-playing folk singer.

With a bit of help from Google we could even follow the lyrics – a mix of the melancholy and the patriotic…

Over the course of three meals we’d nailed the choruses of a few of his mainstays.

Another weather system finally blew in, prompting the inevitable upping of sticks, and we pondered an early return home based on the longer term dampness. Perhaps a quirk of the Adriatic microclimate, but again a move north looked like it might allow us to squeeze another day or two out of the impending winter. Sure enough, a return to Čikola came up trumps, and we enjoyed another couple of days at our favourite Croatian climbing hangout. Helen continued to rack up more rope-stretching routes, including Dinas Je Najljespa, 5c

All good things come to an end…

… but I’ve no doubt we’ll be back for some more on our next Balkan Odyssey…

Just the small matter of 2,000km back home, via some snowy conditions which extended as far as Frankfurt. Not much chance of any drive by cragging en route.