Kvarner Bears and Beaches

A three day bikepacking route from the mountains to the beaches of Kvarner, Croatia. Starting in the hilltop town of Kastav the route climbs on dirt tracks through bear inhabited forest to the ski centre of Platak. The route descends to the lake of Lokve, circling most the way round on entertaining single track, then passing a Wild West village (old film scene perhaps) to Fuzine. One last big climb brings the first real view of the sea and a long descent to the bridge over to Krk island. From here the route follows the western edge of the island passing Rijeka airport and crossing the Moon Plateau to the resort of Baska.  Accommodation is available in the mountain huts at Platak, hotels in Fuzine, and numerous places on Krk island. Discreet camping is also possible.  To get to the start I cycled up to Kastav from Rijeka on the road. It's only an hour but busy. This could be avoided by taking a taxi which shouldn't be too expensive. The twice daily trains from Slovenia carry bikes. It's best to get off at Opatija-Matulji, one stop before Rijeka. Kastav is about 30 mins on the road from here.  To get back from Baska: Rijeka Airport is about 3 hours ride on the road, the route passes the airport so it is also an option to backtrack o the route. The buses to Rijeka carry bikes for 80Kuna (about 11 Euro) when there is space (i.e. outside of July and August).