We Rings Beach folk are fairly smug in our appreciation of the unique place on the earth that we have. There are not many places that we would trade our spot for…. But I have found another spot that may have gazzumped it.
A quick look at the criteria for a good bach; (drum roll)
1. Far from the madding crowd
2. Close enough to the beach to hear the sea at night
3. Not too many mod cons
4. Cards or games to play
5. Good company.
Let me introduce you to Vela Pogorila (not to be confused with Mala Pogorila, the lesser loved bay nearby).
To get there, you take the 4.00 bus from Makarska, hang around and have a coffee when it gets to Drvenik, quickly jump back on as the bus drives onto the ferry to Hvar, panic slightly that you are still heading in the right direction as the bus rolls off the ferry at Sucuraj (with a ‘ch’ on the ‘c’)
and then get off at Bogomolje. Fortunately Branka, Ivan and Ivana were there to wave at me so that I knew I was in fact in the right place. Then a 3 k drive on dust roads down to the coast…. And look at this view.
There are strict rules of course (there are in remote baches) – go easy on toilet flushing, and keep the doors and windows closed at all times because of snakes.
Ferral is a word that comes to mind – I haven’t had a shower since Wednesday just before I raced for the bus (struggling in the 37 degree heat, what can I say..) and haven’t washed my hair except for in the sea this morning. To remove the salt water you stand under a bucket of water drawn from the well (of course).
There are no other houses on the beach but sometimes boats do come in and moor for the day.
I skimmed a lot of stones, and swam a lot of swims. I snorkeled, I ran (of course) and sat and read. We did a lot of laughing, and they laughed at me trying to identify the different suits on their playing cards. I waged war with the wasps hanging around and nearly won. I did a bit of rowing – and watched the sun go down and then watched it come up again. I did feel slightly uncomfortable at the prospect of the snakes – but didn’t see any at all.
The first night was so incredibly incredibly hot that I opened the shutters enough to let the breeze and a small snake in if it chose to do so. I lay there worrying about fact that I had been told not to, but still did it, but in the cool light of day I surveyed the height of the window and decided that there was no way a snake would get up there, and so left the windows wide open from there on in (and lived to tell the tale).
I lay on the perfect pebbles and acknowledged how lucky I was to be part of this environment – and then went for yet another swim. The water was cooler than on the main land which meant that it was about 23 degrees, and actually cooled you down, but still incredibly clear. And looking out across the Adriatic, the view is directly to Tucepi and Podgora, and all of the old settlements up the hills.
The fridge is fired by gas, the stove is a simple two gas burner – the back door and porch is protected from the heat by a lattice of grapevines – and if you really really want to, you can switch a light on, but these are powered by solar panels, and really, the candles are more fun – although the light didn’t help me in my quest to perfect the card game.
This end of Hvar is a lovely comparison to the area I was in last weekend – the jet setting jazz bar super yacht crowd – a twist on a theme, the yin to the yang – a slice of heaven – and I loved it!
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