Senj to the Paklenica National Park

Continuing south from Senj, the Magistrala picks its way beneath the rocky slopes of the Velebit, the mountain chain which follows the coast for some 100km. It's initially a forbidding sight, a stark, grey, unbroken wall, although there are patches of green pasture and forest just below its string of summits. Some of the best views of the Velebit are to be had from the eastern coasts of Rab and Pag, from where it towers over the coast like the waves of a frozen sea. There are few coastal settlements of any size along this stretch of the Adriatic - understandably, given the steep and rocky terrain, which leaves precious little space for houses, agriculture or tourist resorts. It's also one of the trickiest stretches of the Magistrala to drive along, with the road twisting its way around a seemingly endless sequence of deeply indented bays and rocky spurs. The scenery, however, is magnificent, and there are some nice coves into which campsites have been attractively squeezed - Raba, on the southern side of Sveti Juraj, and Žrnovica, 5km further south, are two of the most pleasant.

About 20km south of Sveti Juraj a side-road descends to the port of Jablanac, from where regular ferries cross the narrow Velebit channel to Migrjak on the island of Rab. Most coastal buses don't make the detour to Jablanac, dropping off on the main highway 4km away instead, so if you're heading for Rab it's best to catch a direct Rijeka-Senj-Rab Town bus - Jablanac itself is small, unspectacular and not the kind of place you would want to get stuck in. Much the same could be said of Prizna, 13km south, another small harbour just off the Magistrala, from where hourly ferries leave for Žigljen on Pag.

The larger but equally unrewarding town of Karlobag, another 13km south, is the starting point for a minor road which winds inland over the mountains, struggling up through the rugged terrain before arriving at Gospić, main town of the Lika region.This is another potential route up towards the Plitvice lakes, although there's little to stop for en route other than the sheer barrenness of the landscape, which can be oddly riveting. Travelling through the area in the 1870s, the future archeologist Arthur Evans (then Balkan correspondent for the Manchester Guardian) described the area as the "Croatian Siberia" - "a strange, wild land ... with its scattered oases of fertility, its chaotic rocks, underground rivers, and mysterious caverns; a country - as everywhere else in Illyria - presenting the most startling contrasts of nakedness and cultivation.".

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