I'm en-route now!
Yep, currently in Dubrovnic having a bit of a mare to be honest.
Stayed in Northern Italy before setting off again to Slovenia. From there, I headed to Croatia and the Dalmation coast which has a good review and is nice, though a bit touristy.
Unfortunately, to get any further, you have two choices - Bosnia/Serbia/Bulgaria or Bosnia/Serbia/Macedonia/Greece with an option of Albania. So I went into Bosnia, paying 10Euro for a green card (when he saw my 20Euro note, he tried to charge me 20!) before heading to Serbia (Visegrad - 160 miles). Unfortunately, the first checkpoint wouldn't accept my insurance and couldn't sell me any, directing me to Priboj (50 miles) where I could buy one... supposedly.
Unfortunately, they wanted 70euros and then said it was "too late" (it was 3pm). Cash machines and credit card accepters aren't that common in Bosnia and I had only planned on a passing visit, so I decided to go back to Dubrovnik (160 miles) instead. Unfortunately, the checkpoint was closed due to the fires, so a kindly Bosnian led me and two greek bikers at Mach 6 to the Montenegran border (30 miles) for circuitous access to Dubrovnic... where I was promptly turned away again because they wouldn't accept my insurance nor would they sell me any
It was now 9pm, so I headed back to Trebinje (15 miles) to find a hotel (like rocking horse shite and again, won't accept credit cards). Luckily there were cash machines... that promptly gave me 50 Kn notes which no-one could change - i actually got euro change from the hotel!
So yesterday racked up 450 odd miles across some of the best and worst roads, in mostly rain, 18 degrees and occasionally a bit of sunshine for very little overall gain. I've now had enough of border controls and have decided to get a ferry to Italy, then another to Greece before heading over to Turkey, where I'll be staying until the 20th or so.
So just a warning to all those wanting to overland it... allow a lot more time than you bargain for (especially if you venture off the main motorway route), take a load of Euros, Krona etc. and good luck with your insurance paperwork!
I'm sticking with Italy/Greece options from now on!
By the way, Bosnia is pretty nice, though lots of police all over the place and 30mph limits, (got pulled over twice, but let off). No motorways, so it takes time to get around, and is probably worth making a destination in its own right, but its quite under-developed still, lots of Communist influence, not many English speakers (more Germans). I've had enough of it though! Croatia on the other hand is a million miles more touristy and "westernised" (though have only found one place with wi-fi!) and seem to take Euros or Krona and many people speak English.
