European Adventure

[Dan_seed]

Day 12 - getting hotter!

Today's Stats:
Mileage: 234 km
Time moving: 4hrs 41mi s

Totals so far:
Mileage 3071km
Time moving: 56hrs 9mins

We left the comfort of our hosts home (Thanks once again must go to Carlo and family for taking us in for a couple of nights. It was great to catch up be part of your family for a couple of days) and hit the road towards Cortina. We had a couple of lovely passes to climb along with lots of German and Italian holiday makers. We are noticing less and less English vehicles now. At the top of Colle Saint Lucia there was a great gathering of bikes and bikers. We chose to stop and take a few pics, including the one of the Africa twin that was very well loaded, before descending for lunch at Cortina. This was probably the first restaurant where we struggled to translate the menu with our lack of Italian knowledge and therefore played roulette with a lucky guess. The choices worked out well for us both and we live to tell the tale! I have a feeling this is the way the next couple of weeks is going to work as we head out of our comfort zone of France and Italy. From here it is unknown for us......well until we get back to Poland anyway.

We then followed the sat Nav towards Cividale del Friuli which is the start of our next planned route. We did not quite make the full distance stopping short in Germona del Friuli at a lovey campsite with a bar and relatively cheap beer! A home cooked meal of gnocchi and pesto meant we did not leave camp and gave us an opportunity to catch up on photo loading and blog writing. A fairly relaxed evening!

Tomorrow Slovenia awaits!

 

[Rocketman]

fab trip keep it coming

 

[Col]

Fantastic, sounds like you guys are having fun. Really enjoying your story although some foodie pics might help the congregation along an easier path !!

 

[Beemerk12s]

Green with envy, Dan!

Trying to get Mrs M to get some bike kit, but not biting, even after seeing your pics and reports!

Looks like I'll have to keep going away with my mates.

Stay safe and keep enjoying the trip. Coffee with ice cream = gelato affogato = drowned ice cream! Yummy!

 

[PeterS]

It's great seeing the pictures and hearing about all your adventure. Keep them coming.

 

[Dan_seed]

A Note from Laura for Mrs M: Do it! if you'd told me a couple of years ago i would be living out of a box smaller than ryanair hand-luggage I would have laughed, but i'm having the most amazing time. Nothing quite compares to the amazing sights, smells and temperatures you experience on the bike, alongside the waves from locals wondering what the heck youre up to! Everyday we finish I look forward to planning the next day, absolutely amazing.

Green with envy, Dan!

Trying to get Mrs M to get some bike kit, but not biting, even after seeing your pics and reports!

Looks like I'll have to keep going away with my mates.

Stay safe and keep enjoying the trip. Coffee with ice cream = gelato affogato = drowned ice cream! Yummy!

 

[Dan_seed]

Day 13 - Into the unknown.

We started this morning rather late following a lie in but were soon organised once up. We head in the direction of Kobarid. This was the start of a route as recommended from a book we have back home and also is a destination of a possible short cycling holiday next year. We were not dissappointed as this town was lovely, with lots of possibilities for outdoor activities and very friendly locals. We checked out the local Cafe and immediately noticed a drop in the prices from Italy. We should definately come back to this place for the cycling trip.

We followed the river north towards Socka and Kranjska Gora. This road was lovely following the very clear river. The river looked so tempting for a dip that we decided we would cook lunch on the river bank and take the opportunity for a swim. Well when I say swim....... I mean a very quick dunk as the river was freezing! Very refreshing though and nice to get the bike kit off in the peak heat of the day.
We continued down the road to get to the pass heading up to about 1600m. As we started the ascent we noticed the signs that were couting down the number of hairpin bends. 49 to go.......49!!!!! On the way up these were quite nice, all 21 of them but then we had to contend with the descent. Someone had decided that the best road surface for the remaing 28 very tight 1st gear corners was Cobbles! And bumpy ones at that! I am just glad it was a dry day as it could have been very interesting in the wet!
Following this we took a slightly larger and faster flowing road towards Bled, where we head into the hills again.

We head towards Bohinjska Bistrica with the hope of finding a campsite within walking distance. We were lucky that the town has Camping Danica within 500m and this was then an easy choice to pull up. Little did we know that the campsite would be very busy as this seemed to be the gathering point for alot of german and french off road vehicles that were about to start Trans Balkan 2015 (we think). Lots of toys to check out around the campsite but dissappointed to see far to many Toyotas and not enough Landy's.

Following a wash and change we head into town to check out Slovenian Cuisine. A dish of Jota (potato, saurkraut and a sausage)and Riscta (not sure onthe spelling but contained beans, carrots, Bulgur wheat and dried meat), pics to follow to get the foodies going ;-) and a couple of local beers! A cracking meal!

Slovenia so far has been lovely and very picturesque! The people have been really friendly with great english to help us out!

Tomorrow we will probably get to Croatia.......another unknown!

 

[Dan_seed]

Dya 13 Pics

 

[SM46]

Enjoying this keep it coming.....

 

[leedude03]

did you encounter the Parking Nazis at the top of the pass, right jobswerthies. we were there a few weeks ago, great place and enjoying the report.

 

[Dan_seed]

Day 14 -Slovenia into Croatia.

We woke following a broken nights sleep. A group of lads thought it would be a good idea to keep the whole campsite awake with their guitar playing and singing until 2am, thank goodness we couldn't understand what they were singing about!!

We were out of the tent by 8 to realize that we were in the fog or possibly cloud. This soon changed once the sun took hold and the temperature rapidly increased! Having checked the temp gauge on the bike we understood the temp to be 29degrees and therefore taking the tent down in direct sunlight was hot and sweaty work.....all this before putting on the bike kit for the day! We were just glad that the wind flow keeps you relatively cool whilst you are on the move.

We started with an ascent towards Kranj. This is grass growing country where we saw many local out gathering the cut grass with machinery on the flat areas but manually with rakes on the steeper areas where the machines could not navigate. Very nice to be passing though countryside where normal life is just happening.

We then head towards Ljubljana. Is took us back into civilization and we tried to skirt around the city without too much fuss and head back out to the countryside and the border with Croatia. We marked Delnice as the first destination. We did not know really where we wanted to end up today and were therefore playing it by ear and would then decide where to go from there. We were stopped at the border for a quick passport check and then we were on our way.

At this point it is probably a good idea to sum up our thoughts of Slovenia: beautiful, friendly people and definitely worth coming back to.

Our initial impressions of Croatia was that it seemed a little poorer and definitely quieter. The next destination would be Ogulin where we would try and get some cash and stop for a drink to make our choice of destination. All worked well at the cashpoint and we headed for the next cafe. We stumbled upon an ice cream bar and what better a way to cool ourselves from the 34degrees we had been riding in for most of the day.

We decided that we would push onto the Plitvicka Jezera national park and find somewhere to camp with the intention of then exploring the park the following day.

We found campsite "Kamp Karona" and almost gave in to getting a bungalow for the night but they only had them available for 1 night. We took a "man up pill" and stuck with the camping. We could not have made a better choice as the site is huge with plenty of room for people to spread out and not feel Like you're on top of each other. A quick "home cooked" dinner of hotdog curry........ A new Laura speciality, and a bottle of the local red wine saw the day through to completion. Looking forward to exploring what looks like a beautiful area tomorrow.


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[samja1]

OMG your adventure so far sounds totally amazing!! So impressed with all those hours riding. Pics look gorgeous. Can't show Rob this thread else he will hoist me on the back of the tiger and rush out to join you. I might have to consider a bike trip that lasts more than two hours after reading this though. Keep the posts coming. Xxx

 

[Dan_seed]

Day 14 pics.

 

[Dan_seed]

Day 13 missing pics

Here are a couple of pics I missed from day 13 and also to give you a taster of the food.

 

[Dan_seed]

Day 15 - Plitvicka Jezera National park

Having visited the Unesco site and taken far too many photos I decided to try and put some of then together in a video as a taster. Hope the below link works.

https://vimeo.com/135807261
Can someone help me to embed this video?

Also a couple of my favorite pics:

 

[Mr K]

Splendid!

 

[Dan_seed]

Sunday Day 16 Plitvicka Jezera to Mostar
Stats:
Distance: 423km
Hours riding: 6hrs 51 mins

We left the campsite with the intention of a long day to get to Mostar which would give us a short day the next day to get to Dubrovnik, with time to get into the city in the daylight.

The journey through Croatia was short before we hit the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The border check was very quick with only a brief passport check and we were then on our way once again. We started in the direction of Jajce using a fairly main road. Even though this is a main road, it is still quite involving but the miles soon passed and we then started on on a pass that took us up to a height of about 1100m. This gave us some great views on mountains again that we had been missing. We then head down the valley and followed the river into Mostar

Arriving in Mostar, we decided we would treat ourselves to a hotel. Expecting a long search we headed to the first hotel we saw as we came over the bridge-Hotel Bristol. The staff were really helpful, with the price including breakfast and we could leave the bike on the pavement right outside reception which was manned 24hrs - perfect. After unloading the bike, including bike gear (thankfully there was a lift even though we were only on the first floor!). A quick shower, change and start of the "electrics charge" rotation and we headed out. Armed like tourists with our hotel paper map, within 5 minute we were in the hustle and bustle of the old-town, with shops spilling into the streets. We lost ourselves in the cobbled streets, taking in the scenery and smells from all the local restaurants. As light disappeared and the town started to be lit up, the bridge took centre stage. After more wandering, we settled on a restaurant over looking the bridge, which of course had to followed up with an ice cream on the way back to the hotel!

 

[Dan_seed]

Day 16 pics

 

[Dan_seed]

Monday Day 17 Mostar to Dubrovnik
Stats:
Distance: 152km
Hours riding: 2hrs 28mins

We woke reasonably early so we could have another look around Mostar in the daylight. It was completely different from the night before, with locals going along with their daily business and the town starting to wake up. After a quick hotel breakfast, we reloaded the bike and stated the reasonably short journey to Dubrovnik.

As the miles clocked up, so did the temperature - seeing highs of 36degrees.

The traffic marked our arrival in Dubrovnik, along with soaring temperatures. We hadn't booked any accommodation and soon realized that a hotel was out of the question, so we headed for the camp site (Camping Soltudio). It was a bit of a jaunt out of the city, and on the pricy side but at least we had somewhere to sleep.
The temperature continued to rise as we put the tent up (with the help of some strategically placed rocks!) and then headed into Old Town on the local bus (ideal from right outside the campsite).
The Old Town is absolutely beautiful, but unfortunately very busy (which after so much time in the mountains was a bit of a shock), so we headed for the city walls. The views from here were amazing, even though it was still red hot. We spent around an hour taking in the birds eye view before heading back down to the streets and harbour area.

 

[Dan_seed]

Day 17 Mostar pics

Dubrovnik pics to follow.