Gordo's Croatia 09 Trip Report

A visiting group of scouts from Lille decide to have their
breakfast in the camp site car park !!
Fuddy wants to spit some gravel into the corn flakes.
 
loved these. Major Gadget pointed out that one of them
had converted the tailgate so a 42 inch Bang'n Olfsun popped
out to show the latest vampire movie
 
17th July:
Vienna to Prague:

Short day today. Uneventful. Scenery nothing special
to note. Prague campsite is good if a little small. Just
a tram ride away from the centre of activity (no: 14)
This is where the 2 groups met up again : those that
travelled over to Poland had their stories and we had
ours….it was a good night. Later that evening the
heavens opened….brilliant electrical storm and ‘torrential’
rain. Cleared the streets and filled the bars.

18th July: Prague to Colditz :
Packed up the campsite before it started to rain. Think
everyone had their own stories to tell getting out of
Prague. I left early to try and catch up with some friends
on the outskirts of Prague but to no avail. That gave me
my own probs getting onto the main road heading up
to the German / Czech border. Lots of side roads going
over or under that road, all of which were in poor condition
and given is was peshing down it wasn’t a pleasant
experience. Found Fuddy chomping away (that hasn’t been
mentioned too much, so you’ve got away lightly) on
a burger in a shell station so I joined him for a coffee
and a quick chat. Rode with him for a while till we
Stevo/Hailey, Charlie/Ruth and Parky/Tracy caught
us up. I felt a recalculation coming on when Fuddy
and I went straight on at a roundabout and they all
took a bypass. Caught them up but lost Fuddy in
doing so…..sorry mate.

Weather wasn’t brilliant so decided that I’d try and
get a room in the BnB with all the other wimps.
Got to thank Parky and Tracy for their offer of
putting me up in their room if I couldn’t get
something sorted. In hindsight, I’m not sure if
something else was being offered here as I’m sure
I saw Parky wink and pretend he had an eyelash
in his eye when he offered…. I could have been imagining it.
Colditz castle: Something that could have been
so much better for a tourist … bit of a strange place.
Desolate on a Saturday. The best bit was the
Tiramasoooooo in the local café.

19th July: Colditz to Mainz.

Opted for the non-motorway route. Excellent, empty, fast
sweepers. Rode with Stevo and H. This was the only day
where we saw a crash. First off, the kid wasn’t hurt so
can be classified as ‘hilarious’. We’d come across some
crappy bits of road works, along with Casperfelix, Chubs,
GSEddie, Fuddy where we had to sit on a red for bloody
ages. We’d been sitting for a little while at the front of
a ‘q’ when this young kid on a 250cc ish sized enduro
bike went hurtling through the red….50 mph at least.
What he didn’t see was that the other traffic light for
the opposing traffic was out of site round a corner, so
when he got to the corner he was met with a coach !
Back end locked up, slid into the hardcore on our
side of the road which was torn up and down he
went. We were still on red and it took him a good
few minutes to get up and try and get his bike
going before we humiliated him. Stevo said his
bike was well trashed. The other thing was, he
was wearing shorts, t-shirt, trainers in the crappy
weather we’d just been riding in.

Weather became crappier so we opted for the
‘fastest route’ which I’m not sure was. Route took
us well north before jumping on a SW motorway, but
that’s life when living with a Zumo.

So everyone in the Ibis that night. Off round the
corner for some beer and food. It was here I
decided to hatch a plan. I decided to leave Mainz
at 5am and get on the train at Calais…getting
me home 8 hours earlier than planned. Chubs
decided to join me so it was an early start on the
20th. A good solid ride up to Calais. A 2 stop
strategy for fuel got us to Calais at 11am. Train
left 11.50am. Chubs got talking to a fellow tosser
but I had to crash out on the floor for a while
to recoup.

Up to Thurock Services on the M25, said my farewell
to Chub but said I’d ride with him to Grantham but
lost him on the exit of the services !!!!! Didn’t see
him again.

So that was it. Back home now feeling a bit tired
and at a loose end. The trip will revolve round me
for some days to come and I look forward to seeing
other peeps photos etc and sharing their thoughts.
‘Everyone’ I met on the trip was great ….. I enjoyed
listening to other peoples experiences and I was happy
to share mine.

Thanks to 'everyone' on the trip who made it a cracker.

later.....


gordo'


on the chunnel
 
Croatia

Great ride report Gordo, well done fella :thumb2

Haven't had the time to do a full on report yet but I would like to mention that the group (Me CBT, Allen Jones, Stevo, Rivendell and Caleb) that didn't make Split did make it to a place called Karlobag in Croatia which was a couple of hours short of Split.

What a place, a bit like the little fishing villages you took pictures of.:D an oasis of a place after the long day. Stayed there for the day off :Motomartin and had many :beer:

Had a brilliant time and met some top geezers but I found the time in the saddle per day a bit much and my arse couldn't take it :eek

I'll post some photos in the next few days.:thumb (not of my arse:eek: )
 
Courtesy of Chubs.......thanks mate.

This is the Croatian chap who kindly made his presence known.
For some reason he mistook me for a scouser and thought I was
going to have his helmet away.....cheek !!! Cant find his UKGSER name
as the note he left some months ago within the 'open invite' section has been removed.

So left to right:
Fuddy, Gordo', Mrs Stevo, Our Croatian friend, Stevo, Our Croatian friends SWMBO, Major Gadget
 
Nice one

Great ride report.

We had a great time and enjoyed riding with you and all the others on tour.
Some great roads, laughs and memories:thumb.
Shame the group became fragmented at times , but i suppose this is the way it goes.
We will dig out some piccys as soon as our heads stop spinning!:eek.

ATB,

Stevo & H:beerjug:

BTW you definitely win the gold for the highest number of U-Turns on the trip:-)
 
Great report Gordon, I appreciate the time it takes to resize and organise the photo's and type the text.Also appreciate the lead you took on some of the roads you had mapped out. As you seem to have more than enough photo's of my Tarp collapsing I thought you might like to see one I took of you dressed as you always were at the campsites.

IMG_0355.jpg


T Shirt and Sort of Boxers.

All the Best Ken.:beerjug:
 
Gordo, nice write up :thumb

Is this the guy you mean?

Hi
I am OceanGoing, GSer from Split Croatia.
Your plan looks good to me except in one pont and that is leg from Split to Zagreb. As per this map you are planing to go via Banja Luka. I will take liberty to remind you that Banja Luka is in Bosnia and Hercegovina and as much as I know UK insurance do not cover it. Anyhow IMHO that road is to bad to ride in one day on pleasant way.
May I suggest to you to take road via Plitvice waterfalls. Amazing place and "must see" in Croatia."


Gordo, one post only for him, and he's not a subscriber so he can't accept PM's ;)
 
Gordo, excellent write up, and was great riding with you, and you proved it was worth taking the time to get the photos. Once I am back in UK and get all my photos I may do something too....

A couple of observations – you did not convey how hard it was to follow you up and down the Timmelsjosh, I could only keep up when you had the camera out – You convinced me that fingerless gloves can be a really handy on a trip like this in the heat where there is a GPS to control, MP3 music to select, the next corner comes up before you get your normal glove back on, and there were other less savoury uses for un-gloved hands you mentioned. - How well the 20 riders of mixed abilities performed on difficult roads, keeping up a good pace, as we galloped across a fair bit of Eastern Europe – The faultless reliability of the bikes, mostly 1200s, either GS or GSA, despite all the comments about unreliability(I’m sure the FPCs and tools we were carrying enjoyed the ride anyway) – You covered it well, but it is impossible to write down what it feels like to ride along the winding coast road to Split, in the sunshine, with mates riding fast, and a bike up to the challenge. It is one riding experience you should try to have before you hang your riding boots up!

Gordo, reading your report is great, particularly having shared much of it with you, and the memory will live with me for a very long time.
 
Drumacoon Lad. said:
Gordo, excellent write up, and was great riding with you, and you proved it was worth taking the time to get the photos. Once I am back in UK and get all my photos I may do something too....

A couple of observations – you did not convey how hard it was to follow you up and down the Timmelsjosh, I could only keep up when you had the camera out – You convinced me that fingerless gloves can be a really handy on a trip like this in the heat where there is a GPS to control, MP3 music to select, the next corner comes up before you get your normal glove back on, and there were other less savoury uses for un-gloved hands you mentioned. - How well the 20 riders of mixed abilities performed on difficult roads, keeping up a good pace, as we galloped across a fair bit of Eastern Europe – The faultless reliability of the bikes, mostly 1200s, either GS or GSA, despite all the comments about unreliability(I’m sure the FPCs and tools we were carrying enjoyed the ride anyway) – You covered it well, but it is impossible to write down what it feels like to ride along the winding coast road to Split, in the sunshine, with mates riding fast, and a bike up to the challenge. It is one riding experience you should try to have before you hang your riding boots up!

Gordo, reading your report is great, particularly having shared much of it with you, and the memory will live with me for a very long time.
Click to expand...

Hi Jim,

Think we're all back safely so please dont spoil the pattern....safe ride home.
You're abso. right about the bikes.....faultless.
You're also right about that stretch down the Adriatic, especially that stretch after I bumped into you, Peter and Eddie......unbelievable really. The pace across the Timmelsjoch, infact the pace that was set that day, was basically because I knew there were miles to do and even then we all got in late. I should have conveyed that better.....lesson learnt.

Nice riding with you Jim......hopefully again next time.


later...........

gordo'
 
Chubs Colditz photo:
Bryn's covered much of Colditz in his excellent report. Certainly a strange place......I'm convinced it was a Sunday when we were there !!!!!
 
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