Rough Guide to a bit of Slovenia, Croatia & Bosnia

[louisdut]

Rough in two ways, firstly it was going to be a back road trip and they were a little rough Secondly apart from accomadation in Villach, Austria where we left the van it was a very rough plan of going down to the Croatian coast by back roads and back up inland.

As it was going to be a back road tour Nicky decided to take her DRZ, after a few modifications.

Nicky & DRZ on a back road in Bosnia - Day 6

I took my 1200 GSA

We only had 14 days for the trip, getting accross France, Germany & Austria in the shortest time on a 400cc was not appealing so we decided to take the van to Villach.




Day One
Villach, Austria to Idrija, Slovenia

We took the Wurzen Pass to the Austria/Slovenia border.

Then onto the Russian Road The Vrsic Pass

We visited the restored Russian chapel on the Kranjska Gora side, originally built in 1916 by Russian prisoners building the road, to remember their comrades who were killed by an avalanche

The sun was out and the views were stunning

Then we headed for the Stol Pass which was gravel with great views

We had a look at the map and decided to ride down to Idrija and find somewhere to stay for the night

Run down to Idrija

Video of Day One - Villach to Idrija

<object width="700" height="525"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6700637&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6700637&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="700" height="525"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/6700637">Stol pass & run down to Idrija</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1443772">Louis</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

[newboy]

Superb

Did the vrsic a few weeks ago - lovely area

 

[Irishdude]

Ah thats great to see, lookin good the report so far.

 

[Mav]

Seriously cool chap! And there is no way Nicky can claim to be a beginner off road anymore!

Keep it comin!

 

[Duchess]

Seriously cool chap! And there is no way Nicky can claim to be a beginner off road anymore!

Keep it comin!

Seconded ... Well done Nicky.

 

[earthmover]

Thirded! (is that a word?)
Mark

 

[The Reverend]

Brings back painful memories for me - was taken roughly up the rear by a Slov teenager on his phone as I sat at the back of a car waiting to turn at Kranska Gora two years ago.

We'd ridden the main pass with the 50 hairpins and watched at the top as a flock of sheep mugged a Kraut biker who was eating what was clearly their favourite sandwich!

Superb countryside & people. Well, apart from a pissed up teen in a Kangoo van..

 

[BAKERMAN]

That`s a restricted BYWAY

 

[Mav]

Brings back painful memories for me - was taken roughly up the rear by a Slov teenager on his phone as I sat at the back of a car waiting to turn at Kranska Gora two years ago.

We'd ridden the main pass with the 50 hairpins and watched at the top as a flock of sheep mugged a Kraut biker who was eating what was clearly their favourite sandwich!

Superb countryside & people. Well, apart from a pissed up teen in a Kangoo van..

can I suggest you apply some lubricant next time - it might not hurt so much

 

[Pumpy]

Beautiful pictures, Louis, and well done, Nicky! She should really come out with the 'Dirty Girls' more often...

Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

[robroy]

Great report, Lois

In July I was lucky to ride from Kranjska Gora to Bovec then out to Italy via Uccea and Stauli (map) and it was a great ride (even in torrential rain after the Italian border). What an amazing part of the world!

I'd like to return to the area and your dirt road looks awesome. Any chance of plotting it on Google Maps and dropping a link here?

Thanks
Rob

 

[louisdut]

I'd like to return to the area and your dirt road looks awesome. Any chance of plotting it on Google Maps and dropping a link here?

Thanks
Rob

Hi Rob

The gravel pass is not marked on Google Maps

But I have no problem sending you or anyone the complete track log of the trip as I think we also did some interesting roads later in the week (will be posting pics)
You then can view it in Google Earth as I do

So if anyone wants the track log PM me your email address

It has a few dead ends we either ran out of road, ended up in someones garden or ran into one of these

Hope that helps

Louis

hope to post more pics later

 

[louisdut]

Day Two
Idrija, Slovenia to Senj, Croatia

Enjoying breakfast at our hotel

Idrija's Square

We headed for the Croatian coast

We crossed into Croatia at Babro Polje - Prezid

We turned off the asphalt for a shortcut in the forest

We joined the coast road and rode to Senj where we found a great zimmer
Nicky with our landlady

Didn't take us long to get the washing out

We walked down to the front, not sure about the parking though

Senj

Video of Day Two - Idrija to Senj

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[JohnnyBoxer]

Great.........................

Slovenia, my favourite biking country

 

[Noiseboy]

Great stuff, some stunning scenery.

 

[louisdut]

Day Three
Senj to Novalja (Croatia)

After a short windy ride along the coast road we headed inland

These roads didn't look well used

Me having a go at the mirror shot

Nicky's turn

Great views of the coast

We headed towards the Sjeverni Velebit National Park, I made a wrong turn or was it when the roads are this good

Anyway we found the National Park and bought our tickets to ride

We had a drink in the mountain hut, I was taken by the stickers on the door

Views from the mountain hut

We got the map out and decided to get the ferry over to the Island of Pag

Pag

We headed to Novalja and a zimmer

Video of Day Three - Senj to Novalja

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[robbie c]

another superb write up Paul, thanks for sharing.

Brings back memories, especially of the dalmatian coast

 

[louisdut]

Day Four
Novalja to Nin (Croatia)

We headed to Nin along the scenic route

We arrived at Nin in good time

We found a zimmer close to the smallest Cathedral in the world

Then a look around St Cross Church

As it was the smallest Cathedral in the world, it was soon time for food

It's a much slower pace down this way

We spent the afternoon at the beach, I tried my hand at kite surfing

We had lots of great food on the trip, but this was the best (Nicky had the salad)

Took a couple of pictures on the stagger back to the zimmer

Video of Day Four - Novalja to Nin

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[GrinningGSer]

Fantastic report Louisdut
Can't believe that this is the same DRZ that was in the mud underwater in Mav's Wales video posting

What helmet cam setup were you using ?

 

[louisdut]

Fantastic report Louisdut
Can't believe that this is the same DRZ that was in the mud underwater in Mav's Wales video posting

What helmet cam setup were you using ?

Yep thats the same DRZ there Great Bikes

Helment cam is VholdR form Dogcam But mine is not the HD one but the model before

I just needed something easy to use and all in one unit (no wires etc) I have a spare battery as thats the down side of not having it wired to your bike

All I do is switch it on and when I want to record slide the switch forwards more info here


Louis

ps I saw you last weekend at Rhayader getting fuel I was on a HP2 and talking to Burtieboy. Looked like you had a great weekend