Thirteen countries, eight currencies, two weeks...

[Chisurz]

Bed for the bikes

Vercelli - Italy

It was probably 1984 when I first took a bike across the channel. I was young… …even France was a big adventure. Two-up on a Suzuki GS850G, we packed “light”, containing everything we needed in a pair of Krauser panniers and a big tote bag on the rack. Our route: South. Our destinations: Well that depended on what it said in the Michelin Red Book. For France, this wonderful hard-back guidebook was all you needed. We simply aimed for places on our unplanned route that had a one or two star hotel with a red “R”, which denoted “good food at moderate prices”.

Bearing in mind this was the 80’s, we had grown up in a United Kingdom with a, how shall we say, less than welcoming attitude to bikers. France was a breath of fresh air, in every sense. People waved! Drivers would make room for you to pass. Hotels even welcomed bikers; one particular little hotel, hanging over the banks of the Dordogne (Lalinde, if memory serves me correctly), even noted on their menu by the front door, “Garage parking for motorcycles”.

The following year, elsewhere in France, we had ridden late in to the evening to try, unsuccessfully, to evade the rain. Presenting ourselves at the reception desk, wet through, totally bedraggled and dripping all over their pristine floor, we were greeted with sympathy, compassion and the keys to a good room. Returning outside to our bikes to get our luggage, we realised we were being watched by a small, rotund chef, complete with a white chef's hat and the blue and white stripy apron stretched around his midriff, smoking a quick Gauloises, sheltering from the heavy rain in the doorway to his kitchen.

“Moto, là-bas”, he gestured rather gruffly, pointing to the other side of the parking area. We were worried; what had we done wrong?
“Bonsoir”, we said, “but it is just as wet over there; they’ll be fine here, won’t they?”.
“Non, non”. He was clearly a bit frustrated at our incompetent French. “Là bas”, he pointed with his cigarette.

Worried that we’d parked in the wrong place, we moved the bikes…
The chef was getting animated now. “Non, Non. Pas ici; là bas; dans la grange”.
“I think he is telling us to put the bikes in the barn”, said my wife.
I was concerned now… “Won’t the owner mind…?”.

The chef pulled a deep last drag on his expiring ciggie and discarded the dog-end with a deft flick in to the rain. He puffed out his chest, pointed to it with his stubby index finger and said “Je suis le propriétaire! Moto va dans la grange”…
“Ah! Merci, monsieur”, we called back. The bikes spent a very wet night tucked up in a dry and friendly barn and we enjoyed a great meal.

Fortunately, as I have discovered on all my more recent trips through Europe, including this one with Maxxx, this experience is neither dying out nor limited to France. We enjoyed entertainingly decorated German garages to dusty Slovenian barns. The accommodation for the bike might not always be the most salubrious or by the front door, but never have I been charged for this type of overnight garage. By contrast, where I have had to put the bike in a parking place where the hotel charges for cars, they have quite often expected me to pay too. But then again, as often not…

Over the years the bike has benefitted many times from helpfulness of various proprietors: from both a garage for the bike and a room discount in the Czech Republic (because the B&B I had randomly picked belonged to the organiser of the local Harley Davidson club); a private garage down the road in the Dolomites; a courtyard in Hungary (the owner insisting the bike was covered in blankets to protect it from the cats); under the garden guest house eaves in France, to name just a few.

My conclusion? Good will towards bikes and bikers is alive and well throughout Europe. They want your business too…

With Maxxx safely in Split and reunited with his family (well, for a week, before he spent even longer returning back to the UK than I did, but that is another story and his to tell), I headed south to the Pelješac peninsula, further down the coast.

With all the passport excitement, I needed a couple of days of R&R.

Tolmezzo - Italy

Joinville - France

 

[Chisurz]

The Road Alone...

The coast road (highway 8) from Split south towards Dubrovnik can be achingly beautiful as the tarmac clings to the hilly terrain and continually offers panoramic views of the Adriatic and the Croatian islands, punctuated by boats and ferries crossing the azure sea, which twinkles in the afternoon sunshine. The road serves the many towns and villages along the Dalmatian coast, each crammed full of holiday apartments and sobe. As a consequence it attracts tourists on foot, in buses, in cars, in motorhomes and towing caravans. And these people need to be fed and watered too, meaning a constant flow of delivery vehicles in both directions as well.

The result is one of the busiest roads in Croatia, meaning slow progress. With the tourists all too busy looking at the view and dripping along, line astern, the local tin-box drivers tend to exhibit their frustration and take more risks. Overtaking on bends where they really shouldn’t is common and double lines down the middle of road have little meaning, making this wonderful road one of the more dangerous too. On our very first holiday to Croatia, we too took a car down the coast road, but never again after that. In spite of the risks and dangers, the best tool for that road is a bike with an alert rider. It is certainly the only tool with which it is possible to make reasonable progress… If you can live without a view of the sea, there are better bike routes, but I’ll save those for the return journey.

In the grand scheme of things I didn’t have that many miles to cover to get to the ferry at Ploče, but by Omiš I was looking for an escape route from highway 8. Southbound, I’d recommend anyone ignores the signs for highway 70 and instead crosses the estuary waterway and turns left immediately after the bridge, before the town centre. The road hugs the estuary, passes through a couple of short tunnels and then follows the river upstream, where at Zadvarje it joins the 39 and the route would go north to Šestanovac. I did see the warning sign at the left turn in Omiš, but being the optimist I thought the road couldn’t possibly be shut in the middle summer. Wrong… Fortunately, the point of closure came within a couple of kilometres. It would be the coast road all the way to Ploče.

There are advantages to having been somewhere before. Knowing where to buy the ferry ticket is one (for your reference, it is a small office in the parade of shops and cafes, back outside and over the road from the ferry port; park up in the queue first, then go get the tickets…) and knowing that the ferry won’t be arriving early is another, leaving plenty of time to have a very relaxed, late lunch / early dinner of ćevapčići and fries. Excellent biker food.

A late lunch by the quayside at Ploče...

The Pelješac peninsula is a genuinely beautiful place with a great climate, tasty food and plenty of culture to keep the tourist busy. If you want wide expanses of sandy beaches, don’t come here; the coastline is rocky, which can make access to the water difficult at times. However, many of the locals “improve” the waterfront below their houses in various sorts of way. Technically, people cannot own the actual coastline in Croatia, so these improved areas are fair game for all. However, combined with the frosty looks, the impression to the visitor is that these are private landings.

The view down by the waterside; the island of Korčula in the distance...

There are hidden beaches along the coastline here, but they are difficult to get to on foot, being best approached by boat. That said, the tracks and trails around this area are just begging for small enduro to buzz around on and such a machine would bring some of those beaches in range too. That enduro would also be useful to get to and from the nearby towns. There is only one road along to the end of the peninsula and it has to climb from sea level to almost a thousand feet to get over the hills that form the spine of the Pelješac. The view from that hill, back towards Viganj and Orebić and across the water to the delightful Korčula, is one that always makes me stop just to spend a couple of minutes gawping at it. Once I have that pleasure out of the system I can then focus on the road – whichever direction I’m going in, it is an absolute peach; great curves, undulations, good surface and a view at each end to inspire.

Looking south from the hill; the town of Korčula in the distance on the island of the same name...

Packed and ready to go...

Three nights and two whole days was all my timetable allowed me in this small haven of tranquillity. The bike packed, I said my goodbyes to my Croatian friends and headed up the hill and along the peninsula to Trpanj, to catch the ferry back to Ploče. The Kornati is one of the more modern ferries of the Jadronlinija line, being a recently built roll-on-roll-off, double-ended design. Motorbikes get ushered to the front of the queue and even without that assistance there would be enough space for a bike or two, such is the increase in capacity that this boat brought to this route.

The ferry at Trpanj...

But it is always with a degree of sadness that I get on that particular ferry service in that direction, because it invariably marks the start of the journey north and back to Blighty. I would need four days to get home – no motorways allowed until back in England – so Thursday morning marked departure time... ...and the beginning of that journey northwards...

 

[Roadrash Rider]

Chisurz

Really enjoying this trip report, keep it coming, thanks for sharing.

Andy


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Maxxx]

Camera Kit (warning - LONG txt heavy post)

I feel compelled to interrupt Chisurz’ thread here with an explanation of the frequent (justified) references to me “adjusting my camera equipment”.

I have a terrible memory, which I only expect to get worse as I get older.

So I take lots of photos and video clips, which I cobble together and set to music that I like in the form of a short music video (who the heck wants to watch a four hour uncut go-pro stream anyway?). I frequently stick the resulting music video playlist onto my telly and I re-live the experiences, something I hope to continue to do for many years to come.

This trip was likely to be a “lifetime highlight”, so I wanted to make sure that I came back with enough raw material to keep me going for a long time.



I encountered many problems along the way and learned many lessons which I hope could act as a caution for anyone doing this for the first time – please don’t make the same mistakes as me!

Chisurz glad to be rid of my and my camera equipment I think


Here is a picture of the 3 cameras I took with me – nothing fancy, I’m not a pro – I should really invest in a little APS-C or Micro Four Thirds format camera for the next trip but I worry about dirt getting into interchangeable lens cameras so perhaps a decent bridge camera that will provide decent DOF control would be great for the next trip but I digress …..

First up are items #1 and #2, which together make up my oldest and most trusted piece of kit – the VIO POV-HD. This 2-piece bullet cam setup is still the only one on the market that has the single feature that was the deciding factor for me to invest in it – namely “continuous loop” mode.

In continuous loop mode, the camera constantly records in loops of 1,3 or 5 minutes, but is DOES NOT save anything to the memory card until you hit the “record” button on the remote (mine is bar mounted, which is why it’s not in the picture). At that point in time, it saves the previous loop, the loop you are currently in and the loop immediately after, at which point in time it stops saving and reverts back to loop mode. I set mine to 3 minute loops. That way, AFTER something has happened (someone has fallen off, frequently me, or I saw something interesting) I hit the button and get a 9 minute video clip saved. The nett result of this is that after an entire 12 hour day in the saddle, I have often only got an hour or so of video saved – and it’s the highlights of the day. This makes for far easier editing and obviously far less memory card consumption on a long trip (I don’t have to take some way of transferring data off the cards either). Every year that I attend the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas (CES), I speak to product reps from GoPro, Garmin, Sony, Drift and every single big name action camera supplier I can think of, to ask them if they are considering adding this feature. To date, as far as I know, VIO is the only one that offers it (I’d be very happy to hear otherwise if anyone can enlighten me).

Item #1 is the “recorder” unit, which holds 4 AA batteries and incorporates a screen which can be used both to preview your camera setup and to review your recordings on the go. Once I’ve set everything up, this is thrown into my backpack and forgotten about until I need to change the batteries. This is a source of pain for me as this unit eats through batteries like no tomorrow due to the fact that when I use it in loop mode it is essentially running continuously. I power it with Lithium Ion batteries which I change every 6 hours of continuous running – unfortunately, they have a tendency to run out unexpectedly without warning – there is no way to know when the unit is dead – this is a design flaw that needs to be solved somehow!

Item #2 is the head unit which comes with a cord long enough for my liking and you can buy extension cords if needed. The head unit is waterproof to 1m so while not suitable for scuba diving, has survived “biblical floods” without a problem. I have added a lens protection film designed for mobile phones which is allegedly used to protect helicopter rotor blades in desert conditions – so should protect from stones and bugs but if the worst comes to the worst and the entire lens is destroyed then at least I only have to replace part of the system instead of buying a whole new setup.

Prior to this trip, the camera head was attached to my off-road helmet using a fixed bracket designed specifically for the camera. For this trip however, I was using my Shoei Hornet adventure lid, which doesn’t have any suitable area to mount a camera using the mounts available for the VIO. I also wanted some way to have a “quick release” slider so that I could remove the camera quickly and easily – this leads me onto #3 – an adjustable action mount designed for Sony action cameras.

Here comes LESSON ONE – no matter how many times you have used your kit in the past, if you introduce ANY new element to your setup, check, check, check that it is behaving as expected.

My previous setup on my off-road helmet was extremely robust and stable, meaning I could knock it about during the day and nothing moved – footage was exactly as I expected it to be.

BUT – the introduction of #3 introduced flexibility into the system. At some point on day 1 of our trip, I must have bumped the head unit hard enough to have pushed it down against the helmet. I only picked this up on the day AFTER riding the Transfagarrasson – at which point I discovered that ALL FOOTAGE taken to that point was of the top of my helmet and my front wheel – completely and utterly unusable! All because I neglected to check and review anything from the helmet cam until that point as I trusted the setup and was having other problems that were soaking up my time and attention.

NUMPTY

Item #4 is (was) my Samsung “tough” camera. This was another tried and tested piece of kit. Cheap (£120 off Amazon at the time) and rugged, dustproof, drop proof from 2 meters onto concrete, freeze proof to sub zero temperatures and waterproof to 3 meters meant that while it was great for taking for a swim in the sea or the pool, most of all I could take photos in snow, rain and storms without a care. This bit of kit had been used on ski trips, beach trips, EDM parties, trail rides and everything imaginable. It doesn’t take jaw-dropping photos but it does save your smartphone from potential destruction when you whip it out in adverse conditions. This was either to be found in my chest pocket or sitting on the handlebars affixed to item #5, ready for action as a still or alternative view video camera when stationary (it doesn’t have any anti-shake capability).

LESSON TWO is that NOTHING is indestructible. Sadly, I managed to destroy the camera sensor through accumulated vibrations transferred through the bars via item #5 …….

The last image ever captured by my trusty Samsung - the mighty Alps in view.

Item #5 (the really superb Manfrotto multi-clamp with a panavise tripod mount) was bought with the intention of having a quick and easy way to mount any of my cameras via a standard tripod screw to pretty much anything. Handle bars, engine bars, rear luggage rack – Chisurz’ luggage rack, pretty much anywhere. This it does fantastically – but I hadn’t thought it through as I’d never used a camera anywhere other than on my helmet prior to this trip. You see, the problem that I’m sure all of the infinitely more experienced videographers out there will tell you, is that when you are mounting something onto something that vibrates, you need to incorporate some form of dampening system to compensate for the vibrations ……….this is NOT something that I knew which not only had dire consequences for my beloved Samsung tough camera, but also for my newest toy that I had the highest expectations for.

Item #6 was procured only a few months before the trip. I had been to the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas (CES) in January and there I had seen an amazing demonstration on the Sony stand. They had set up an array of 6 action cameras from different manufacturers, including GoPro and their own action cam – all mounted onto a BMX handle bar which was being subjected to a random “shake” generator. The output from each camera was live streamed to its own individual monitor in real time. The whole setup was to demonstrate the superior “anti-shake” stabilisation capability of the Sony over the competition and I have to say the difference was incredible. Many people tried to say this was due to where on the bars the Sony camera was mounted and that it was a setup. The staff would then swap around the positions as requested by the crowd and set the demo going again – always with the same results – the Sony was visibly clearer by far. I knew then that I had to have this marvellous piece of kit. I was already envisioning the sweeping curves of the Transfagarrasson, captured silky smooth from an engine bar mounted low level shot. I bought one immediately!

I had a chance to try out the camera before our trip when my wife presented me with my birthday present that year – a 10 day trip to Sharm El Sheik to go and do my PADI scuba diving qualification. The Sony camera is supplied with a 5m waterproof housing but a 40m dedicated underwater housing is available for it too. The results were everything I hoped they would be and I couldn’t wait to get on the road trip with Chisurz. (Video proof of the camera quality from that trip can be seen here)

On the trip to Romania, I kept the Sony mounted on the handle bars and played with a couple of settings I hadn’t used in Sharm, like the GPS – which flattened the battery in 15 minutes ……OK, no GPS then – not a train smash as I wasn’t really planning to use that feature but it was annoying. I also kept on thinking that I had turned out on when it appeared to be off when I next hit the button. I put this down to user error and my poor eyesight, not being able to see the on/off button when it was lit up ………. I should have paid more attention.

The big day of the Transfagarrasson – THIS is what was for me to be my most important footage. We stopped at the bottom (the Rossi footpeg photo) and I secured the engine bar mount, Sony action cam powered on and recording, VIO helmet cam on and recording – time to forget about the tech and enjoy the blast up the road.

The road didn’t disappoint. I was whooping and squealing like a kid. Adrenaline pounding as I powered through the dense forested bit as you approach the mountains – this is what I came for – this is the stuff of dreams.

We spotted a photo opportunity half way up and pulled over. A couple of snaps and I checked the Sony cam ……WHICH WAS POWERED OFF!!!!!

WTF???????

No time to do that part of the mountain again – hopefully we are going to do it tomorrow again anyway, so swear and turn it back on again. I figure “NUMPTY USER ERROR” and this time I engage the “record lock” function – a physical protection switch that prevents the button from moving. We move out and hit the twisty bits – life is good – up and through the mountain, another stop on the top of the descent. Another camera check – the Sony has turned off again ……This time I think it must be the battery – I check, no, the GPS isn’t on. I swap the battery anyway, conscious that time is ticking on, Chisurz is waiting and we still have a long day ahead. I mount the Sony to the back of Chisurz’ bike so that I can get some footage of myself front on.

We set off again and 15 minutes later have to make a stop to change into rain gear. The Sony is still running so I think it must have been me all along. I take the mount off Chisurz bike and stick everything in my backpack – no more messing around with multi-angles today, I will rely on the helmet cam – lets get moving.

Chisurz has already detailed the rest of the day – the ride was glorious, up until the heavens opened in the most extraordinary storm I have ever been in. And growing up in Africa, I’ve been in a fair few storms. At one point before we got separated, we road across a river that had burst its banks and flooded the road in the town – where I had to swerve to miss the ducks swimming frantically across the road!!!

Late that night, I decided to review some of the footage of the day – which is when I discovered that the helmet cam had captured nothing of use for the entire trip so far. I was gutted, but relieved that I had the Sony action cam footage – until I connected my iPad to review what I had …….

Item #5 had taken its first victim. It was not until after I returned to England and had the camera replaced under warranty and then had exactly the same thing happen again, that a friend of mine that is a professional photographer pointed out the flaw in my setup.

The vast majority of the footage I had, suffered from serious artifacting and virbration. I didn’t know at the time but the vibrations of the engine had damaged the sensor in the camera. This was also causing the repeated power down I was experiencing. I’ve not yet resolved the issue and don’t know if I will end up destroying another camera while trying to do so. It’s a great underwater camera so maybe I’ll just keep it for scuba diving trips.

So my final LESSON THREE is never, never ever take brand new kit that you have not tried and repeatedly tested in exactly the same way as you plan to use it on your trip. It will only cause disappointment and frustration.

Have I learnt my lesson? I hope so, but I’ll probably learn a few more lessons on my next trip if ever I get another chance to do such an epic tour again – we have some unfinished business in that region of the world and I hope to go back one day.

Final video output of the trip (including the artifacting on the Transfagarrasson leg) is here if you are interested:-

 

[Chisurz]

Chisurz

Really enjoying this trip report, keep it coming, thanks for sharing.

Andy


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you - there is a little bit more of this trip from me yet... However, as we parted at the aptly named Croatian city of Split, Maxxx went back a different way and so will have another story to tell!

 

[markymark]

Thanks for sharing the story so far guys,

I'm planning a few days in Sibiu myself next summer, are the roads ok for normal road bikes (non GS's) ?
Did you do the Transalpina Highway ?

 

[Chisurz]

Thanks for sharing the story so far guys,

I'm planning a few days in Sibiu myself next summer, are the roads ok for normal road bikes (non GS's) ?
Did you do the Transalpina Highway ?

Excellent - I'm disappointed we weren't able to spend more time looking around Sibiu.

IMHO the two most important ingredients for a good biking experience are a well maintained bike and an alert, competent rider; the type of bike I don't think matters. You just adjust what you carry based on the machine. With a 12GS and a preference for staying in places made of bricks and mortar, I probably way over pack and take way too much rubbish with me, but then the 12GS just enjoys having a bit of load on it (in addition to my lardy mass...). So of course your normal road bike will do perfectly well. Sure you'll come across some rubbish roads, but then you do everywhere. The big benefit I find from the 12GS is the relaxed riding position allows long days on the road. Again, with a different bike you just have to adjust distances to what is comfortable for you.

As for the Transalpina Highway (DN67C), sadly not, but it looks fun and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. But as Maxxx said, with my passport misdemeanour we have unfinished business in the region... ...so let us all know what the road is like...

 

[mspenz]

Great report guys, I have fond memories of being out there last September.

Mike

 

[mspenz]

Thanks for sharing the story so far guys,

I'm planning a few days in Sibiu myself next summer, are the roads ok for normal road bikes (non GS's) ?
Did you do the Transalpina Highway ?

I was on 1150GSA with pillion and loads of camping kit with no problems, a modern road bike will be absolutely fine but don't expect to get anywhere quickly!
As Chisurz has already said, the road conditions are feckin atrocious and the standard of driving is even worse so take your time and don't let your guard down...and the Transalpina is probably the best 'biking' road in Romania..ever

Have fun.

 

[Chisurz]

The Journey Northwards

Readers of earlier instalments will by now be aware of my aversion for the coast road, highway 8. From Ploče my route usually takes me due north, up the 513 a couple of miles before taking the left turn to Vrgorac. The recently constructed motorway (toll) down through Croatia roughly follows the route of the 62, which I take from Vrgorac through Šestanovac to Dugopolje. The toll motorway is an excellent road, in a car, and I’ve used it a number of times. It is fast, but not really much fun on a bike. It is fast though…

Fortunately, the 62 has been left intact and, largely devoid of the traffic now using the motorway, is even more fun than it used to be. Unfortunately, while I managed to avoid the traffic, I didn’t manage to avoid all the showers rolling off the Adriatic and depositing their heavy load upon the hills inland.

North of Dugopolje the showers eased and my route took me further inland towards Sinj and Knin to Plitvička along the 1. The lakes at Plitvička are worthy of a visit if you are in the area. While I’d like to visit them again, having been around them some years ago, time was not on my side and I had some distance to cover – the timetable meant Italy had to be the destination that evening, which in many ways typifies all the bad things about having only a limited time for a journey such as this. Postojna with its wonderful caves was just another signpost noticed and then ignored, as the route took me through Slovenia in a bit of blur on their backroads. Routing through Bovec, I entered Italy from the north west corner of Slovenia and headed for the biggest town en route.

Tolmezzo should be amply big enough to have a selection of places to stay. Late in to the evening as the sun is setting, they are not obvious to the casual observer. Not even to the keen observing motorcyclist for that matter. Having ridden through the centre of the town, I stopped at a bar and took some advice from the locals sitting enjoying a cold beer – I was tempted to down a couple myself, but prior to finding somewhere to stay that wouldn’t have been a great idea. Curiously, these good people directed me out of town, to the north, and to keep going until I found the SPAR shop, “500 metres”, they indicated.

Trust and the knowledge that many people cannot estimate distance very well, are the best things in these situations and sure enough after about a kilometre I found the EUROSPAR. Shop? It was an enormous supermarket. Just beyond it was Hotel la Rosa. It looked closed. My advice? Always try the front door… After a few knocks on the door and a number of gesticulations later, the overnight porter (it was that late) made me understand I had to go round to the other door, at the back. Persistence paid off. I had the last room available. Not only was it possibly the largest room I have ever had (three decent sized beds!), the porter suggested the bike would be best in the small garage below the hotel. It would have been possible to get a car in had it not been half full of kindling for the wood stove. Still plenty of space for a bike…

Tolmezzo - not pretty, but at least the weather looked better towards the Dolomites...

A bit of a detour was necessary to get around Switzerland...

Switzerland and all of its lusciously tarmacked passes was off limits as it was not one of the nominated five countries in the emergency passport. I had to use Italy and France to get home. Friday’s route would be over 300 miles, from Tolmezzo heading towards the SR355 and SS49, through the northern edges of the Dolomites, down via Bolzano, the SS42 and Bergamo towards Milan’s outskirts and then further on to the target stopping town of Vercelli. I am a complete sucker for the Dolomites. The scale, the scenery, the roads… These things were on the agenda. Sadly I would have to pass on the accommodation, wine and food… …the food… …Prosciutto di Sauris is possibly the finest crudo ham in Italy. Parma ham is good, but with all honesty the Sauris version is better. What a shame I have to go to the Dolomites to get it… I digress.

Oh, somewhere in the Dolomites... ...how am I meant to remember...?

Passo Pordoi

My weakness for the Dolomites and its wonderful attributes meant that, although the weather was kind (i.e. enough cloud to moderate the temperature, but not enough to create rain), I still took my time and enjoyed the roads and views, stopping from time to time just to soak it all up. The combined impact was that I arrived on the outskirts of Bergamo at just the wrong time. Rush hour on a Friday evening… With something of the order of 70 miles to get to the target town of Vercelli and the conurbation of Milan to contend with, the aging Garmin 2720 was indicating that I was going to get there very late. I had to take drastic measures. I broke the rules and headed for the toll motorway to get me across the top of Milan. It would be quicker.

Indeed it would have been quicker had the motorway not resembled the M25 on a really, really bad day. I was paying a heavy price for this. Literally. Filtering was tough too, because all the cars were trying to do it as well. Nutty. I reached Vercelli in day light and scouted for somewhere to stay. As I entered the old part of the town I stumbled across an unlikely looking place: Albergo Valsesia, cunningly named after the valley of the local river.

Another one of those “always try the front door” moments. It opened, which was a good sign. Once inside, the place appeared empty and looked rather shut. The proprietor appeared. “The restaurant is shut for the summer”, he explained, “everyone leaves Vercelli in July and August, so we close it down”. This wasn’t a great start. “You are welcome to a room though”, he proffered, “but we can’t do breakfast as the staff… …well, they’re on holiday, like the rest of Vercelli”. The room was clean, comfortable and spacious, if at the older end of the scale of all the hotel rooms I’ve stayed in. After a look around this attractive town and its old buildings and churches, round the block from the albergo I found an excellent little restaurant for dinner and, judging by the queues, the best gelateria just off the main square where I could get dessert a little later. In the morning, having wandered around the town in shorts and flip-flops the previous evening, as I looked at my legs I understood why everyone leaves during the summer: mosquitoes…

Vercelli's main square, well, a bit of it at least...

Vercelli - just one of its many fine churches...

Vercelli is roughly halfway between Milan and Turin, where the land is pancake flat, and provides good access to the roads going northwest towards Aosta and the Alps between Italy and France. Having started out full of optimism about the weather, I had put my outer waterproof layer on less than 10 miles after leaving Vercelli.

At Ivrea the route enters the foothills of the mountains and joins the SS26. This road follows the same valley as the A5, which is the better option for anyone wanting a quicker ride. Unfortunately the A5 is already in tunnels way before it dumps the traveller at the Italian end of the eight and half mile long Mont Blanc tunnel and if you miss the small turn off to Courmayeur, necessary to be able to navigate your way back to the right place, you’ll end up in France the boring way, having seen none of the beauty of the mountain passes.

Just before Courmayeur the SS26 takes a south-westerly direction and heads to the Petit Saint Bernard pass (2188m), where it enters France, becomes the D1090 and heads to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. I have travelled this road before and I would love to be able to tell you of the wonderful views as the road snakes its way up the valley to the pass and the border with France, but they would be views from another trip. This time, my waterproofs were now in full use and visibility was down to a few yards as the weather brought thick clouds down upon the mountains. Maxxx and I had experienced this type of weather on the way out and I was disappointed to get it again, but this time I was going to get a photo of the view. Or at least what passed for the view at roughly 1850 metres when, arriving in the village of La Rosiére, I could finally find a place safe enough to pull over and stop.

The great view going over the Petit Saint Bernard...

At Bourg-Saint-Maurice the route turns right onto the D902 and heads up the Col de Roselend (over 1900m), enabling a more direct route to Annecy by avoiding the big main road loop to the south. Another lovely mountain pass. The weather meant neither pass was quick and the trusty Garmin backed that up, telling me I managed a measly 25mph average. I would love to be able to say it was because I was spending time admiring the view and lapping up the sunshine…

Saturday’s planned distance was 410 miles. By the middle of the afternoon, north of Annecy, I still had more than half the distance to go. The Jura mountains represented the last of the scenic part of the ride. The rest of the day would be pleasant, if a bit damp, and ended in a small town called Joinville, at the Hotel du Nord; one at the quirkier end of the scale of French hotels, bed but no breakfast and I seemed to be the only guest…

Lunch stop at Bellegarde-sur-Valserine - The Jura mountains weren't going to be dry and sunny...

The river at Joinville...

Sunday would be a 260 mile jaunt north west up the old Route Nationale network to the tunnel at Calais, at which point I would have to present a funny coloured passport to the UK Border Agency and would see what happens. Before that though, I had to get through northern France. However many times I travel through this area I am always taken aback by the sheer number of military cemeteries and every now and then I’ll stop to take a look at one I haven’t seen before. While the large ones offer a stark reminder of the sheer scale of casualties of the First World War, it is sometimes the small ones, hidden in the back gardens of a village, offer a different poignancy and a reminder of the personal nature of loss.

Bapaume Australian Cemetery - 87 graves

Calais wasn’t that far away now and I was nearing the end of the European adventure… After checking in at the Eurotunnel, passport control came next. The gendarmes barely flickered an eyelid. UK Border Control was a little different. Predicting the inevitable questions I prepared by removing sunglasses and helmet, approached the window and handed over my cream coloured lifeboat the official.

“I’ve a present for you”, I said and smiled. “That’s nice”, he said, “what have you been doing then?”
“Being careless somewhere on a road in Romania”, I explained, “had to make an emergency trip to Bucharest and it completely buggered the holiday”.
He laughed. “What did it cost you then?”
“About ninety quid in local currency, plus photographs, plus the expense of getting the embassy, plus the lunch”, I grumbled.
“Lunch?” he said. “Yeah, we had to wait a while for it to be produced”, I explained.
“You know I have to keep this one, don’t you”, he was almost apologetic.
“The embassy explained that to me”.
“Welcome back to the UK”, he said and waved me through…

Not since entering Croatia from Hungary had anyone so much wanted to glance at the emergency passport, all of which makes rather a mockery of the limited number of countries allowed in it. Now it was gone and I’d have to get a new one before the next adventure could begin (but I had almost three weeks before I needed it again, so that wouldn’t be a problem, would it…).

The next stop would be Folkestone, followed by a couple of hours of motorway miles and I would be home, the bike back in the garage.

Eurotunnel's unofficial bikers social club...

Where next? I wonder…

…and which way back was Maxx going to go?

 

[Chisurz]

We spotted a photo opportunity half way up and pulled over. A couple of snaps and I checked the Sony cam ……WHICH WAS POWERED OFF!!!!!

WTF???????

Yep, Maxxx likes his gadgets... Given the amount of video Maxxx had tried to record I'm delighted the footage he's put up hasn't included the bit in some Hungarian roadworks where I started to surf (very badly) the gravel wave of the temporary road surface...

 

[Roadrash Rider]

Brilliant, really enjoyed that Chisurz. Thanks


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Chisurz]

Brilliant, really enjoyed that Chisurz. Thanks


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

A pleasure, Roadcraft-Rider.

I should add the post script...

The original plan had been as per the thread title, thirteen countries, eight currencies and all in two weeks. Maxxx, I think, ended up doing a few more miles than I did on the way home (he'll have to tell). For my part I managed eight countries and four currencies, but still within the two week holiday window. As a result of the revised route we missed out Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and Montenegro, while I also missed out Switzerland. I didn't feel so bad about missing out Switzerland as I've been there a number of times, but I was disappointed to miss the others. My total mileage was about 5400 miles. I say "about" because, to be honest, I didn't really register how many miles it was. It was just quite a bit for a two week trip.

What would I do differently next time? Definitely plan a more relaxed schedule, especially when travelling with friends, meaning fewer miles per day, especially when planning some sightseeing that day. Oh... ...and be more careful with my passport...

Meanwhile, back in the UK I had to get a new passport. Having had to get an emergency travel document, and the expense that involves, you have to go through it all again back in the UK. We were heading out of the country again in less than three weeks and I was expecting to get a new passport quickly during the summer peak... Mrs.Chisurz wasn't too pleased that a family holiday risked being, err, "impacted" is the polite way of phrasing it. It was all OK in the end; the new passport arrived in the post the day before we flew out of the country...

But that holiday is another story and didn't involve motorcycles...

 

[dr nosh]

the new passport arrived in the post the day before we flew out of the country...

.

 

[Khulu]

Hi, I thought I'd sent you this message earlier but it doesn't appear in my sent box so apologies if it's a duplicate somehow!

(I've just noticed you don't accept PMs so that explains the above!)

I enjoyed your ride report so thanks a lot for putting it on the forum.
I've never been to the Balkans before so I was hoping to get some expert advice from you.
I'm heading to the Austrian and Czech MotoGP races this August and putting in a large anti-clockwise loop between them.
I plan to ride through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine (just and no more) and Poland.

Did you take a little local currency for all your visited non-EU countries? (That would need a big pocket!)
Did you find safe parking for your bike and gear? (I'm taking camping gear with me but will hotel it as and when necessary)
I don't book ahead as weather can wreak the best laid plans and you end up stopping somewhere else.

Any tips you can offer will be much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Iain

 

[Khulu]

wreck not wreak!

 

[DeanoBeano]

Brilliant write up. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

 

[Khulu]

Yep, Maxxx likes his gadgets... Given the amount of video Maxxx had tried to record I'm delighted the footage he's put up hasn't included the bit in some Hungarian roadworks where I started to surf (very badly) the gravel wave of the temporary road surface...

Great report and pics!

Hi, I thought I'd sent you this message earlier but it doesn't appear in my sent box so apologies if it's a duplicate somehow!

(I've just noticed you don't accept PMs so that explains the above!)

I enjoyed your ride report so thanks a lot for putting it on the forum.
I've never been to the Balkans before so I was hoping to get some expert advice from you.
I'm heading to the Austrian and Czech MotoGP races this August and putting in a large anti-clockwise loop between them.
I plan to ride through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine (just and no more) and Poland.

Did you take a little local currency for all your visited non-EU countries? (That would need a big pocket!)
Did you find safe parking for your bike and gear? (I'm taking camping gear with me but will hotel it as and when necessary)
I don't book ahead as weather can wreak the best laid plans and you end up stopping somewhere else.

Any tips you can offer will be much appreciated.

Thanks again,

Iain

 

[Maxxx]

Hi Khulu

Generally, we both carried a small stash of Euros and we tried to use ONLY our credit cards wherever we went - we both carry Visa cards and they are widely accepted across the whole of Europe.

Having said that, if we planned to spend the night then in most non Euro monetary countries we would stop at the first cash machine we found once we crossed the border and we would draw out a very small amount of local currency - estimating approximately what a couple of beers and a light meal might cost - just in case a small business didn't accept cards. The trick is of course to try to spend the cash before leaving the country but you can always buy a couple of bottles of water or chocolate or just fill up your bike with petrol with whatever you have left over. On my return I ended up with a handful of coins and a very small amount of an assortment of unused notes after 6 weeks of travel.

We found pretty much every single place we stopped at provided a secluded place to park our bikes as a few of Chizurz photos show - even if occasionally that meant taking them places that cars cannot access

(Exiting my overnight parking spot next to the hotel)

With the exception of a hotel in Romania where we planned to stay 2 nights, we didn't book hotels in advance and we would just park up the bikes and walk into a number of hotels and ask them their rate - often playing one off against another - we found a few great places for very low cost this way and sometimes they would let us park our bikes in private garages or under cover on their patios.

You've planned some great countries for your trip - make sure you stick to the back roads as they are FAR more interesting than the motorways - and don't try to cover too much mileage in one day or you will miss out on enjoying the ride of your life!

I look forward to reading your trip report.

 

[Khulu]

Hi Khulu

Generally, we both carried a small stash of Euros and we tried to use ONLY our credit cards wherever we went - we both carry Visa cards and they are widely accepted across the whole of Europe.

Having said that, if we planned to spend the night then in most non Euro monetary countries we would stop at the first cash machine we found once we crossed the border and we would draw out a very small amount of local currency - estimating approximately what a couple of beers and a light meal might cost - just in case a small business didn't accept cards. The trick is of course to try to spend the cash before leaving the country but you can always buy a couple of bottles of water or chocolate or just fill up your bike with petrol with whatever you have left over. On my return I ended up with a handful of coins and a very small amount of an assortment of unused notes after 6 weeks of travel.

We found pretty much every single place we stopped at provided a secluded place to park our bikes as a few of Chizurz photos show - even if occasionally that meant taking them places that cars cannot access

(Exiting my overnight parking spot next to the hotel)

With the exception of a hotel in Romania where we planned to stay 2 nights, we didn't book hotels in advance and we would just park up the bikes and walk into a number of hotels and ask them their rate - often playing one off against another - we found a few great places for very low cost this way and sometimes they would let us park our bikes in private garages or under cover on their patios.

You've planned some great countries for your trip - make sure you stick to the back roads as they are FAR more interesting than the motorways - and don't try to cover too much mileage in one day or you will miss out on enjoying the ride of your life!

Hi Maxxx,

What you did is what I was thinking of doing too! I was intending stopping at a petrol station of a new country and using their ATM for some local cash (if I was intending staying there overnight). Slovenia and BH should just be drive throughs, so that's different (unless I want to add a country fridge magnet to my collection). It's good to know that safe overnight bike parking wasn't a problem anywhere as that's always a concern. I found a hotel late one night last year at Lake Como and parked in a cobbled lane overnight and just took my tank and tube bags with me. Left the panniers full of gear as all was well.
Thanks again for the info.

Much appreciated,

Khulu