One of those days

It all started rather well. A good night, great breakfast, fair weather, as we left the Matzelsdorfer & eased alongside Mittelstatter See to the A10 mway. The first 100km were great, as the road passes through some typical Austrian Alpine scenery. 

 

Then we stopped for fuel & coffee. After this, traffic conditions deteriorated somewhat as we hit the first of several traffic jams approaching Salzburg. Fortunately, we could filter, but it was still slow going. It was pretty jammed up away from Salzburg too, as we took the A8 towards Munich.

Then another huge jam for miles before we got off at J99 to pick up the 472 to head cross-country through Bad Tolz, Shongau, Marktoberdorf & on to Kempten. Quite a nice run, despite the weather turning  thunderous & ultimately to heavy rain approaching Kempten. 

A short run up to Lautrach to the Gasthaus Gossle (Booked yesterday on Booking.com).  Still wet through & with more rain threatening, we took the luggage off the bike & walked into reception. "Ah, Her Peek. Ve ef a small problem. Zeer is no room for you. My Chef (sic) make a mistake unt reserve too many".  

Fortunately, he'd found a room for us in a nearby hotel, so we weren't too indisposed. Unfortunately, the twin bed, attic room (cupboard) in the Bruk Wirt Gasthaus at Aitrach, wouldn't have been our choice. The beds were even arranged in an 'L', such was the lack of space & one of them had slats missing! I fixed the shower head, after it had sprayed water over the top of the cubicle, but couldn't get 2 of the 3 bathroom lights to work. On the plus side; the owner was a nice lady & the food was very good. 

Interesting stuffed 'creature' on the wall in the bar though: Made up of 6 of the owners kid's pets!!!! Body of a water vole, duck's feet, jay's wings, fluffy tail, small horns???? Bloody odd thing to do. 

Decent sleep all things considered. 

Natter with a Norse.

After a rather  'windy' night in Korenica (the tomatoes & Russian salad) we had a green tea and a yoghurt & Belvita breakfast 🙄 before setting off up route 1 to Karlovac. 

This bit of the route, through the Plitvicka Jezera (Croatian Lake District!) was busier & quite slow going in general. Lots of speed limits & 'tourist' driving! On another day, riding the road would have been a real pleasure, but we were now approaching the height of season. 

We stopped at a McD's in Karlovac (still quite a few war torn buildings evident), had a water & shake, but couldn't use the loo because they had no water.  So, back on the bike and make tracks onto route 6 to Novo Mesto. Stopped again just before the Slovenian border to top up with fuel & coffee & have that wee!

It's a lovely bit of road, the 6 to Novo Mesto, but can be slow going when the trucks are out. 

 

So, then we picked up the A2 to Ljubljana and stayed on it back to Villach in Austria. We stopped for a sandwich at a very nice mway servs, about 20 miles north of Ljubljana, which are much nicer places than your usual mway crap. It was here that a 47 year old Norweigian 'Ladies Man' (as it turned out) rolled up on a Ducati Diavel. Wearing a T Shirt, mesh body armour, jeans & sneakers and carrying everything in a tank bag. He asked to sit with us & henceforth we got to know an awful lot about him. To be fair, he was interesting & came across as a bit of an extrovert. He certainly had a few tales to tell, not least losing the  number plate off his bike 2 days into his trip from Oslo to Opatija, so he parked it up, flew back to Oslo to get a replacement, then flew back to his bike to continue. Then there was all the rain......without any waterproofs 😜

So, we said 'Ta rah' and made haste to Villach. Managed to avoid the worst of the gathering weather & cut up the 98 to our digs in the rather nice Matzelsdorfer Hof. Oh yes ☺️ 

 

 

Starting the return trip.

Thurs 21st:

We were packed and on Route 8 heading NW for about 9.30. Yesterday had been a real laze. Up late & eventually to a little Stoney beach on the east side of Zaton. We had it to ourselves for a couple of hours or more, lazing in the sun & going for the odd dip to cool off. 

 

Topped the day off with the third visit to our fave restaurant, Vala. Superb food & great service. Both had Sea Bass fillets - Shirl reckons it's the best fish she's ever had! 

We'd really enjoyed our stay at the Njiric Apts in Zaton & were actually quite relieved that we hadn't originally found somewhere to stay in Dubrovnik, as it's definitely a day trip city in our opinion. The Croatian coast is stunning and just about anywhere you stay on it will be beautiful. 

We retraced the route out as far as Split, then cut in land on Route 1. What a fantastic motorcycling road! Virtually traffic free, superb surface, constant twists & turns (generally fast open bends) & great scenery. 

 

We had a lovely run up through Sinj, Knin and on to Korenica. Stopped at a great 'Truckers & Bikers' restaurant called 'Tomic'. A superb omelette with chips & a large beer each - £8!! Also petrol at less than £1/litre & an earlier coffee stop - 60p each!  Emphasised to us what a rip off Dubrovnik is. 

Stopping the night at the Guesthouse Aracic (£30) in Korenica in a lovely area. Really quite taken with the Croatian countryside whether it be on the coast or the interior. 

Another very hot day meant showers on arrival & get the kit aired on the balcony:

 

 

 

Fish Picnic!

Today we went on a Mini Cruise to the Elaphiti Islands. 

We got on the boat at the wharf in Zaton, just a 100m in front of our apt, to join 14 others on the small cruiser. A couple of crew would look after us for the day, serving drinks as needed and a fish lunch. 

 

So off we headed, on a glorious morning, to our first port of call on the island of Lopud. It took around an hour of motoring, before we reached the harbour there, and then we had about 3 hours to ourselves on the island. So, a quick walk along the front, a walk through some rather disappointing botanical gardens, then a coffee break. Impressive coffee too:

 

Then we took a 'golf cart' taxi to the beach on the other side of the island & had an hour or so toasting. Back to the boat for lunch:

 

Then it was a half hour trip to the island if Sipan. A quick swim across the harbour, then a beer.  

 

Next it was the start of the return leg, but with a stop for an hour at the island of Kolocep, where we both had a swim & an ice cream. Got back to the boat to find that the engine had failed, so a further half hour in the warm afternoon sunshine & a couple of glasses of wine seemed the right thing to do. 

The replacement boat was a large rib. The run back was fast and fun as we all got a soaking in the wind blown spray. 

 

What a great day out!

 

Days around Dubrovnik

Saturday had been a chill out (recovery) day after a lot of riding. We'd walked each way around the bay after a lazy breakfast lounging on the balcony of our room. We had a light lunch (delicious fried squid) by the waters edge, picked up something from the Prem mini market just underneath our apt building & returned to the room to laze the evening away. 

 

Feeling a little Ozujska!

Sunday. Woke to glorious weather and decided to bus it into Dubrovnik (about 7 km away). 

No probs getting there & finding our way to the Old Town. 

So, it's quite a small  medieval walled city. Very nicely restored after being smashed up a bit in the war 25 years ago & now a truly iconic tourist trap! It was rammed - people; gift shops; t shirt shops; restaurants (some seeming to have taken over whole streets). A total commercial machine designed to strip gullible tourists of their cash. 

 

We swallowed the £13 each cost to get the cable car up to the mountain view point as this was the best way to appreciate Dubrovnik & the coastline generally. 

 

We wanted to walk around the city walls (probably about a mile in total). £13 each FFS!! That just a tax 😡

Learned that the resident population of the old town has dropped 90% in 25 years as property has been sold to either retail or apt rental businesses. That's why a small beer is £4; compared with a large beer being £1.70 in much of the rest of Croatia. Some serious money-laundering going on I reckon. 

So, worth a visit, but only just! 

Bus back and a few beers & dinner on the balcony. 

Monday:

Out on the bike for a beach day at Prapanto. A 40km ride back up the coast towards Split, then a left turn making the peninsula for a few clicks. The bay is just beyond Ston, another interesting looking village adjacent to a pretty impressive medieval walked fortification.

Had a great afternoon chilling on the beach. Very hot & the sea was lovely. 

 

 

Tomorrow we're going on a boat trip.  

Njiric Apartments, Zaton, Dubrovnik

Settling into the apartment now. Our home for another 5 nights (6 in all).

A sticky night with yet another thunder storm, but a quick blast of aircon worked. It sits about 25 m back above the coast road, which is continuously busy, so daytime traffic noise is a constant. Quitens right down at night fortunately. 

Bed ok & apt is pretty spacious. A bit careworn in places & the fridge could have been cleaner 😷, but we soon had things sorted. 

The balcony & view is ace. 

 

Noisy Cicada just joined us! 

check out this video

Let's Split to Dubrovnik

I hate mosquitos! They usually wake me after take off when, full of blood, they have to work harder to fly 😠

So, having cleaned a few splattered carcasses of the bedroom wall, we had a bit of brekkie and ambled out onto route 8 towards Split. The next two and a half hours were bloody awful. Strong gusting winds, road works, very heavy traffic that jammed up around Split, grey weather. Not a great time to be on a motorcycle. One to forget!

It didn't help missing the turn up  (twice) to join the motorway, which meant another half hour of torture on the coast road before we found another route and entry to the A1 mway south to Dubrovnik. 

Carrying some speed helped stabilise the bike in the gusting wind (well that's my excuse) & we made good progress at last. This last stretch of mway down towards the Bosnia Herzegovina border was only finished 3 years ago. Some impressive engineering & fab views. 

 

 

We hit another Thunder storm just as we got off the motorway. Fortunately it only lasted 10 minutes or so, but by then we were soaked again. 

The run down the coast was good. Light traffic & some great views. We crossed through Bosnia/ Herzegovina at Nuem; a 5 mile section of that country that comes to the coast, which annexes the southern tip of Croatia. 

Then the final run down the coast to our destination for the next 6 nights at Zaton, about 7km short of Dubrovnik.

The Apartments Njiric. 

Another good sized apt with a nice little balcony & sea view. 

 

We chilled out for about 3 hours, waiting out another big thunder storm, then headed down to the waterside & into the village to check out one of the restaurants. 

 

Very windy still!

Had some lovely food at the Vala restaurant; memorable due to the good food & the power cuts! Then it was time to head back. 

Looking forward to a few days without any travel pressures 😀☀️😎