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 😀☀️😎

Into Croatia

A couple more days exploring Ljubljana would, with hindsight, have been nice. A lovely city. The apt was comfy enough for our needs, but maybe could've been closer to the centre. 

Got up earlyish (by our standards) and had a light breakfast before getting away at 9.30. Eased out of the capital (not much traffic about) and headed out on the A2 motorway towards Zagreb. Dropped off onto the 105 at Novo Mesto (a great biking road) and after a brief coffee stop at Metlika, passed through the Croatian border. Passports were shown to the unsmiling guard, who was actually quite helpful when I quizzed him about currency. 

Slovenian countryside had been wonderfully green & rolling in the main. Croatia was no less attractive, but it gradually opened out into huge vistas, initially heavily forested then much less so as we approached the Adriatic Coast travelling on the A1 motorway. This is reputedly one of the best motorway drives in Europe. I'd have to agree. We did a 200 mile stretch from Karlovac to Sibenik. 

We would have liked to do the coast road from Senj to Zadar, but time wouldn't allow it.

 

A coffee & ice-cream stop in Sibenik & a visit to the cash point for some Kuna. We had to be satisfied with the 8 from Sibenik to Primosten & ultimately our destination at Marina. 

 

 

The view from our balcony at Villa Marija & the lounge/kitchenette. 

A modern, comfortable apt, although the bathroom did pong a bit 😖

We walked along the footpath beside the sea and into the village around the marina.

 

Found a nice little restaurant & ate on the rooftop terrace. The whole Sea Bass main was fantastic!

Had a reasonable night, marred by it being sticky warm & being nibbled by mozzies. 

Lubbli Jubbli

Great day today. Bit of a lay in, leisurely breakfast, bus ride into the centre (Urbana card). 

Bikes available with the apt, but one had a flat tyre! 

Wander around the compact old centre on foot. The Treble Bidge:

 

 

Walk up to the castle after an Iced Tea!

 

Views of the city:

 

 

 

And the usual impending afternoon thunderstorm:

 

Then a spot of (late) lunch:

 

Not bothered about much of an evening meal, so scrambled egg on toast back at the apt, then a walk out for the obligatory beer! 😛

A Long Day to Ljubljana

Well, the weather looked alright while we had breakfast in the Al Larin in Cortina, but by the time we'd knitted up & we're ready to hop on the bike......,

 

We waited for 20 mins or so, but decided it probably wasn't going to improve much & we had to get going. It was hissing down & this coupled with several runs around the middle of Cortina looking for the route out SR48 (Italian signage does leave something to the imagination) didn't improve my mood much! ☹️

A viciously narrow, steep, tortuous climb on a poor road surface in torrential rain. I actually quite enjoyed it 😜. It helped that our kit was, by and large, keeping us dry & the bike dealt with it all without issue. So up & over the Passo Tre Croci (1800+ m) and a long descent before continuing on the tricky, but satisfying SS52, via Forni to Tolmezzo. The weather was getting a little kinder too, so we decided to stop after having a half hour rainless period. A lovely roadside restaurant near to Ampezzo:

 

The veg soup was just what we needed. 

Picking up the A12 autovia to Trovisio helped make up some time & we stopped there briefly at a Spa S/mkt to pickup a few bits. 

Then it was in to Slovenia & the run to Ljubljana via the Kranjska Gora ski area & passed Lake Bled. We'd done this run before; a few years ago on the Blackbird. 

 

 We dropped onto the motorway for the final run into Ljubljana. Bought a Vinjet at the first services. Managed to locate the apartment (Flat Peterka, 147 Celovska Cesta) at first attempt, despite it being in a large flat complex built by Tito's lot in 1967!

Nice apartment though (AirBnB). 

 

  

 

After a quick shake down & eating some food that had kindly been prepared for us (Cold meat, cheese, toms, bread, etc) we walked to Kino Sisko (Cultural Centre) for a couple of beers. Sat outside and soaked up the atmosphere. 

Cortina d'Ampezzo via Austria

A lovely morning & great breakfast at the Landhotel Schellenburgh. Very friendly hostess too. 

Away about 10.30 straight into heavy traffic all the way along the main route 31 on the north side of the lake. Very slow going, made very uncomfortable because of the heat. It didn't clear till we got on the short stretch of motorway to Bregenz. Then it was off onto the 200 and we climbed into the Alps. A lovely route through some pretty villages, but also quite slow going due to speed limits & the terrain. What bikes are made for though!

 

The Super Tenere handles brilliantly, fully loaded, on this sort of terrain. Easy neutral steering in & out of the corners, great road holding on the Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2's & that torquey motor! 

Stopped for coffee & water on the 200, then on to Warth before picking up the 198 thru The ski resorts of Lech & Zurs. You need to be concentrating fully along it too, because it very narrow, tight & twisty in the main, with unbarriered sheer drops along many sections. Some amazing road building too:

 

We stopped in St Anton to eat & experienced the first few rain drops of the journey so far. It held off though, as we sped along the A12 to Innsbruck. We needed to make some time up, due to the slow going earlier, so having fueled in Innsbruck, we took the A13 toll route through the Brenner Pass & into Italy. 

We dropped onto the SS49 at Bessanone & headed east to Brunico. Steady going again due to traffic & the nature of the road. The final section of the day; south on the SS51 to Cortina. A great bit of road through the mountains, although the surface was poor in places. We hit truly torrential rain with about 8 miles to go. Nowhere to shelter meant keeping a firm hand in the tiller when negotiating the rivers running across the road. 

Arrived at Hotel Al Larin about 7pm. The rain had stopped, but we were like drowned rats. The unsmiling, but helpful host welcomed us & the room was small but comfy. 

 

Walked into town on the terraced path & had a great evening. Caught up on LeTour; Grimbergdn; food; wine; stagger back; fall down a grass bank!

St Dizier to Uberlingen

A good nights sleep on a comfy bed. Opted for breakfast (blow the expense) & we were very impressed. It was excellent & would set us up for the day. 

A relaxed morning, owing to me mucking about with the helmet intercom & somehow managing to put it into Spanish! ☺️🤔

So it was about 10.20 before we got away. It was already in the high 20's, so frequent hydration stops were going to be necessary. 

We despatched the first 120km pretty quickly, so we're the south east side of Nancy when we stopped for a splash & dash. Then it was down to St Dies Vosges and up through the mountains to Colmar, where we stopped again for a (very expensive) Coke 😳

We passed through Freiburgh and then through some wonderful countryside to Geisingen. A petrol & snack stop there & then on through Stockach and on to Uberlingen on Lake Konstanz. Used the Garmin to locate the Hotel Schellenburgh at Lipperstraute. A lovely rural setting & very comfortable. 

 

 

We hadn't arrived until 6pm, so by the time we were sorted & had been unsuccessful in finding somewhere to eat in the village, we got on the bike again & rode the 4 miles into Uberlingen. It was well worth it. A really nice place. 

 

 

Interesting tattoo studio too:

 

Beer & pizza by the lake, followed by an obligatory ice cream, then back to the digs with a McD's coffee.