Touring Slovenia on- and offroad

[Andy G]

Hi there!

After beeing active in the TA- and AT-thread in the beasts area i thought it's time to try my first ride report. So here we go...

We, that ist Hardheader an me with a couple of friends. Go means going to our annual one week offroad alpine tour. This year for the first time to Slovenia, just because we heard that it should be nice there and most of our favorite routes in the Italian / French border area are getting closed and illegal. So it is May 2008 and this years team is:

Eike on Suzuki DR350 and Ralf on BMW R1100GS, both experienced riders, they did several Africa / South America trips, Anita on BMW F650GS with some offroad experience from last years trip to Spain, Klaus on AfricaTwin 750, no offroad experience at all, and haven't ridden a bike for the last 10 years, Hardheader on AfricaTwin 650 and me on Transalp 600, both with some offroad experience and many many miles on the road.

Some words of conclusion in advance: Slovenia for me is one of the most beautifull countries on the Alps. Great landscape, friendly people, fantastic roads, pittoresque camping spots... I just loved it.

[Deadly]

[Andy G]

Near Arnoldstein, close to the border to Slovenia. We more or less went there with just one break for lunch:



First view down to our camping spot close to the Soca river. Klaus new it from white water kajaking there:



The area around the bar. Verny nice, with some small fire places. As a welcome drink we got some local slivowitz (Schnaps) :



Having dinner... the small fires where lite up and the local cook prepared some nice grilled food:



Later in the evening we moved the table closer to the fire, it's still cold and rainy:

[Andy G]

The next morning. Preparing breakfast. We found a perfect place for our outdoor kitchen:



Preparing routes and tracks, playing with the didital toys...



Our camp and herd of steeds:



on the way to Vrsic Pass:



Anita and me:



Eike and Klaus:



again:



an unknowen chaser on a BMW:



the team, left to right, front to back: Eike, Götz (Hardheader), Klaus, Ralf, Andi (me), Anita:



the girls posing around: Anita:



and Eike:



Anita again:



that happens when you take office-city-people out to the fresh air:



getting better after some coffee:



finally we found a gravel road:



completely legal:



on that way our history was couching: the remainings of a village which was destroyed in revenge by the german Wehrmacht during WW2:



more gravel:



trying to do some advanced enduro: the path has even been on the GPS and looked like a nice shortcut, but for some of the team it was too difficult or they claimed to have the wrong tools / tyres. OK, it was really muddy, on some places rather deep, you should have at least some knobbies:



Surpirse, surprise... everybody is standing around and looking like an idiot. What happened?



Ralf was leading and decided in the last moment to turn right. Eike was behind him and did a full stop, sadly the DR's break light did not pass this information to me. Thanks to my 320mm supermoto racing break I did not crash into her, but the breaks of Anitas F650GS behind me did not make it. So she used her left fork leg to redesign my Givi panniers and afterwards did a detour through the green:



Her track through the grass. She was lucky, a bit mor to the left and it could have gone terribly wrong:



My panniers in the new design. I must admit that I was really annoyed. This crash was really not necessary:



On the beemer just a few scratches:



For the next offroad section we take the rubbers out of the F650s footpegs:



Anita, Ralf and me tried a shortcut through the forest. The others thought the ground was too loose and the mud too deep so they went around it. After some 100m the track was blocked by some trees and we decided that it might also be illegal and turned around:



Ralf fighting the big BMW:



Short time later we catch up with the others. Where to go now?



Get all your braveness together, concentrate...



and goooooooo:



Yippheee we found a mudhole. Everybody is allowed:



Eike:



Hardheader:



and Klaus. Remember, he paused for 10 years and did never any offroad before:



And once again one of our shortcuts just vanished:



Cow and calf:



Slowly we are getting tired. Some use the time we need to find directions for food:



Transalps are also usefull to create food buffets:



Back in the camp we cooks some fine noodles:





and finally have food and beer and...



to be continued, I'll have to got to work / nighshift now...

Bye.

[GB]

Beautiful riding on road and off!! thanks for the glimpse into Slovenia!

[ggandy]

Beautiful area!
Thanks for the pictures
Please be sure to point this out to the F650 BMW rider.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371650
Cheers

[obsidian]

Great ride, awesome action shots!

[Durangoman]

Originally Posted by Andy G

:



on the way to Vrsic Pass:

Nice

[nachtflug]

Originally Posted by Andy G

So she used her left fork leg to redesign my Givi panniers

great report.

[Hardheader]

After a few days we were driving the Stol again. This time with nice weather.


And here is another nice shot of the Triglav National Park

[atgreg]

very nice !!!!

[MikJogg]

Klasse report .I was last year in slovenia,on the way up to Vrsic...

[Andy G]

Anita returned during the night. After breakfast Eike and Ralf left. They have two small children and a half finished house waiting...



For today Hardheader has chosen a wonderful, easy gravelroad along the Italian/Slovenian border:



I was kind of ill that day, some headache or cold or something. So not too many pics form that day.



Here Anita hit the ground. The little creek hat some mud with it, was really slippery. No real harm done. Some villagers coming by told us that some weeks ago a bicyclist crashed at the same spot and did not regain his conciousness yet.

[BikePilot]

Most excellent pictures and report

[Incredulous]

Slovenia looks beautiful! Great report. Beer looks good too.