A country a day, keeps the boredom away // SLO / HR / A / I / D

[philofax]

[philofax]

Aug. 29th 2010..



Not having been on any noteworthy holiday except the trip to Sardinia, we
decided to stack kid no.2*, 2 tents, 3 chairs, a bunch of sleeping bags and
pillows and some clothes on the GS's pillion seat (well, not all of it, some of
the stuff got packed on the KLE) and to head south.

*kid no. 2 means "the younger one", they are ordered chronologically.
and by the way, in the very near future i will ask all ADVRiders for some
support to get her motivated for her driving classes.









A8 into the Inn valley, then on main- and backroads to the Grossglockner
high alpine road. 18 EUR per bike, and up we go, after putting on the rain
gear. We didn't need it for the rain, as it was dry, but to keep out the damn
cold wind.





















Still (or rather, already) snow to the left and the right of the road, low clouds
barring the view on many of the picturesque mountain tops that we know
surround us. But we won't let that bother us and ride on over the Iselberg,
past the Gailbergsattel and toward Weissensee.





To get to Weissbriach from the Drau valley, we have to go over the Kreuzbergsattel.
Fantastic, simply gorgeous. Forest, wide bends, scenery ad nauseam,
absolutely remember to ride that again. The gail valley leads us to Villach,
where the Wurzenpass starts. At dusk (the late and dark kind of dusk), we
cross the border to Slowenia. The planned route would now lead us from
Kranjska Gora to the Vrsic pass, but in the meantime it's definitely night, and
if I finally get to ride the Vrsic, I want to do that by daylight.

So with a bit of luck we found an appartement, equipped with a kitchen, TV,
garage and wireless lan, for an affordable price. So tomorrow, hopefully
without rain, we'll ride the Vrsic and then go on towards... erm.... well, we'll
see.

[GB]

Looks great Waiting on more pics.

[hootch]

This is one of my dream rides. Please post more pictures. Thank you for taking us along!!

[philofax]

We got up at 8:30, earlier than expected. (Usually I tend to getting up
much too late all the time, therefore not keeping the schedule.) A steady
drizzle accompagnies us over the Vrsic pass and turns into pouring rain as we
head down to the soca valley. After three hours in Slowenia, we are
completely soaked.









Except for the kid who wore her raingear that stayed waterproof. On the
other hand, it rained into her (MX-)helmet. I was wearing a jacket from Polo
that looked like carved out of solid rubber, but which started leaking
massively after two and a half hours. Only the pants and boots did their job
and kept the water out. Nightmarion pulled the short straw with her allegedly
waterproof textile gear: the jacket leaky, the pants about as waterproof as
jeans, the rain just ran down into her (waterproof) boots.









In Nova Gorica, the rain-sodden Nightmarion bought some XL rain gear (the
only available piece) in a nice friendly black. In Dutovlje, we wanted to just
stay out of the rain for a few minutes when we saw a streak of blue sky on
the horizon, although not in the direction we had planned to ride.



So we stopped a bit longer, ate a pizza and waited for the good weather to
arrive where we were, then we followed it, ending up in Triest where we took
the first camping place we found.

[philofax]

But, but.. I NEED to go to Croatia The kid says.
"But why to Hrvatska? It's nice here"
"I promised my friends to get them a souvenir from Croatia."
"Ok, then we have no choice"

We strike the tents, load the bikes and try to circumnavigate Triest.
That's not easy, because roads that don't lead to Rome seem to lead to
Triest. So we zig-zag through tiny villages with cobblestone that shakes
fillings out of your teeth along the gulf of Triest, crossing the border
to Slowenia with a nice view on the adriatic sea. In a village, we get
some bread, ham, salami and cheese and then follow the road to Dragonja,
to the border to Croatia. The queue of cars has a considerable length,
but thank to our bikes and impatience as well as the sun we filter to
the front, no use in waiting until we fall off the bikes. Next to an
idyllic graveyard wall, we have a little picnic with the food bought in
Slowenia.









As the kid just wants to buy souvenirs, we head straight to the next
touristy port town, Umag. As expected, there are lots of booths selling
twinkling trumpery at the seafront. After some back and forth, the kid
purchases a handful of bracelets for herself and and her friends. So,
away from the sea we go, through mountains, and we are considering
spending the night in Slowenia. Map and GPS say that near Sveta Lucija
there is a road from HR to SLO. As we are standing at the border
crossing with prescious little fuel in the tank, the border guard
explains to us that this isn't a normal border crossing but one only to
be used by Slowenians and Croatians. Which means we have to turn around
and ride to Buzet, where a road to Marsici branches off and we get to
Slowenia. 5 km after the border, there's finally a gas station and we
fill up, discovering that we had a lot more fuel left than we thought.










After a look at the map, the GPS and the weather, we decide that we want
to spend the night somewhere near the coast. So we go to Ankaran, where
the GPS says there's a camping place. We find it, as well as prices that
are way over the top and a not very friendly receptionist. For one night
in a mobile home, including all fees and surcharges, they really demand
150 EUR. That's 40 EUR more that the hotel down the road would have charged,
breakfast included. Allright, we'll pitch our tents, how much is that?
Something between 40 and 50 EUR but first we have to look for a space. On
the whole big camping place there are three buildings with showers, and
with a bit of luck, we'll have less than 10 minutes to the next toilet.
Oh, and we have to turn around with the bikes and go through another
gate, the one we're standing directly in front of won't be opened.






Soooo we go to the Tourist Info. A nice Slowenian does some phone calls,
finds us a hostel with wifi, 2 double rooms, showers, toilet,.. for 20 EUR
each, the bikes can go behind a steel gate in the inner courtyard. In
front, there's a bar with sandwiches, cappucino, coke and everything
else one needs, really recommendable. Behind us the city center of
Koper, in front of us the sea. I almost regret the fact that we will
return to the Soca valley tomorrow, but I just want to see (and ride)
the Vrsic in sunny weather.

[E-man]

Keep 'em coming..

[griffin146]

Beautiful scenery .
Thank you

[IceCreamSoldier]

bringing back some good memories...keep going....

[philofax]

No, this was not our hostel, this is just a picture the kid took
while wandering around the (historic) city center of koper while i was so in
worry where the heck she went for "just take a look around".



At eight, I drag myself out of (the very comfy) bed. I get ready for the
day, cappucino, sandwich, emails and slowly really waking up. One after
another, the kid and Nightmarion also show up, and, sitting in the sun,
we decide on where to go today. The direction is easy, north. The kid
absolutely wants a hamburger like she got on the way south, Nightmarion
wants to take pictures and I want to ride the Vrsic at day and without
rain. So it's Bovec, along the Soca (River) and to Kranjska Gora.








That's 220 km to go, easy to do. We easily find our way out of Koper, as
well as the roads toward Nova Gorice and Kobarid, but what the GPS
didn't tell us is a "not completely paved" road which goes on for 40 km.
No trouble with unpaved, but slope, hairpins, pillion and 3 centners of
camping stuff made it a bit more interesting. It was fun, but the
average speed decreased some.










It was fun, but the average speed decreased some.









The Vrsic Pass









The Cafe bar Felix in Bovec offers (free) Wifi and the hamburger the kid was
longing for. We rehydrate (1 l spezi each) and then we follow the Soca
to the Vrsic pass. 50 hairpins, at least as many "normal" bends, and a
terrific view onto a scenery that Bob Ross couldn't have painted
prettier. We spend the night at the same apartment as the first night.

[philofax]

Sorry, i was abolutely shocked when i realised what Kid no.2 was taking
pictures of. I had no idea but she said "ADV Salute". -.- Kids...



9 o' clock in Kranjska Gora. While we are smoking and drinking coffee
and tea on the balcony, we lay out the route home. According to the
forecast, it "could" (read: will definitely) rain in the next few days
and after the day of riding in a downpour, we are not very thrilled by
this outlook. So we stow away all our stuff, feed the planned route to
the GPS and say goodbye to our hostess Sanja. We more or less go back
the way we came, over the Wurzenpass to the Gail valley, on to
Weissbriach and into the Drau valley and then towards Heiligenblut.









If the temperature were somewhere between "cool" and "crisp" on the way to
Slowenia, they tended more towards "freezing" and "why didn't I layer
up?", but the view is a lot better.



















It's only beginning of september, but the snowblowers are already out and
obviously already had a lot to do. Besides the road there is half a meter
of freshly fallen snow.

[TeeVee]

Outstanding. Thank you.

[philofax]

At the summit near the Hochtor (high gate) we take a break and have lunch
with bread, ham, salami and cheese, and fortified like that, we rode the
Hochalpenstrasse in a moderate speed. A very moderate speed.









After this descent from the Grossglockner, behind a queue of cars stuck
behind a bus, it takes some km of open road to compose myself again. Coaches,
RV with trailers (complete with two scooters), doters in absurdly big cars..
incredible what you get to see on one of the the most beautiful roads in the
Alps.









After passing the steinernes Meer and the Wilder kaiser, we only have a
short piece of road to Kufstein, where we get on the Autobahn until
home. I arrive with an odometer reading of 87'931 km with a hopelessly
bald TKC80.



















1.402 km short trip with daughter #2 and Nightmarion ends on Sep 2nd 2010.