Thursday 16 May 2013

                                   28th to 30th June 2012              



Steve: 
 .. and off the ferry towards Croatia which wasn’t a bad ride really, well, the first bit anyway

The road out of Montenegro was in good repair and only spoiled by over-enthusiastic use of prohibitive speed limits..  A loooonnnnggg straight road completely devoid of human habitation was covered by a 50kph limit - excuse me, 35mph? I nearly fell asleep! It was really hot too, and I wanted to get up to 90kph and get some air.

It's hot man...  gotta get the jacket off!
And this was the form of things throughout Montenegro - too biddy slow! Did I mention the Police? Loads of them, every time I thought ‘Stuff it, I’m away’ I was flashed by an obliging motorist to warn me of Mr Plod doing his thing ahead.

Eventually we got to the border and left Montenegro and entered Croatia on the coastal route - the books had said that this was a glorious route with breathtaking views, in reality we were treated to 6 miles of roadworks with a very rocky and rutted surface where our pace was reduced to a maximum of 15 mph for mile after mile whilst being ‘pushed’ by huge 4-wheel drive Mercs storming past and showering the bike with rubble. I said several naughty words and wished them well, and their children and grand-children too..

Although it seemed endless we got through it and by-passed Dubrovnic before entering Bosnia .... where the hell did Bosnia come into it? It actually interrupts the Croatian coastal highway for about 20 miles and has the added bonus of being excluded by my Insurance company for cover. It also cooks the worst ‘small fish’ we’ve ever tasted, they were so overdone I didn’t know whether to eat them or say a quiet prayer and bury the remains by the roadside, the only reason I didn’t make a fuss was that both waiters were about 7’ tall and built like brick outhouses..

With no sense of loss we left Bosnia and entered Croatia once more, and although there were many miles of azure sea views with picturesque cottages I have to say that I didn’t warm to Croatia, maybe it was the bad start and the same over-cautious attitude to speed limits and their decision to mark any bend, no matter how shallow, with chevrons and a 30kph speed limit - weird, and very frustrating.

I had been warned when I purchased the Europe map for Dolly my Tomtom sat-nav that it didn’t have full coverage of Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro or Croatia, but it was still a surprise to be channelled off the main road and given a back roads tour of several villages before being plonked back on the main road that we’d just left, only 20 kms further back!  But we did notice high above our head that the bridge only crossed halfway over the canyon before coming to an abrupt and unfinished halt, we’ll let Dolly off this time, but either way the 5.5 hour trip lasted for 7 hours..

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Debs

We were booked in for 2 nights at Trogir, a very lovely but ‘tinselly’ holiday destination for many tour companies, nevertheless the harbour was attractive, and nearby bars and restaurants did good food and draught beer!

The ‘beaches’ close to our apartment were concrete blocks, so the second day we took a water taxi to Okrug which we were told had beautiful beaches, so our hopes high for golden sands were shattered when we were greeted by man-made beaches of common or garden stone chippings! It made for an interesting walk with accompanied ‘ouches’ to get into the water.

Our accommodation was pretty good, clean and well kitted and not too pricey considering the beautiful view from our balcony of the old town and harbour. The one downside understandably not mentioned was the fact we are directly in the flightpath from the airport!


We’re away tomorrow for Slovenia and really don’t know what to expect, so had a night out in town to say goodbye to Trogir.

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Debs showing off her suntan
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Romantic stuff eh?

Too much food, and much too much wine, but very enjoyable nevertheless!

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