The start..

It started so simply, a conversation with my wife Debbie over a glass of fizz one Saturday night, when I said 
"How about a fortnight in Italy on the bike?"  
Debs thought this was a great idea but added that she loved Greece, and it was only a ferry ride across from Italy. She then mentioned she had friends in Austria and I remembered a mate in Montenegro, so on it went gathering momentum and time away until..

Here we are eight months later with only six hours to go before we set off for a grand five week tour of Europe, my innocent idea of two weeks basking in the Italian summer and sipping a glass of cool white wine has long gone in the welter of preparation for a five week play from Holland to Germany, except it's going to be the long way round via eight other countries. 

We've spent £'s on travel books and many hours on the internet researching areas and hotels that may be suitable for us, both in price and the all-important secure parking! 
Debs initially didn't appreciate the amount of time that all of the preparation would take, but when we got to Christmas the enormity of the task suddenly hit her and then every spare minute was spent pouring over maps, Trip Advisor, ferry booking lists and even a calculator to work out our finances.  

The most common reaction when we told non-biking friends of our trip was "How will you carry all of your clothes?"    

 The answer was vacuum bags - a wonderful invention and you can pack so much more in a pannier, although I smiled a little apprehensively when I read Honda's maximum recommended weight limit for the panniers, fat chance, just wind up the suspension!

Well, the final day before we set off is finally here, Passports and all bike documents packed (plus copied onto a USB stick), money, tickets and hotel bookings are in the tank bag and routes logged into the sat-nav. Locks, phone chargers, spare keys and ID bracelets ready, everything is loaded on the bike and we're ready to get into our kit and away at 2am... I think (hope).

Off to bed early we said - and it's now 11pm, the weather is foul with heavy rain and high winds and we're meant to be up in a couple of hours. I'm panicking as to whether the bike will start, have a flat tyre or if some other unforeseen disaster will befall us.. time will tell.

Just need it to stop raining now... Please? 

                               8th June 2012

Debs:   The alarms went off at 1.15am, and having gone to sleep at 11pm to the sound of wind and driving rain we had fortified ourselves that the weather report had said it would be dry between midnight and 3am. Unfortunately no-one had thought to advise the Weather Gods, so when I leapt out of bed and threw back the curtains I saw the rain, laughed and then scampered downstairs for breakfast.

We finally set off at 2.15am booted, spurred and fully enveloped in our new and untested waterproofs. Steve had given the bike a really good polish the day before and then packed so we’d be all ready for leaving, he could have saved himself the trouble because I think the shine  lasted about 30 yards in the rain!


Loaded and ready to go!

Steve:  The two hour ride that took us to the Eurotunnel  was strangely pleasant with little traffic and well-washed roads, so thoroughly relaxed and dry we arrived at the station at 4.20am.. about an hour before we needed to (blame my Mum, it’s the way she put my hat on!)
Those who have been on the ’Chunnel’ would agree that whilst speedy and fairly cheap, it’s also pretty basic with no seating, I wonder if it‘s the same for cars? There were about 9 other bikes on the train but everyone appeared either too sleepy or shocked by the hour so conversation was minimal.

On arrival in Calais at 7.25am we pottered off on the 3 hour ride to Den Bosch to get our sleeper train, the delightfully named ‘Autoslaap’ service. The journey was uneventful with long, straight motorways for the majority of the trip, but it did at least allow Debs an hours snooze on the back of the bike!

 It’s the first time that we’ve taken the bike on the Autoslaap but had read on the internet of the unique loading process that was obviously designed with cars in mind, for with a bike you ride almost folded over the tank in order to traverse the unique ‘switchback’ layout of the open-sided transporter whilst trying to avoid smacking your head into the very low roof.


Steve unloading the bags before riding the bike onto the train, note the jazzy new waterproofs.


For anyone who contemplates the Autoslaap please be aware that it is notoriously tardy, however, putting aside their ‘continental timekeeping’ the service was superb, and our compact sleeping cabins were very well designed and comfortable.

We had chosen to pre-book an evening meal in the restaurant, and two hours of nice food whilst rolling alongside the rain-lashed but picturesque River Rhine was an excellent conclusion to a long and busy day.

                               9th June 2012

 Debs: Our arrival at Alessandra was delayed from 9.50am by about 5 hours so after retrieving our bike our hazy plans of a little Italian breakfast soon became a ‘possibly lunch‘ and was eventually relegated to a panini on the motorway at 4pm!

It was a little worrying setting off in rush hour traffic after all that I'd read of the Italian driving style, but to be honest grid-lock traffic is much the same anywhere I guess.. whatever, we had a relaxed ride as we weren’t in a hurry, the sun was now shining and we set off from Alessandra two very happy people!   It was great to be on the bike again, the motorway towards Livorno and on to Firenze (Florence) was a stunner -  like a good Sunday ride-out with loads of winding bends and tunnels combined with fabulous views that made the whole trip an absolute hoot, and we eventually arrived in Firenze at 6pm.

No trouble finding the Hotel Ibis thanks to Dolly the sat-nav who directed us right to the door. At first sight I was a bit disappointed as we were only a stones throw from the motorway and Firenze was nowhere in sight.  Where was that magical view over the top of the red terracotta roofs towards the Duomo?  I later found out it was because we were 11 kilometers away!

Ho-hum, on the upside we were in front of a huge shopping Mall and supermarket so food and good inexpensive coffee were on hand.. a nice meal, a couple of drinks and off to bed.. Florence tomorrow!
 

                              10th June 2012

Debs: Up early today after a good sleep, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast before asking the bloke at Reception if it was possible to get a bus into Town. No problemo it seemed (notice how I just drop into Italian) just cross the road and take the bus into the middle of the city .
What the nice receptionist failed to tell us (and we had forgotten such things) was that one should buy a ticket from a tabac(conists), so we got on the bus without our tickets and tried to buy them from the driver, but he was totally uninterested and just ignored us. Rather bemused we sat down and waited until the end of the journey where he still didn‘t want to know, so we got off the bus and went about our sightseeing, assuming that bus travel must be free for British bike tourists… but like good Christians we bought tickets for the return journey.

Firenze was beautiful but unfortunately being both June and a Sunday it was packed to the gunnels with people. Hundreds of tourists (and us) wandering around trying to capture the magnificence of the building into our tiny camera viewfinders!

The Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio proved to be as wonderful as I had hoped, but  Steve just couldn't get over how the extra room was 'tacked on' at the back..They must have done a good job 'cos they're still there!






The city was incredible...  as was the lunchtime meal that we enjoyed at a little tucked-away local bar, we loved the notice on the wall too

We had a great day wandering around the city but to be honest it's too much for one day.. We made our way back to the hotel for a great dinner and a relaxing drink before dropping into bed.

Off to Urbino tomorrow, and Valentino Rossi's cafe the day after..

  

11th June 2012

After a great nights sleep we were up and packed for an 8.30 departure. Not so many miles to cover today. A little delayed due to the attention that was needed to the new set of matching mozzy bites we had acquired over night..Grrrrr!    It had rained quite heavily so we thought it a good idea to wear waterproofs if only that it would keep us clean with all the spray on the roads.

As we left Firenze and headed up into the mountains we were aware of just how dark it was becoming, and sure enough within 10 minutes we were riding through the torrential rain.  An hour later when we decided to stop for a late brekkie the sun had come out and the temperature had risen from 9 degrees to 26.     Phew -  time to shed a layer!

They have a the most amazing eats in the motorway cafés, so each time we try something different. Today’s was a kind of very thin pita bread with ham and mozzarella which is melted on a griddle, gooey and soooo yummy, and yet more excellent coffee of course.

Our destination today was the medieval hilltop walled city of Urbino, and it was wonderful to leave the motorway at last and head into the hills where we were treated to miles of spectacular views.

On our arrival at the hotel (which this time was within walking distance of the old city) we were greeted like royalty, and immediately given an upgrade to a superior room with amazing views over the valley, free internet, then after unpacking we were offered a ‘Welcome drink’ so we settled for a cooling drink, very similar to Pimms, and finally offered a 10% discount on booking dinner - we certainly like this Hotel!

It may be worth mentioning that tomorrow we were off to visit the local hangout of Valentino Rossi (to those of you not into MotoGP he is a 9 times World Champion and born in Urbino) and the whole point of Steve wanting to come to Italy.

In the meanwhile we spent the afternoon wandering around the old city which was stunning and happily devoid of people.

There were just so many narrow winding streets that all seem to open out onto beautiful piazzas, where we frequently sought a bracing glass of vino before continuing our explorations. The Cathedral was particularly beautiful, bright and cool - unlike the usual dark  ‘over gilded” churches we had seen in the past.

Eventually we succumbed to the call of our evening rituals where a refreshing drink, food and crashing out were duly observed.. Rossi tomorrow!!

                              12th June 2012 

Debs:  After a good breakfast, which included our first cup of tea in 4 days, we got booted and suited ready to head for Valentino Rossi’s café in Tavullia. Unfortunately it began to rain, and when I say rain I mean serious cats and dogs stuff, and if that  wasn’t enough the thunder and lightening decided to join in too.. but undeterred, and after checking with Steve that he had ridden before in such conditions and wasn’t concerned, I climbed aboard and off we went.
However I wasn’t aware that after a few hundred yards the rain had got inside Steves’ visor, and so we missed a turn and ended up going down a 1 in 3 cobbled street!
Oh, did we mention that there were 3 of us on this trip? Steve, Debs and ‘Dolly sat-nav‘.. and there is always one that has to have a sulk and throw their toys out of the pram, well it wasn’t me or Steve -
 Moving very steadily through the rain and relying on Dolly we set off along the rain lashed narrow streets for Tavullia.
'TURN LEFT'  she said as we were actually alongside the junction we needed, we turned around and went left along a fairly steep and very narrow winding road for about a mile.
'TURN AROUND WHEN POSSIBLE'  she then said, Steve muttered but we stopped and with difficulty obeyed.
'TURN AROUND WHEN POSSIBLE'  she said again, Steve muttered a rude word about Dolly but again we stopped and turned.
Then suddenly she repeated a dozen times 'TURN LEFT..TURN LEFT..TURN LEFT' At this point I was aware of Steve rapidly losing his sense of humour and I was about to go into hysterical laughter, not a good idea, so had to bite my tongue!!

We set off again with only a vague idea of which direction to take when suddenly she announced once more that we needed to turn around.. this time I heard exactly what Steve called her as he switched her off!  Such was the downpour that it had got into our ‘waterproof’ sat-nav, the first time in 4 years..

Eventually we rode out of the rain and along some quiet back roads towards Tavullia passing by a beautiful walled village en route.
I couldn't resist taking a few snapshots.

It didn't take much of an effort to work out just where we were when we entered Tavullia and took Dolly into the warm dry café to cheer her up before the next leg of our journey.





VALENTINO ROSSI’S CAFÉ

Steve:  The sat-nav may have thrown a sulk, we were toasting in the wet weather gear and the road conditions had been foul, but it was worth it just to get to ‘The Doctors’ Headquarters. We dripped our way into the Official Fan Club building where Debs posed with a life-size(?) cardboard cut-out of Valentino, if it’s really life-size he’s a tall lad!



His leathers, helmets and gloves were on display together with huge photos of his more dashing moments, I particularly enjoyed a great shot of him overtaking Casey Stoner at Leguna Seca in the middle of the corkscrew on the dirt.. even though Casey was wearing a black visor you can see the surprise in his body language!

I know you can hardly tell the difference can you?

I’m now an official and fully paid-up Valentino Rossi Fan Club member, but I still have no idea where the hell I’m going to put the T-shirt and cap among our well packed luggage..

Excellent, inexpensive coffee and pastries from his café completed our visit.. Worth it in diamonds!




Debs: By the time we left the café the sun was out and the temperature had risen from 17 degrees to 25, so off came the waterproofs and the soggy gloves (which we had to wring out) and off we went in the direction of the Abruzzo National Park, a mere 4 hours away, and as we turned onto the motorway and we found ourselves riding alongside the Adriatic sea, some lovely views to make up for the earlier weather.

Steve: I appreciate that motorway riding is not the best way of viewing the countryside, but Italy has a lot of hills and mountains and the option to the 4 hour motorway ride was a 17 hour jolly through the mountains, and with the intermittent high winds and torrential rain I settled for boredom!
The weather was all over the show, and during the journey we must have put our waterproofs on and off another 4 times and witnessed temperature variations between a chilly 17 to a barmy 34 degrees. Another feature was a display of true Italian driving.. The speed limit on one stretch was 90km/hr, but I was doing 130 in a procession of vehicles (any slower and they would have run over me) when we came upon a series of bends through tunnels - no view, ‘no overtaking’ signs everywhere, and they’re jostling for position 12’ behind each other at 90mph and overtaking each other through blind bends and getting flashed by oncoming vehicles swerving to avoid them! Crazy.. I was happy to get to the overnight stay.

Debs: The “farm stay” is not quite as we were expecting. Our room is about a mile away from the rest of the accommodation and the main house. It appears they have all sorts of animals, butcher their own meat, make their own wine (4 Euro a litre) and arrange all sorts of activities. One suggestion was a display of goat cheese making, which meant being ready to go meet the shepherd at 5am (not today thank you!) or horse riding, which did sound like good fun but not for us, so we opted to do our own thing…..rest for the day.  Dinner that evening was offered at  a very reasonable rate so we joined the other 10 guests and had a really lovely evening swapping travel stories.

At about 11pm they all went off to their rooms and we set off in the pitch dark to find our way back up the hillside to our accommodation at the edge of the village. As we walked along the lanes we decided that we actually had the better deal, and spent ages looking up into an unpolluted night sky filled with so many stars that they all seemed to be jostling for space. We then noticed that the bushes and trees near us seemed to have their own stars, hundreds of tiny lights flashing wildly as the fire-flies performed their own starburst -  just an incredible sight.

A very busy day, so a cuppa and bed was in order please!

                              13th June 2012

Steve:  Today is a ‘rest day’ as it was known in my previous career, in other words a do nothing, chill out day.. It’s also our third Wedding Anniversary!
So we laid in bed sorting out photos from this trip before they got out of order, and finishing off the blog that Debs did last night… but the sun was shining and a jolly run out on the bike called for, and before long we’re totally lost!
We’d wandered off the beaten track and had a giggle on some seriously winding roads and then found our way back to the town and thought we'd be OK-ish..
However, the Dolly (sat-nav) decided that she didn’t know the way back to our accommodation and we were left to Debs awesome memory for roads, no good relying on me ‘cos I get lost getting out of the lift.. But we made it back and sat on the patio drinking cold beer - what better way to enjoy an Anniversary?

We’re also joined by a stray and adopted dog called ‘Neve’ (the Italian is for snow), she’s a bit shy but so eager to be friends..  She had been found by a friend of Antonello (our temp landlord) frozen in the snow in February, and had obviously been mistreated by a man ‘cos she’s very cautious with me. A lovely dog, how can they do this?


Dinner is scheduled with the rest of the happy campers at 8pm, then off for a relatively early night before getting off as soon as possible in the morning.

Tomorrow is a short ride across to a posh hotel on the Amalfi coast as a delayed Anniversary treat from our friend Diane. Let’s see how we go - more tomorrow.

                              14th June 2012

Up bright and early to get packed for our 4.5 hour trip to the Amalfi coast, actually we’d started packing last night and were also updating the blogs before we put them on the Tumblr website, I kept checking the time on the computer as dinner was arranged at the farm for 8pm.. What I hadn’t considered was that it’s UK time on the computer, so at 8.45 we’re running down the road like loonies and despite explanations and apologies were greeted with a ‘certain stiffness’ from Mama. Ho-hum, in trouble again!

Back to the Amalfi trip - Man, was it hot! According to the temp gauge on the bike it reached 34C. So there were frequent stops for cold drinks until we eventually got onto Amalfi and I noticed that according to Dolly (sat-nav) it would take an hour to do 20 miles? Surely not..  then we ran into the traffic on the coast road - hundreds of nutters on scooters (each with his obvious desire for an exciting but very brief life), cars, buses, coaches, delivery vans, all infused with the unique Italian spirit of competition and absolute belief of immortality. The road itself is a switchback of blind twists, turns and tunnels that rarely allows higher than 2nd gear, to watch the locals at play explains the scarring on their vehicles!  Suffice to say that it took us almost 90 minutes..

The view from our bedroom patio doors.

The hotel was wonderful, perched on the rock with stone steps down to the crystal clear turquoise sea, our air-conditioned bedroom had a small but private patio with lemon trees almost growing through the French doors, Debs thought she was in heaven!

Who's a happy girl then?

After a shower we decided to descend the steps for a quick dip, it wasn’t until I found I was absent -mindedly counting that I realised that there were 212 of the damn things - No problem going down but the ascent was quite another matter.
After that a visit to a bar was essential.







To be truthful that was about it, we thoroughly chilled for the entire day, the hotel staff and service were superb, the food delicious ... but I wasn’t looking forward to the coast road tomorrow.

                              15th June 2012

Just bumming around with old friends

Steve: We woke early at 6am and opened the French doors, flooding the room with sunlight and the beautiful aroma of lemons from the trees edging the patio, and then (I’m not ashamed to admit) that we just lay there and lazed, chatting about the trip and reminding each other that we really should get up - which we did at 8.25 for a leisurely breakfast taken on the terrace overlooking the azure Mediterranean sea. As an aside, Debs assured me that she wouldn’t mind a permanent change to our lifestyle if it meant we could live like this..

I know I said that I wasn’t looking forward to the coast road, but it was actually not too bad - still very narrow, winding and tricky, but without the scooters that had it such a nightmare previously, but the Pan was still a handful and with the weight of luggage onboard the sharp bends had to be taken with care.. especially as Debs was recording some of it on the camcorder and I knew I’d be accountable later!

Debs:  During our honeymoon 3 years ago we visited Pompeii and Vesuvius, and as we skirted Naples on our ride to Bari we recognised the majestic outline of the volcano some 20 miles to the west, and a similar distance to the east was a long ridge of hills which at first looked as though they were covered in small bonfires but they actually turned out to be geysers, plumes of hot steam shooting out like Indian smoke signals, and really quite a spectacle. We were not aware of so much activity nowadays, although it is apparently overdue for a cataclysmic eruption - I’d be grateful if it waited for another few weeks yet please!

The rest of our trip from the Mediterranean coast to the Adriatic was quite calm and uneventful. The scenery changing from tree-covered hills to vast plains of wheat stretching as far as the eye can see. The temperature climbing the further east we went, finally settling on a balmy 34 degrees.

We arrived in Bari at 3pm and boarding of the Superfast Ferry began at 4.45. Our tickets allowed us to travel in the sleeping lounge which was kitted out with reclining airline type seats - we could have booked cabins but at £85 per person they were far more expensive than any of the hotels on our trip!
This side room of 120 seats should be just the ticket, away from the bar and coffee lounges, curtains all drawn and night-lights ready to be switched over for a calm relaxed sleep.. oh what deluded fools we were! Our numbered seats were 1 & 2, directly in front of luggage shelf space and almost under a 92” T.V. screen which was permanently tuned into Euro 2012. We asked if the T.V. would be turned off later and was told by the brusque female Receptionist that it would not, but that it may have the volume turned down a little, eventually. Although irritated by her attitude I politely asked if the room was all sold out and would it be possible to move from our original places. “Seats 46 and 47” she barked at us, so off we went to investigate. Ahhhhh.. Great improvement - 5 rows back and dead centre to the screen.. Thanks.

It does seem that every ferry that I’ve every been on have a company policy for the largest screens showing wall to wall football, and this one appeared to comply in every respect!
Steve went and spoke with the purser who was willing to take about 30 euros off the cost of a double cabin, but at135 euros I still felt that was too expensive, so we decided to move to the very back the room and try to be invisible. The Purser had told us this would be fine as only 70 of the seats were reserved and there should be no problem.  As it transpired this was not such a great move as 3 families decided it would be nice to sit near us, with one young Dad boasting that his little girl, aged 3, never goes to sleep until about 3am, and how right he was. She ran around for hour after hour with Dad happily asleep on his lilo in a corner and Mum smiling at her child as if she had achieved something wonderful.
Steve meanwhile was happily plugged into his I-pod and snoring gently. I had taken a sea sick pill which normally knocks me out, but this time didn’t even come near. At about 11.30 I could take it no more and called to the mother to do something with her noisy child, so that the rest of us could get to sleep.
I threw my jacket over my head as the lights had not been dimmed, and then noticed that not only could I hear the football but piped jazz muzak over the loudspeakers. Did the mother sort the child out? Oh no, she picked her up and walked around the room to point out the other 2 sleeping children, this just made her shout and wriggle to get free, so off they take her for a walk around the ship and on return let her run amuck again!
Evil Englishwoman sits up and does the ‘Wrath of God’ look, so they make another attempt at controlling what was essentially a very clever little girl who had her parents wrapped round her little finger.
It was all too much so I took myself off to a brightly lit coffee lounge where I managed to squeeze onto an end of a soft sofa with lots of other happy sleeping passengers, and fell asleep for 2 hours until a fight broke out between a Russian and the man making the coffee, so I bought Steve a cup of tea and went back to wake him gently, nice person that I am!

                              16th June 2012

Steve: Hoorahhh.. We arrived at Igamanitsou in Greece at 5am (an hour early) so we were off the ferry and had bike reloaded to be on our way to the little island of Lefkada about 2.5 hrs away, and by 6am it was already 23 degrees so we knew we were in for a warm day.


The Island of Lefkada is south of Corfu and Kefelonia (the island of Captain Corelli and his merry mandolin) and is reached by a small bailey bridge.
We wound our way along the east coast passing some very pretty little coves until we reached the cove of Poros, which is about half a mile long with a dozen or so small blocks of apartments and several fish tavernas (to whom we later made frequent visits). Could this get any better?

Our view of of the window at Captain Nick

Arriving at ‘Captain Nick’ we were greeted by the elderly owners and shown our room and balcony, overlooking a tiny picturesque bay with a little stretch of beach at the bottom of the garden.

Ooh that's so nice!

Our motor bike gear was immediately tossed aside in preference for our swimmies and off we went for a dip and a morning of relaxing on the deserted beach, and it was still only 9.30am
The little beach was dotted with rock pools, and we played around like  kids for ages watching the water sloshing around and bringing shoals of tiny fish into the pool for our amusement. We found ourselves in deep concentration for ages finding the various sea life, from what Debs called ‘spiny Norman’ (a slowly creeping sea urchin) to a superbly camouflaged baby rockfish and lots of infant fish in all types and colours.

By 1 pm we were feeling a bit peckish so headed for the restaurant opposite, where two beers, a plate of small fish and a huge Greek salad was found to be just what we needed, but within two hours our sleepless night began to catch up on us so we sloped off to bed ‘for half hour’.  Two and a half hours later we woke to find the sun still hot and the place jumping….well, two fishermen had returned from their morning fishing, two yachts had arrived and dropped anchor and about a dozen butterflies were busy about their business.

San Nicolas Resort Hotel

Time for a little drink on the veranda where I spotted the top of a sun brolly along the rocks past the harbour so we dressed and went for a walk to investigate. Wow.. what a find, a wonderful hotel called the San Nicholas, which I had looked at when booking but decided £100 a night was too much. They had a lovely café bar with decking for sun loungers and brollies along the bottom of some steps which dropped onto a secluded little bit of beach. We were informed that non-residents were welcome and there was no charge as they hoped we would use the café. There was also a virtual pool and bar above which we were also welcome to use, so plans were laid for the following day.,

All that exercise meant we were ready for dinner, so returned to ’our’ restaurant for more small fish, some chunky bread and a carafe of chilled local white wine.. Absolutely delicious!

                              17th June 2012

A wonderful nights sleep in our mozzie free, air-conditioned room, and we woke to the ‘phutt putt’ of the small fishing boats returning from their nights fishing with what later transpired to be our supper.

Our lazy day at San Nicolas hotel was heaven. There was only room for about 8 couples and everyone very quiet either reading, or in mine and Steve’s case ‘snoring‘. We feel you can never have enough sleep and relaxation in between our long bike rides.


We sauntered back to our room at about 4.30 and sat on the veranda with a nice cold beer enjoying the usual busy view and contemplating dinner, before finding ourselves at ‘our’ restaurant again with big fish and salad, chunky bread and more cold white wine.. It's getting to be a very pleasurable habit!

                              18th June 2012

Debs: We have a minor problem, perhaps because of the current problems here no-one accepts any sort of credit or debit card, it’s all cash only.. So an early start was made for the trip to Lefkada town (the capital of this little island) which is only a 25 minutes ride.

We set off at 8.30am all togged up in our mesh bike gear (purchased specially for this trip) with shorts on underneath as the thermometer already reading 23c but by 9.30 it had climbed to 32c and we were melting! We fortunately found the Bank pretty quickly, but by the time we got back to our room we were ready to drop.





 So far the trip has gone pretty smoothly with hotels, routes and timings all pretty spot on, however today we realised there’s been a ‘hiccup’ in our calculations. Tomorrow we leave for Delphi which I was sure it was a 2.5 hour trip, but when we checked up with Dolly sat-nav she informed us it's actually 5.5 hours. Whoops!



The remainder of the day was sun,sand and snoozing, plus of course regular portions of fish and wine as evening drew in, but it's going be such a scorcher and a very long run, so looks like an even earlier start tomorrow…

                              19th June 2012

Steve: What a way to start the day.. I woke at 5.15am  and after gently waking Debs with a cuppa we loaded the panniers and by 6.30 we quietly took our leave from the gorgeous Poros Bay - We had a great time there and will definitely return one day soon..

Thanks to our boo-boo on the timing we had found ourselves with a 5.5 hour trip to Delphi, and with the temperature in the mid to high 30’s I thought it would be a trip from hell. From our journey down I knew that it would take us about an hour to get off the Island of Lefkada across the bailey bridge onto the mainland, and that the first part was also very twisty roads with poor surfacing so there was little to be achieved by trying to push on through this section.

So it was just before 7.30 that we hit the mainland but the ride up through the Island had been wonderful, the air was cool and fresh, carrying the scent of wild herbs blending with the unmistakable tang of the sea.. Beautiful,  I could have ridden like that all day, except that it was now 32C and climbing.


Our route took us mainly off-motorway and alongside the Corinth Canal, which may sound a little unglamorous - it’s anything but...

The road is well surfaced (for Greek roads) and runs for miles sweeping from one bend to the next where, without the very obvious Police and camera presence. consistently low and changing speed limits you could wind through here in the high 90’s. As it was my sat-nav was wailing almost constantly with camera warnings, and I saw 3 speed traps.. Not fair, I wanted to play!

The food and coffee was good too..

We ensured that there were plenty of breaks for water and snacks, as dehydration in these conditions would be all too easy, and found a really nice coffee shop alongside the canal with beautiful view..

OK I give up, just have a look at the photo..





Eventually we arrived at the craziness that is Delphi, it reminded me of Skegness in high summer -  loads of souvenir shops, snack bars, dreadful parking and too many coaches, but we found our hotel and after booking in we went to find a cold beer!




One great feature about the place is that it’s so high up in the mountains that everywhere has a superb vista, and our bar was no exception, you just can’t encompass the immense view in one go.

Seriously chilled we sauntered down to the site to visit the museum, I’m not really into such things but this was impressive with artefacts over 3000 years old that had been recovered and placed on display - wonderful.






It was still extremely hot and although very enjoyable the ride had taken its toll so we arranged to do the site trip in the morning, and went into the town for some food and wine.
Unfortunately the wine was a little too pleasant for Debs, and by the time we got back to our room she warned me that the curtains just wouldn‘t keep still!

                                   20th June 2012       

Steve:  Another ‘let’s get up early and pack day’ except this didn’t happen, we kinda wandered into breakfast and then onto the archaeological site where we  slogged around the sanctuaries of Apollo and Athena at Mount Parnassus, the centre of the world in Greek mythology and home of the Omphalos - the seat of the prophetess Sybil (there was a prophetess Sybil in the film ’The Matrix’, just for movie buffs).


I have to say that the archaeological site was very impressive and magisterial.. Still damn hot though!

Back to the hotel to change and head off for Athens where we’d booked a little hotel in the suburbs. Now this is a 2.5 hour ride that actually took nearly 4 hours. Just  the mood that day I guess, we chilled man..

See you tomorrow..

                               21st June 2012

Debs:  When we looked at this hotel we noticed that it said ‘ The hotel is easily accessible to the centre of Athens through the motorway or by train, which is 14 km away from the hotel.’  
What they failed to mention is the 2 mile walk to the railway station along a busy main road, often without pavements, add that to a 36C hot sunny day and that there is also no direct bus link to the railway station and you have a flavour of how the day started.

Let's start at the beginning - the journey across was fairly easy until we got into the Athens suburbs and the temperature began to rise alarmingly. Dolly behaved herself and we soon found ourselves parked in the Hotel driveway, so far so good until we found that the owners Father was in charge of the desk and his lack of English was only matched by his patience levels. His hands went up and eventually we found our own room, air-con and porno TV appeared standard.. but after a shower and unpacking we set off on the 2 mile walk to the station.

Hot and weary we jumped on the train to Piraius not knowing at which station to get off for Athens city centre, but had half decided that we’d carry on to the end of the line and watch the boats and have a drink there. After about 20 mins we got off with the idea of getting a coffee and then rejoin the train afterwards, however when we came out of the station we found ourselves right in the city centre!

Wandering around and generally looking in the shops we were besieged by the shopkeepers anxious to make a sale, but first on our list was a cold beer and small fish! After a great meal (and perhaps another beer) we set off to climb the Parthenon and view the Acropolis - sounds good huh? Then followed about an hour of winding through the maze of narrow streets and alleyways before we finally arrived at the entrance to the Parthenon, but with the exposed site and under a fierce sun we agreed it was just too hot to carry on, so we walked gently back down to the station and the 2 mile drag to the hotel… 

You know what?  We enjoyed our day out, it may not have happened as we planned but never the less we had a good time. Off tomorrow to Thessalonica..

                               22nd June 2102

Steve:  Greece is a weird place, period (as my American friends would say), or should I be more precise and say their driving habits.. Motorway driving is a special treat, the hard shoulder is frequently used as lane 1 but in a desultory fashion, with all types of vehicles weaving between that and the correct lane 1 or straddling the solid white line for miles, with lanes 2 & 3 are treated in the same manner.
Speed limits are flagrantly ignored and generally doubled in the lower range, double white lines count for nothing as do ‘no overtaking’ signs. Believe me, I’ve been overtaken by everything from a 32 tonner to a Smart car in 50 limits, thinking about it just about everything has gone past me except a hearse!
Moped riders (sans helmets, always) have a trick of riding one-handed whilst chatting on their mobile phones, carrying boxes 3’x3’, or in one case a 6’ ladder.. Car drivers and mobiles - what do you think - Of course! It makes for an interesting ride.

Winge over -

Today was nothing less than a motorway slog for 98% of the 5 hour trip, with a few towns thrown in for good measure at 50kph. However, there was a section of about 25 miles along the base of a mountain range with the temperature at a pleasant 26C - very agreeable riding thank you. Suddenly we came out of the protection of the mountain and within half a mile a 38C wall of heat slammed into us. “F*ck me, it’s hot!”  I heard Debs exclaim over the comms, accompanied with a demand for a cold Coke very soon.. The temperatures that day just went up, and as we neared our destination it was reaching 42C (phew!) and we were both looking forward to getting out of our bike kit and into swimmies.

 We were heading for a small coastal town of Makrygialos to stay at a seafront hotel that  had some good reviews on Booking.com and was pretty inexpensive, so that combination won it for us. However we arrived to find that they had sold our room to a German wedding guest as the rest of the group had virtually taken over the hotel..
Was I impressed? No, I had a serious sense of humour failure on the spot, not helped by the fact that I noticed that the on-bike air temp gauge was now flashing at 50C as I had stopped, so I was really hot and p*ssed off all in one go!
The rotund and now perspiring hotel owner haltingly explained that he would find another room and not to get upset, way too late by some minutes I’m afraid.. but he called several other hotels and found one a couple of minutes away, so off we went.
Our new hotel owner, who we nicknamed 'Madam' also seemed unimpressed by his actions and gave us her best room, adding that she would charge us the same as we would have paid with the first. He didn’t seem to happy about this, leading us to believe he’d just copped for the extra. 
The rooms were excellent by holiday hotel standards, although the paintwork inside a little colourful, so we agreed that we may need to wear our sunglasses indoors as well.  It was also the first room we had stayed in with not only a bath, but a huge corner one, shame that the hot water ran out with the bottom barely covered.,

The pattern is by now familiar -  a beer please, together with our now favourite lunch of a plate of small fish and salad, and thus replete we went off for a swim. This was our first beach of proper sand and it was so hot, the water was also very warm (surprise eh?) and very shallow so I started picking up shells off the bottom  and found almost every one had a hermit crab living inside - cue boring explanation from my mis-spent youth on the Isle of Wight into the intricate habits of these wonderful creatures.. Poor Debs.


Debs:   I loved it, watching all the little crabs trying to complain at me peering in at them. The little bay is surrounded by mussel beds and the rocks are also covered with them. I love fresh mussels, such a shame they don’t like me..

Back from the beach and we realise there is a lot of sand that we don’t wish to take with us so it’s time to do a big wash, still no water in the hot tap but it all got rinsed through. We also notice there is nowhere to hang anything, but ‘Necessity being the Mother of invention’ we made do but Madam would have a fit if she saw where we’ve hung our stuff to dry!


Chores now done and a beer was calling        (actually it was shouting very loudly), so a gentle walk along the shore admiring the fishing boats was the necessary exercise before resigning ourselves to more fresh fish and alcohol. Life is so hard sometimes..




Another early morning tomorrow ‘cos we’re off to Bulgaria (Country # 6)

                               23rd June 2012

Debs:  The idea was to be up and on the road by 7am and although Yanis, the proprietor, kept offering us breakfast we assured him that we had to get an early start. When we made our appearance at 8.30 he couldn’t stop laughing.. Yes we had overslept but our main problem was that we had been running on the wrong time all week. As you may remember we had commented on an earlier blog that the boat from Italy across to Greece had arrived an hour early, the truth was that there is a 1 hr time difference between the two countries - they weren‘t early on the day, because we should have altered our watches we were an hour late all week! However we finally got away at 9.30(without breakfast) and headed for Bulgaria via Thessalonika and the top end of Greece, this area is mainly industrial and sadly a bit harsh on the eyes after such a relaxing week.

We approached the Greek border crossing with trepidation, not sure what to expect, so it came as a bit of a surprise when the first check point guard winked at us both and waved us on through. Then when we got to the Bulgarian check point they also waved us on. I said “Don’t you want to see our passports?” The chap just laughed and said “No, you are on a nice bike”. We then stopped at the cabin selling the ‘vignette’ for the motorways, he just asked us where we were going and also just waved us on. Hope it always goes this easy!

Bulgaria was a bit of a disappointment, pretty grubby and run down, and everything seems so grey and industrial. 

Not quite 'Angel of the North' but definitely eye-catching!

We had a fairly uneventful ride until we reached Sofia, where I noticed a huge black cloud hanging above us and the lightening flashed as we rode into the city.

There was one particular thing that Steve loved about Bulgaria, the traffic light systems have a 'count down' display above the lights showing how much longer the red or green light will last for, so you can get into gear ready for the off.. wonderful!

Having stopped for petrol, Dolly (sat-nav) tried very hard to direct us back on the main drag by sending us into the middle of a rundown, high-rise tenement estate with a pot-holed dirt road… We made a quick about turn and Dolly became redundant for the next 5 minutes as I took over, but to give her credit she came to her senses and took us to the Easy Hotel (as in Easyjet) which was also in a rather run down area, but had the strong attraction of an underground car park for the bike, we are talking Sofia here folks.

Steve:   An early night was planned for an early start, but when we checked Dolly against the Via Michelin route they really didn’t agree - Michelin quoted 4.5 hours and Dolly 8.5 hours! Further investigation revealed that Tomtom state they don’t have full coverage of Bulgaria, Serbia or Montenegro, only the main roads, and so would only be good for getting out of the city and about the next 24 miles, but Debs stepped up to the task and went into full Girl Guide mode, writing out her various reference points for the day ahead - Hence off to sleep at 11pm.

Hmmm, tomorrow’s going to be here way too soon..

                               24th June 2012

Debs:  Up and away on time, and I was pleased to see that the hotel was on the road straight to the Bulgarian/Serbian border. We are glad to be leaving Bulgaria, it’s depressingly run down, rubbish on the pavements and packs of mangy dogs roaming about. But about 5 minutes into our ride the lightening started and I could hear the rumbles of thunder getting nearer, so we stopped and togged up in our wet weather gear - just in time too, the heavens opened!

By the time we reached the border the rain had stopped and we were beginning to warm up again as the grumpy Bulgarian guards stamped us out. We pulled over about 100 yards into no-mans land in front of a ‘Bureau de Change’ to get some Serbian ‘slutties’ (or whatever their currency was called). I clambered off the bike in front of the shop owner who stood and watched me disrobe, which is no mean feat especially when we also had the wet weather gear on, and then waited for me to go into the shop.. it was at that point that he broke into gobbledegook and told me the shop was shut. Why wait until then and what the hell did he think I was doing? We were the only people around for miles. Bless him!

On past another grumpy Serbian checkpoint guard and out into the most beautiful countryside. We drove for about an hour enjoying the sunshine and the views  before stopping for a coffee in what looked like a really run-down little café.
The young lad there spoke good English (thank God), which he explained he learned at school, it was sure a whole lot better than my Serbian. We perused the lovely  ’English menu’ and then enjoyed a great breakfast of omelets with tomatoes, cucumber, fresh crusty bread, butter, honey and coffee, and it only cost £3 for the lot.

Serbia was a real surprise, it’s beautifully clean with well-kept houses and villages, a beautiful rolling country flanked by huge snow capped mountains. At one point we were riding along a gorge with high rock formations either side, and passing through several short tunnels when it suddenly hit me -  I had been here before! When I was 19  I had traveled overland to Cyprus, passing through what was then Yugoslavia and we had taken this same route, a sight I would never forget, it was a very surreal feeling.

Lots of these, but it's a narrow road full of surprises!

Onwards into Serbia with Dolly protesting violently that she wanted to take us via Aberdeen and Penzance, so Steve said a very bad word and turned her off! We stopped for coffee and petrol (at £1 a litre, the petrol that is)  and I bought a Serbian map to help us avoid Penzance at least, and off we went again.  So with my map sticking out of Steve's back pack I directed him cross-country to our final port of call for today, a small town called  Kraljavo which is about mid-way across Serbia.

We were booked in to the Hotel Technograd (should have known better with a name like that), chosen because it has secure parking for the bike, always a prime point in our hotel selection.  Well, it falls somewhere between ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Adams family‘. The first floor landing is very wide, and each room resembles a shop front, huge windows with a glass door to one side, and drop-down (electrically operated BTW, more later *)  metal security shutters, so if you don’t want to be locked in you have absolutely no privacy at all.

The general layout is straight back from the glass front to a sitting room, kitchenette and bedroom, with a bathroom to one side. There are small high windows in the bedroom that overlook the roof, air conditioning units and a wall about 6’ away.

We had also requested a non-smoking room, although strangely this one came with several ash trays. The bathroom and indeed the whole flat had obviously not been cleaned in a very long time.
There was a half used bar of soap with a crack in it on the dish, 2 half-used shampoo bottles, a dirty tooth mug and rubbish in the cupboard, I was not amused at all. So off I go to the girl receptionist and request another room - no problem, and we were shown to the room next door.. perhaps a slightly cleaner bathroom, but the rest of the place left a lot to be desired - be warned!.

The room had a ‘vibrating‘ chair so Steve thought he would give it a go. He got himself settled and leant to turn it on, then leapt up again as he noticed the transformer casing was broken and wires were exposed. A fried bum would not be a good idea with a couple of thousand miles to go!  He has since videoed and photographed the state of the room to pass it onto Booking.com.

*As an additional note, we closed the electric shutters on the windows for the night and to the time of leaving were unable to raise them again.. thank God I didn't do the door shutters as well, we'd still be there!

 We also found a hotel booklet which at least bought a smile to our day, it appears they have a resident dentist who will do a root canal filling for 20 euros, and only 65 euros for gangrene, but we don't know whether that's to give it to you or treat if you have it! 

'Scratch' the dog!

As I'm writing this a somewhat rat-baggy puppy has wandered across for a fuss.. I have a feeling that I'm going to regret making a fuss of him but hey.. I've had my rabies jab!








Steve:  It’s alright for Debs to enjoy the Easy Hotel and the nice scenery up through Serbia, but I’m itching and scratching ‘cos my side of the bed (right hand and usually Debs side) had bed-bugs! Bliddy bites are driving me mad.. A couple of glasses of wine and an anti-histamine sounds good to me for tonight. Please God let this one be at least clean, it’s costing enough!  (That was obviously written before we took the room, I'm doomed for disappointment at £70 a night!)

On to better things -

Isn’t it sad, I’m very happy with life ’cos I’ve managed to find a jet wash for the bike, it was looking really scruffy and not it‘s normal state at all. But after an hours work it’s all clean and shiny again, ready for tomorrows long slog ( 8 hours I think) into Montenegro. to meet up with my old friends Alec and Bridget, so hope  to have a nice break for a few days before the next leg up the Adriatic coast of Croatia.

 This holiday is going way too fast, 16 days, 2600 miles, and loads of fish, wine and laughter!

                           25th to 27th June 2012

Steve:  As I mentioned in the last blog this is a bit of a mega day, Dolly says it’s an 8.5 hour journey but by the time you include petrol and rest breaks you can add another couple of hours on that.. And so it transpired, 11 hours of fun filled but tiring riding through the peaks and valleys ‘tween Serbia and Montenegro. Bend after bend after tunnel, up and down and on one occasion sideways  (gravel around a sharp bend), fabulous and intoxicating!
Without question the best bike ride throughout the trip, and no complaints from my long suffering pillion either.. Debs has developed into a hardened ‘Biker bitch’ as she describes it.

Debs getting Arty with the camera

By the time we got into Montenegro I was absolutely knackered, the temperature had risen to 38C and the Pan was roasting my shins and feet, but there was another couple of hours before I could relax.

Eventually we reached Lepatane and the holiday home of my old friend Alec, and as we came around a very narrow road and alongside a small harbour I could see him waiting in the road for us to arrive.. I could have kissed him!

Off with the luggage and up to his house for a very cold beer (quickly followed by a second) before changing into swimmies and chucking ourselves into the sea, beautiful, just beautiful.. you could almost see the steam rising off me as I floated for about the next half hour.

Lepatane Harbour

Debs on the beer again!

I won’t go on about our time there but suffice to say we had a fabulous stay and really didn’t want to leave, both Alec and his partner Bridget treated us royally.. Lots of good food and a fair amount of very cold beer came our way.

We were also taken to the nearby town of Kotor, lots of cafes and bars (Hurrah!)  and we spent a happy and relaxed day wandering around before returning for an our final evening out at a nearby restaurant.
But all too soon it was time to go, and the following day we caught the 9am ferry across the water en-route to Croatia. Montenegro is a great place, good roads and loads to see.. We'll return for longer next time.

                                   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..

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.

Debs showing off her suntan

Romantic stuff eh?

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

                                   30th June2012

Steve: Today we’re off to Slovenia and will be staying at a place that Debs almost picked out with a pin, and just because it was in the right location for the onward journey to Austria the following day.

We left Trogir in blazing sunshine and temperatures at a normal 32C.. In other words a bit hot! The write-ups for Trogir had all mentioned the problems of getting over the harbour bridge and out of town, and as we quickly discovered they were absolutely on the button.. The queue started about half a mile before the bridge, with the narrow streets making our attempts at filtering past the traffic very difficult. The procedure was further exacerbated by dozens of scooterists who needed no gap or invite to go past us on either side, and then ride directly at the oncoming traffic in a perverse game of motorised chicken.. Crazy!

Once out of the town we quickly made our way up to the Slovenian border crossing and with the briefest of checks we were through. We bought our 2 day Vignette on the border and chugged off into the unknown.

What a beautiful country.. Clean, beautifully maintained houses and farms, no roadside rubbish, wonderful roads and lovely people! Dolly (sat-nav)  did her stuff and before long we swapped the main drag for a local road for a few miles before being directed left across a wooden river bridge, then a second, and eventually to our overnight accommodation - a sort of very rural Pub/restaurant place, very clean and up together.

We were welcomed and directed to put the bike undercover before being shown to a huge apartment with a deep bath (to Debs delight) with plenty of hot water.. That took care of Debs immediate needs and she slid happily under the bubbles in short order, but not before suggesting a coffee and a snack would be acceptable when I was ready!

I changed and made my way downstairs to the bar with the computer, sorted Debs coffee and apple strudel before tucking into one myself, except mine was with a large cold beer..  I then sat and read about Rossi’s appalling race at Assen - when are things going to turn around for the poor bloke?

Is that nice Dear?

After about 30 mins I was joined by a slightly miffed Debs, I had thought she was settled for the next hour in the bath but after a short time she had become lonely, and then discovered I’d locked the front door and taken the key, so had to climb out of the window to escape! A large glass of wine and a snivelling apology resolved the dispute pretty well though..


If you’re getting the idea we’re enjoying Slovenia, you’re absolutely right...  Dinner was good, a sound nights sleep and we left the next morning promising to return.

                                   1st  July 2012

Steve: The rest of the trip up through Slovenia was a bit of a lazy day, we had become so relaxed overnight that we found ourselves very chilled and lazy when it came time to leave the Inn, we also stood chatting to the owners son (who spoke perfect English) for about 40 mins before we eventually wandered up the road.

Today was another of Debs ‘pin sticking’ locations at Wargrain, Austria, where she had found a small Guest House that also runs a café in the ski season.
However, such was our delay that we needed to do the rest of the trip to our destination on the motorway, but what a beautiful trip.. The motorway runs out of Slovenia through the mountains with glorious views only interrupted by the Austrian border crossing, a brief delay and even more brief passport viewing and we were through, just in time to purchase another vignette (we’re getting quite a collection here) before setting off once again, but we were in for a bit of a surprise..
The Slovenian vignette was a one-off payment that covered all motorways and major roads, but having bought an 8 day vignette at the Austrian border we were then hit by tolls on the approach to the major tunnels, this was a bit of a problem for us because we had so little cash Euro with us. Why don’t they just include everything in the one payment?

On to better things -

Debs, being an avid ski-jumping enthusiast, was overjoyed to see the jump at Villache from the motorway - this event necessitated an abrupt departure from the route just for a photo-shoot, although the promised coffee and cake didn’t happen as it was a Sunday and we just couldn’t find anywhere open..


Eventually Dolly managed to get us to Wagrain, a wonderful place with excellent facilities, surrounded by mountains and just picture-book perfect.

Victoria, our hostess, was a happy and smiling young lady who just couldn’t do enough for us, including a free beer from her own stock ‘cos I looked in need!

We ate that night down in the local village and because we had just arrived in Austria chose the local dish Weiner schnitzel, for those that may not know it’s a stuffed veal fillet coated in breadcrumbs, it came about the size of a large cod fillet with chips and we ate it all!

Then off for a good nights sleep, but the following morning Debs spied a chair lift up the mountain and we were off.. It seemed to go on forever, climbing up into the clouds until we finally came to a stop and I stumbled gratefully off - I’m not good with heights!






The sun shone, the terrain was reasonably flat, and the coffee and huge chunks of chocolate cake were most acceptable.

Seriously chilled man...

After about an hour of admiring the views and being very aware of having eaten far too much cake we made our way back down and packed for our next leg of the trip, although I could have happily stayed there for the next week!

                               2nd July 2012

Steve: Tonight we’re staying with Pat, a friend of Debs who lives at at Linz, but whom she has only  known through an internet forum but never met..

But first things first.

Again we dawdled on our departure, enjoying a huge breakfast so it wasn't entirely unexpected that it became necessary to do the rest of the trip on the motorway, but after a few hours we arrived in Linz where I hit a snag immediately in that Sat-navs don’t like tunnels 'cos they get no satellite signals and immediately freeze.   I could see the damn tunnel coming up but didn’t realise how long it was, and on emerging found that I should have taken a slip road about half way through, but of course had no way of knowing.. so we then had a jolly fun-filled circuit of rush hour Linz before Dolly eventually lead us to Pats door.

Debs:  I’ve known Pat ’on line’ for four years, so it was wonderful to meet her in person at last, and after settling in and parking the bike up in her garage Pat took us on a guided tour of Linz.
We went up into the hills surrounding the town and got some great views of the area with the river Danube nearby. A quick drink to ‘chill’ and then off to dinner where Steve tried a local dish of pork and dumplings, filled with things he didn’t recognise but enjoyed anyway!


I felt sorry for him really as Pat and I were chatting away like schoolgirls, but he said he was content just to laze back and enjoy the evening.


The following morning it was up and away once more at a comfortable 24C, which was a relief after the high temperatures the last few days.. We had wanted to ride alongside the Danube on the way to Vienna, but Dolly told us it would take too long before we were to meet Steve’s daughter Holly who was joining us, so it was motorway once more. 

                               3rd - 7th July 2012

Debs:  

As we approached Vienna the temperature climbed until we reached familiar ground in the mid-30’s, nice on the beach but pretty damned hot in bike gear in traffic!

We had booked into an Ibis Express hotel, a cheap version of the posh group, and as we arrived we saw that outside the hotel stood about 20 young lads in sports gear, so I thought they were leaving but wrong again, they were just checking in and were to be joined by another eight teams from around Europe for a week-long tournament. The thought of 200+ youths bouncing round the hotel concerned us, but to be honest we never heard a peep from them..  What good lads.

We dumped the bags in the foyer and Steve went off to park the bike in the underground car park (free of charge, the receptionist having suggested that he ride round the barriers). That bit went well, but unfortunately he forgot the room keycard and had to walk up 8 flights of stairs as the lift needs the card to work.  So it was a very hot and weary Steve when he got to the room, gasping for a cold beer and a shower in either order..

Steve’s daughter Holly was flying in to join us for a few days, so we set off for the station with little idea of which train to get, so I followed my immediate instinct to jump on the first train that came along and hope for the best - a great plan that didn’t work as we only made one station before discovering we were heading in the wrong direction! Back to the station again and this time found the main booking hall and were directed to the Flugafen (airport) . 
We made it with time to spare and texted her to say that we were drinking beer at the hotel, knowing that she would have a gentle panic trying to find her way to the hotel on her own. When she appeared at the arrivals gate I called out “Tours for the underprivileged.. cheap sightseeing trips of Vienna”  and was rewarded by a great smile as she saw us waiting.
A quick dash back to the hotel to drop off her bags, and then into town for supper. Vienna is a bright, bustling city with loads of restaurants, unfortunately mostly Italian but tasty nevertheless. We had a great evening and looked forward to a sound nights sleep, unfortunately this didn’t really happen as the mosquitoes were busy picking on Steve and the air conditioning was rather ineffectual so we cooked, but at least the washing dried.

Breakfast at the hotel was a cheapie at £5 a hit and the whole place heaving with young athletic hockey players - Holly thought she was in heaven! So after a good feed and loads of coffee we set off for the centre of Vienna for the Spanish Riding School - this was a me and Holly thing, with Steve trying to look interested.. 
The  Lipizzaner stallions had actually finished their season and gone off for a holiday, which seems to be the story where ever I go, but they had a collection of mares, foals and 3 year olds from the stud for us to see. Apart from seeing 8 young stallions set free in the indoor school to play fight it was all a bit of nothing much, but just to be in that magnificent building was enough for me.



Time for lunch then back to the Spanish Riding School for a guided tour of the stables and other facilities, as a general ‘walkabout’ and obviously intended for tourists, but I did my ‘how clean are your stables’ thing and noticed dirty tack and hairy saddle cloths left on saddles.. Tsk, tsk!  That being said we enjoyed ourselves enormously, it‘s an historic and wonderful building and the horses are beautiful..

Back to the hotel for a shower and a snooze before going out for supper. This time we found a ‘Norsee’ fish restaurant, which reminded me of a posh canteen, and they had every kind of fish and shell fish plus the food and the wine was the cheapest in town - a real hit. After this we wandered around the stalls and shops, stopping for more wine and coffee en route to catch the train back to our hotel. What a great way to spend an evening

The following morning we joined the heaving masses for breakfast before heading out to the Schonbrunn Palace, not the most attractive of buildings but a welcome break from yet another boiling hot day, so for the next two hours we shuffled our way round the State apartments of the Habsburg monarchs and the notorious Marie Antoinette. It was actually very interesting, but probably best visited in the winter .. so a quick ice cream was called for and then off to see the gardens. By now Steve had decided it was just too hot to leave the shelter of a nice  big tree, so Holly and I went off without him.

The gardens were very pretty, but not as lavish as Versailles or some of the other French Palaces, and the gradient was just too much on such a hot day so as this was a bit of a whistle stop tour and we too were feeling the heat it was back to find that Steve had migrated to a café and was enjoying a cold beer.

That night we went back to the fish restaurant for a final supper with Holly as we were all going our separate ways the following day.