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.