Four countries in one day
Trip Start
May 21, 2012
1
26
34
Trip End
Ongoing
Lienz, Austrian Alps, Austria
Thursday, June 14, 2012
European Adventure 2012
Delnice, Croatia to Lienz, Austria via Slovenia & Italy 14-06-12
After a poor nights sleep in that very noisy hotel I struggled to get up for
breakfast. About 11pm the whole hotel started just about shaking with some noisy
fools coming in drunk!! Then they started playing like kids and throwing
furniture around their rooms and simply destroying the place!!
When I went down for breakfast it all sunk in!!! The hotel was full of
football supporters so no surprise there that they were acting like bunch of
childish kids!!!
After sitting outside in the sunshine eating breakfast I loaded the bike and
set the satnav up to take me over the border into Slovenia.
As Croatia is not yet destroyed by European Union it meant I had to show my
passport to get into Slovenia. The officers here were rather confused at my bike
reg and also my passport!! I suppose they don't get many folk down this neck of
the world with British machines.
Off I go into wonderful mountainous Slovenia and hoping to see some nice
scenery. However, the mountains and scenery may well have been great but just
about every road I traveled in this country was simply blocked in by trees!! You
simply could not see a thing along the way.
The towns and villages are extremely well kept and are full of color. Just
about every building is painted up to look nice and even the electrical sub
stations are built to a kind of fancy tower type of building and nicely
painted.
At the beginning of each village there appears to be a kind of small house or
room built of fancy brick and again beautifully painted. I'm not exactly sure
what they mean but have the feeling they are there for tourists wanting
information about the village!! That's how I seen them but could be completely
wrong!!
When I left the hotel this morning the weather was warm but nothing as warm
as it has been lately. However, once I crossed into Slovenia it really began to
get cold high up in those mountains. I looked at my gauge and it said we were
more than 1000m above sea level. Heated grips went on and finally I had to stop
and put on some gloves.
I plodded on along the quiet roads and realized just how pleasurable it was
just riding gently along these empty roads.
As it was so chilly I decided to stop at a coffee shop in one of the colorful
towns. One thing I will say is that getting back to using Euros is much easier
than that money in Croatia.
Like Croatia, Slovenia appears to be quite cheap as this large coffee I had
only cost 1.10Euro and that is served at the table.
Onwards I head towards Austria. I see wonderful churches on hillsides or
mighty high mountains in the distance and think I will get a photo once I get
closer but with all these trees lining the roads its virtually impossible. One
thing Slovenia has not learnt is to put up view points for tourists along the
sides of roads on mountain passes etc. Most of the roads have large water gaps
or crash barriers along them making it even impossible for me to park my bike
much of the time.
On looking at the map I decided to use the mountain roads to get me through
this country. Again these passes were fantastic for motorcycle riding but no
good for photography.
Finally after going over a number of tree lined passes I find myself away
down in a wonderful wide valley with a river running along next to the road.
This river has a number of wonderful old rope bridges going across it. Some of
them were built to handle vehicles but by the looks of it those ones are now all
closed and banned from being used.
Approaching the town of Most Na Soci I noticed a wonderful old railway
viaduct curving its way over the valley. Railway? I thought!! Further up I
turned left into the village and right there ahead was the station and railway
yard with a few log trucks in it.
I wondered up and down the platform hoping a train would come through. I then
went into the station cafe and had a drink and a hot dog!! Unlike the other
friendly Slovenian towns I had been chatting to locals in and found them to be
extremely friendly this lot in the station shop were as miserable as sin so I
took my food and went for a wonder.
Finally I heard the sound of a trains horn and thought of a big freight train
coming through!!! Well, how wrong could I be?? Here this ugly old spray painted
two car ding ding runs non stop through the station!! I On the platform was a
map of the area for tourists, I just hope they don't expect to attract tourists
on that dirty old train!!
Back on the bike and off I head towards the North again and my satnav is
telling me to turn right in the next town. Sure enough I turn right and just a
few hundred meter's or so there on my left is the most unusually colored lake I
have ever seen in my life. It was a wonderful green color and the area
surrounding it looked wonderful. As I sit here trying to take all this in a few
more bikers from Austria and France pull up and as usual we all get chatting.
While we are all chatting another lot of bikers arrive on their BMW bikes. We
greet them as bikers normally do but all we got back was a slight nod of the
head from one of them!! They walk past us as though we do not even exist. These
riders are from Germany and like many of them seem to be in a world of their own
and simply just do not want to associate with other bikers. Even in Scotland we
notice this with a number of German riders.
After a good laugh with the chaps from Austria and France I decide its better
I get on my way. The road and this wonderful green river which feeds the lake
both run parallel through the valley for many miles. Again i keep getting
glimpses of this strange colored river but as before trying to get any good
photos is almost impossible due to trees.
Finally the road is only a few feet higher than the river and i notice a
small foot track down to the river. I walk along this narrow path and check it
out to see how hard it is and if its possible for me to take my bike along it.
Sure enough its rock solid with a few bumps etc but this is the kind of track my
bike is built for and so off I head along this small bumpy track towards the
river edge. Its all shingle stones down here and riding the bike on this is not
easy. Even worse is how the hell am I going to turn the heavy beast around on
these stones. One great thing about the Transalp is its turning circle. It can
just about turn on a sixpence!!
With the bike parked up at the waters edge below the mountains it was time to
take a few photos. I then simply sat there taking in the wonderful scenery with
a bottle of coke in one hand and chocolate in the other, it was just so
peaceful.
After struggling slightly to turn the bike I finally got her back onto the
open road. I stopped a few times again to take photos of the green river and
also a wonderful waterfall coming out the mountains and then continued through
the trees towards Austria!!
This road that was at one stage nice and quiet was now becoming more and more
busy with cars flying along it at mighty speed!! The number of cars that just
about took me out on blind bends was unbelievable. Fools that just cannot stay
on their side of the road because they are going far too fast to take the
corner!! I was getting rather scared for my life and decided to follow behind a
bus for a number of miles. Once he turned off I decided to keep my speed well
down and simply stay as close to the right hand side of the road as
possible.
As I continued along this dangerous boy racer road I noticed a sign ahead and
then it all came to light!! This sign said "Italy 150m" and it was only then
that I realized that most of these boy racers that were going like rockets along
this road were Italian drivers who after what I can see from Italy have no
respect for speed or others on the road!!
As I drive into Italy the change in the upkeep of the towns is a bit of a
shock to ones system. Travelling through most of Croatia and Slovenia one
becomes accustomed to seeing these beautifully prepared and kept villages,
however as one enters Italy all this changes and the villages just seem like
they have been let go and nothing has been done to them in years. Empty damaged
houses line many of the streets. Many of the gardens seem full of old cars and
bits of rusting steel. Its just a massive shock to the system after the last two
countries.
But that is nothing to worry about as Italy has some really beautiful passes
and roads. Some of the greatest mountain passes on the planet must be here in
the Italian Alps.
One thing the Italians do keep looking good is their churches and I stopped
on several occasions to take photos of some of the wonderful painted
churches.
After a few short hours I crossed into Austria and what a wonderful surprise
this country was. The wonderful upkeep of the towns simply showed how much pride
these people take in their country. I really was taken by how clean and tidy the
country was. The roads are simply amazing. I stopped a number of times in the
villages simply to take photos of the villages themselves due to simply how
clean and tidy it all was.
I was heading for the town of Lienz which is right at the bottom of the
massive Dolomite mountains. These massive rock mountains are well over 3000m
tall and are some sight to see. As I headed along the road I could see these
mighty rocks in the distance. Once closer I noticed a small white kind of object
kind of sitting on the cliff of one of these mountains. on closer inspection
this small white dot turned out to be part of a castle building.
Another thing that caught my eye along this road was a massive white house
that appeared to have been built on top of a man made hill. I turned off the
main road and onto a small dirt road which clearly said "No Entry" but as usual
I ignored it. I simply wanted a closer look at this house on the hill and also
here I could get a few better shots of the mountains.
After taking a few shots i'm sitting here just looking up at these massive
mountains above me when I see a chap on a tractor coming along the road towards
me. As he gets closer I notice he opens his window, oh no i think, here's me in
trouble for tresspassing again!!
However this was not the case and the chap simply stopped for a chat. We
stood here chatting about the mountains and then about my little reliable
Transalp.
With the sky's closing in we had to cut our chat short and I made a dash for
Lienz which was only a few miles away. The rain had held off and as I arrived
into the town I simply looked for a hotel on my satnav and managed to get one
right under the mountains.
Normally any hotel wants some kind of ID or passport etc but here the very
kind chap simply handed me the room key and said dont worry about documents.
This little hotel is just great.
As for offloading and loading up the bike I now have it all down to a fine
art. I simply only take the topbox and one side pannier into my hotel room.
Tent, sleeping bag and the whole hold-all which is strapped onto the rear seat
simply stays on the bike. if its a long way to carry everything then my helmet
even gets locked onto the bike.
That old hoover screaming noise in the tank was making loads of noise today.
It really is worrying me now and as far as I can work out its the fuel pump
making the noise. What is strange is that it only does it now and again and not
all the time.
I still have about two weeks before i'm due back in Scotland and was hoping
to make Poland and Hungary but with this pump screaming as it is I feel its
safer to head home rather than get stuck somewhere in Europe. The noise may not
be anything but I am not taking the chance!! I also want to get home and seem my
wee cat Tom!!
Tomorrows plan is to head for the mountains yet again and finally towards
Germany where I plan to stay with my friend Gregory in the Harz mountains but
that's still a few days away.
And that's it, over and out!!!
Comments
You are a wonderful writer and a great photographer. Good luck and my congratulations.