Author: Kruse

Preparing to Leave Europe

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26 April — Albania – Greece, 240 miles

An awesome day – so much twisty roads, one that I did a U-turn just so I could do it again. Then getting a bit “off-route”, including a bit “off-road”… but all awesome roads, as long as I knew I’d get there in the end.

~45 miles of just getting to the Albania-Greece border… where the poster proclaimed “Equal Penalties for All Corruption” – as I watched several obviously wealthy friends of the police skipped the queue.
~20 miles of Greek motorway – empty, as they’re all heading the opposite direction, into Albania, for the Greek Easter Weekend
~125 miles (plus ~20 miles for “off-route” (ie: getting lost)) of awesome, amazing twisty greek roads
~20 miles of empty Greek motorway
~30 miles of some final twisty roads approaching the village we stay in

Approaching the place we’re staying the night – I wasn’t really expecting it… turn a corner, and I see the Meteora rock formations, which we’re staying right under – in Kalambaka. Rather impressive.
Such good roads – didn’t really stop to take many photos, but Northern Greece really is rather a nice spot – very different to the typical image of Greece.

EDIT: Whenever anybody makes a comment about “in that hotel two nights ago”… everybody else has to think about what that hotel was, where it was, etc. Our trip-memories have become the 24-hour news-cycle.
Mine – even worse. As I was writing the above, the only thing I could remember about the day was the last – the getting lost in the afternoon.
Earlier…
Dog-watch: made friends with 2 dogs at the border; later, on a ride off-route, and off-road – ended up at some hermit’s house on top of a hill, with guard-dogs… one of which bit into my lower jeans, and tried (very nearly successfully) to drag my off the bike… I then patted one of the puppies, obviously in training to be a guard-dog, as the owner came out and was probably even more upset about my petting of his guard-dog-in-training, than he was about my intrusion into his solitude; and even later – came across a herd of goats crossing the road – probably about 2 hundred strong… I waited them out, and at the end, were the “goat-dogs” – herding the tail of the herd… one of which was rather curious about me, and friendly.
Also – probably other stuff happened.

Greek Mountains
Some (really) old bridge in Greece.

Across the Balkans

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25 April — Croatia – Montenegro – Albania, 245 miles

Still racing to get out of Europe… and another fairly long day. “Only” 245 miles (plus the extras when I went a little off-route into central Tirana) – but two border crossings, and a ferry.

~24 miles of “just get there” roads to Croatia-Montenegro border – where I got the first actual passport stamp
~75 miles to ride across Montenegro, plus a wee ferry ride. Some stunning coastal views, and not-so-stunning inner-countryside
Entered Albania – where the locals seemed confused we were lining up with the other vehicles… “just ride down the pedestrain aisle” – seemed to be what the sign language was saying – so yeah, sure
~145 miles of riding amongst Albanian drivers. All I can say is… good practice for when we get to Asia, I guess… a nice little sneak peek for those who have never seen Chinese driving.

My introduction to Albania was coming around the very first bend, and seeing a reasonably (dangerously) sizable rock in the middle of my lane. So, I veer slightly to one side. Then see the rock is still right in my path. Realise it’s a turtle (or tortoise) – crossing the road, and veer slightly more to avoid.
A very nice twisty pass over a range for the last part of the ride, before we settled into our hotel in Pogradec, on the coast of Lake Ohrid – another World Heritage Site ticked off, I believe.

Last view of Old Dubrovnik
Fleeting visit to Montenegro
Albania

Into the Western Balkans

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24 April — Croatia – Bosnia&Herzegovina – Croatia, 147 miles

A shorter day – with a wee sleep-in, on the bike by 8:30, for some more coastal roads, a pass-through Bosnia & Herzegovina (which bisects Croatia) – before returning to Croatia, to spend the evening in the rather impressive Dubrovnik. The old town of Dubrovnik is rather spectacular… I believe it is also known as King’s Landing – for those who watch TV.
NB: Of all the border crossings I’ve done thus far – not once have I been asked to take off my (full face) helmet… but today the Croatian border guard – refused to even look at my passport – just opened the barrier as I rode up to the window.

~106 miles of Croatian coast road
~6 miles of crossing over the section of Bosnia&Herzegovina which reaches out to the coast
And then another ~35 miles of Croatian coast

Leaving Trogir
Adriatic Coast
“Selfie”
Panorama
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Some random Croatian town
Dubrovnik – the boring new parts

Adriatic Coast

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23 April — Slovenia – Croatia, 310 miles

Sleeping slightly better, finally realising I’m in this, whatever concerns I may have.
First day of adverse weather – rain in the morning, scary winds in the evening.

~85 miles of boring Slovenian motorways, in the rain… took me a while to gather up some speed.
~25 miles of boring Croatian motorways
~112 miles of awesome coastal roads
~44 miles of Croatian motorway in terrifying winds
Before the decision to leave the motorway, and do the final ~44 miles on some more coast, but mostly stuck behind traffic, and too tired to enjoy

Arrived in Trogir fairly late, which was a shame – as it seems an awesome inner city to walk around (lost… perpetually lost, in one of those old, old cities within the old walls with alleyways and semi-alleyways that just baffle one’s directional sense). Another UNESCO site off the list, but, albeit without full appreciation.

Finally plastered some stickers on the bike

Out of Western Europe

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22 April — Germany, straight across Austria – Slovenia, 328 miles

A little more sleep last night – 4 hours before I woke up thinking over-and-over about stuff, mostly just useless stuff.

~175 miles of boring German motorway (Autobahn, but never really going over a standard 80mph)
~124 miles of Austrian motorway – some boring, but some spectacular views leading up into the Alps (when not in the tunnels)
– it’s illegal to record video while riding in Austria, so couldn’t get a video… luckily one of my memory cards had some preloaded stock footage of a Triumph Tiger riding up towards the Alps… so will get that cleaned up and made available sometime
~22 miles of Slovenian motorway – about half of that underground
And a final 7 or 8 miles of Slovenian country roads, including some off-road/farm-tracks
– Did get some video of that, will need to check it, clean it up, etc

Getting Ready for Day 3
Slovenia

Trying to leave Europe

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21 April — France – Germany, 347 miles

Second day – after almost zero sleep. Despite (/because of?) how exhausted I was yesterday – simply couldn’t sleep. [Edited to remove (a bit of) the self-pity]… but, plenty of self-doubt clouding the mind over the night, but mostly nonsense… and I’ve since figured out a few other guys have had the same.
One day at a time from here on in… and hopefully some decent nights’ sleeps.

Today’s riding – very long
~220 miles on boring French motorways
~40 miles of very, very nice twisty roads through the Black Forest
And then ~87 miles of reasonable German roads to get to the hotel

Still not really any photos or the such… I did take some video of riding through the Black Forest… but will need to have a look at how that turned out.