Day 8 - Opatija

Friday 30th June 2017

It is a beautiful morning in Slovenia. The rushing, roaring sound of the Soca gorge is ever present, the river swollen from all the recent rain. The adventure canoeists are already out and about.

Kamp Koren in Kobarid, Slovenia
 It takes a couple of hours for the sun to come up over the surrounding mountains. We breakfast on boiled eggs and coffee (tea for Mick of course) then pack up the gear and are rolling out of Kobarid by 10am.


Slovenian back roads
I've planned a back roads route that will take us up into the Italian border mountains. I rode along here on a solo bimble a few years ago, visiting WWI sites. The roads are challenging but generally in good condition.

One bit isn't though. We hit some road works on a lonely pass road. It seems to be closed but up ahead there is a young engineer toting a theodolite. We ride up and ask her whether there is a way through for us. The alternative is a long detour down into Italy and back over further south.

In perfect English she tells us that we can get through but we should ride very slowly. The road has been graded and fresh hardcore is being laid. It has been spread but not yet rolled and is a nightmare to ride on. Very wet and gritty stone slurry 6 or 8 inches deep, like riding on soft sand.

Top dressing + rock wall = bad news
The slurry goes on for about a mile though it seems to be much further. The bike is so heavy that it is very easy to slide sideways in the deep ruts. 

I'm well ahead when behind me I hear Mick's horn sounding off. This must mean he has gone over and needs help to get back shiny side up.
I make a 42-point turn in the sludge and just as I am riding around the last corner to find out what has happened to him Mick comes slithering round the bend looking a bit sheepish. Cue another 42-pointer.
Gently through the roadworks

Mick had slid gently sideways into the rock wall. This twisted his bars and a little known feature of the GS luggage is that the tank bag is perfectly designed to hit the horn button when on full lock. Oh how we laughed!

With relief we are finally back on good tarmac. That was no fun. Probably it would have been great on a trail bike but not when you are perched atop half a ton of loaded heavyweight tourer. We are glad to drop down back to the Soca River valley at Kanal.

Back on tarmac
We stop for coffee at a small cafe in the centre of Kanal before continuing south. We will soon be at the Croatia border.

Fuelling up
The traffic is getting heavier near the border. We stop at a roadside pizzeria for lunch. It's very good.
We hit the tailback for the border and filter up as far as we can. Although Croatia is a member of the EU they are not yet in the Eurozone or a party to the Schengen Agreement. So that means a passport and customs check.

It's only a formality for us; you can't smuggle much on a bike I guess. However the storm clouds are rolling over us as we head south into Croatia and as we approach our chosen camping ground on the coast just north of Rijeka it starts to tip down.

We quickly find our destination and flee into the campsite office. The rain is now torrential and the young lass behind the counter tells us that very heavy rain is expected for most of the night.

Booking.com comes to the rescue. It lists an apartment just 300 metres away. The sky is getting blacker so I book it and we get back on the bikes.

The Villa Sandra
  
The Villa Sandra is ideal. Built in the Russian Oligarch style it is big and comfortable. Our apartment has a sitting room, twin bedroom, bathroom and kitchenette and a wonderful roofed terrace with views out over the Adriatic. There is even a rack to dry our gear.
Convenient bike parking



 The rain persists. Fortunately we have bread, cheese and sausage left over from yesterday's supermarket visit in Kobarid. Plus most of a litre of a very tasty Slovenian Refosk and two bottles of Weissbier.

That should do it. We go to sleep in the eighth country visited so far on this tour.



Drying the gear
View from the terrace




























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