Day 21 - Alesso Bimble
Thursday 13th July 2017
There has been a lot of rain during the night. When I poke my head out of my tent this morning it takes a moment for the sight to register. My bike is lying on its side. Although I jammed a stone under the side stand yesterday it wasn't enough and the stand has sunk down into the soft earth until the point of no return and the big K has gone over.
I'm out of my tent in a flash and shout out for Mick to come and help. I know from experience that I cannot lift this bike on my own. The German bikers camping next door hear the commotion and come over to help.
We soon have the bike back onto a firm footing. I climb aboard and thumb the starter. The motor rumbles into life immediately. The panniers are still mounted so I think the bike rolled over rather than crashed to the ground. There is no damage to the pannier or its fixing mounts and the left side levers are all okay. It looks like I got away with this one but it was an unnerving start to the day.
Today can only get better. We are in one of the most spectacular regions of the Alps, with the Dolomites to the north and west and the Julian Alps to the east across the Tagliamento river valley. Italy, Austria and Slovenia meet in this beautiful and quiet corner of Europe.
There is a tiny back road that leads to the Ucja border crossing from Italy into Slovenia. You can access it from Chiusaforte to the north or from Gemona to the west.
It follows a steep sided wooded valley and emerges into Slovenia near Zaga between Bovec and Kobarid in the Soca Valley.
I first found this route on a tour in the car with my son Jake back in 2010. It was quite scary then as night was falling and the road was not much wider than the car. The road seemed to go on forever as full darkness arrived. Fortunately we met no other vehicles that night and this morning the road is just as deserted.
It takes a couple of hours to get over the border to Zaga. THere is an amazing freedom to riding without luggage. Without the weight of the panniers, the top box and heavy camping bag on the back seat, the suspension can be adjusted on the K1200rs and it is like riding a completely different bike. For such a heavy bike the agility is fantastic and the Soca Valley road up to the top of the Vrsic Pass is perfect for a bit of scratching.
It's a bright dry day and I get the back wheel sliding a little as the bike backs into the savage curves. It's great!
There are more than 30 hairpins on this pass. On the southern approach the surface is good and the corners built for speed and thrills. On the northern side all the harpins are cobblestoned and the going is slower. but as long as it is dry it is a spectacular run down to the ski resort of Kranjska Gora.
At the top of the pass where the souvenir huts are there is a stony track that leads up to the summit and tucked away just out of sight from the road is a rifugio with a terrace that has fantastic views and good food.
We stop there for an early lunch and take in the views.
In 2010 Jake and I walked on up to the summit.
Then we make the run down the northern side, past the chapel built by Russian POWs during the First World War, taking care to avoid the sheep on the road and the growing number of bikes out for a run.
The pass road ends in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia's biggest ski centre. We stop for a cappucino in the cafe at the bottom of the road.
Next we turn east for a few hundred metres heading towards the Italian border then hang right up the road to the Wurzen Pass and the Austrian border.
There is a great open air museum near the summit where the old Austrian cold war defences have been turned into a visitor centre. We visited here a few summers ago. There is a network of trenches and tunnels and lots of redundant weaponry to clamber around on. The Austrians were not NATO members and so maintained there own watch on the Eastern Bloc from here.
To advertise this attraction there is an old beaten up tank parked by the side of the road. Not much has changed since my earlier visit on a solo trip back in 2013. Just a different bike; that time I was on my R1200s.
There has been some improvement to the road surfaces on the northern side but as we descend we hit the familiar lousy broken tarmac that I remember from previous runs over the Wurzen Pass.
We finally emerge onto route 111 for the run west to the turning for the Nassfeld Pass (Passo Pramollo in Italian).
This is another of the region's great roads. The run up from the north is good, then the run down the south slopes to Pontebba is fantastic.
We stop for coffee and goulash soup at the cafe at the Pass summit at the border with Italy. This rifugio seems to be in no-man's land between the two borders. I wonder where they pay their taxes.
From Pontebba it is an easy fast run down the SS13 and our camp site on the shores of Lago di Cavazzo.
There has been a lot of rain during the night. When I poke my head out of my tent this morning it takes a moment for the sight to register. My bike is lying on its side. Although I jammed a stone under the side stand yesterday it wasn't enough and the stand has sunk down into the soft earth until the point of no return and the big K has gone over.
 |
| Back upright |
We soon have the bike back onto a firm footing. I climb aboard and thumb the starter. The motor rumbles into life immediately. The panniers are still mounted so I think the bike rolled over rather than crashed to the ground. There is no damage to the pannier or its fixing mounts and the left side levers are all okay. It looks like I got away with this one but it was an unnerving start to the day.
It follows a steep sided wooded valley and emerges into Slovenia near Zaga between Bovec and Kobarid in the Soca Valley.
I first found this route on a tour in the car with my son Jake back in 2010. It was quite scary then as night was falling and the road was not much wider than the car. The road seemed to go on forever as full darkness arrived. Fortunately we met no other vehicles that night and this morning the road is just as deserted.
 |
| Typical skyline in the Julian Alps |
It takes a couple of hours to get over the border to Zaga. THere is an amazing freedom to riding without luggage. Without the weight of the panniers, the top box and heavy camping bag on the back seat, the suspension can be adjusted on the K1200rs and it is like riding a completely different bike. For such a heavy bike the agility is fantastic and the Soca Valley road up to the top of the Vrsic Pass is perfect for a bit of scratching.
It's a bright dry day and I get the back wheel sliding a little as the bike backs into the savage curves. It's great!
 |
| At the summit of the Vrsic Pass |
There are more than 30 hairpins on this pass. On the southern approach the surface is good and the corners built for speed and thrills. On the northern side all the harpins are cobblestoned and the going is slower. but as long as it is dry it is a spectacular run down to the ski resort of Kranjska Gora.
At the top of the pass where the souvenir huts are there is a stony track that leads up to the summit and tucked away just out of sight from the road is a rifugio with a terrace that has fantastic views and good food.
We stop there for an early lunch and take in the views.
In 2010 Jake and I walked on up to the summit.
 |
| Vrsic summit with Jake back in 2010 |
Then we make the run down the northern side, past the chapel built by Russian POWs during the First World War, taking care to avoid the sheep on the road and the growing number of bikes out for a run.
 |
| Getting busy on the northern side of the Vrsic Pass |
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| Into Austria on the Wurzen Pass |
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| 2013 - on the R1200s |
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| 2017 - not much has changed |
We finally emerge onto route 111 for the run west to the turning for the Nassfeld Pass (Passo Pramollo in Italian).
This is another of the region's great roads. The run up from the north is good, then the run down the south slopes to Pontebba is fantastic.
We stop for coffee and goulash soup at the cafe at the Pass summit at the border with Italy. This rifugio seems to be in no-man's land between the two borders. I wonder where they pay their taxes.
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| Goulaschsuppe - always a life saver |
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| At the summit of the Nassfeld / Passo Pramollo |
From Pontebba it is an easy fast run down the SS13 and our camp site on the shores of Lago di Cavazzo.
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