Skip to main content

4 countries, 4 days !

By

Oh how the countries fly 

We leave Thessaloniki bright eyed and bushy tailed. As we ride out of town we see in the distance the fabled Mount Olympus. I get misty eyed as I hear the distant sounds of the sirens calling me and luring me from the top of Mt Olympus. Then reality strikes as I realise the sound of the sirens is of course more practical - just a Greek ambulance and police car behind me ! 

We hit the superhighway heading towards Athens. Then another superhighway heading to the Albanian border. It is mostly a 3 lane motorway, a 130 km per hour speed limit and virtually no traffic. What an extreme contrast  from the dirt tracks of Mongolia 

Mongolian motorway 




Greek motorway !



Spot the difference! 

We get to the Albania border crossing. A 20 minute crossing. Magic compared with border crossings we have done. 

Albania is a contrast. We go from the 130 Kph  3 lane super highway suddenly within 100 metres to rural roads with 60 Kph and 80 Kph speed limits. There are horses and carts on the road and hay being carted. Quite a contrast from Greece 








Then it is into Tirana. We stay at a hotel in the centre of town where, in contrast to the countryside, the people are chic, the clothes are chic, coffee bars are everywhere and the everyone looks happy. It is the oft seen city/ rural divide 




There is a ginormous Square in the centre of town with a very Russian building at the end 



Next day it is Montenegro.  Again a big contrast. Montenegro seems just one big holiday country with hotels and apartments and gigantic gin palaces everywhere along a delightful coast. The sun is shining, the Med is bright blue and the scenery is “oarsome” ! Diana, being helpful, shows the ferry captain which way to go as we cross Kotor harbour  



And we have  a night near Kotor at a hotel in front of a nice marina. Would this yacht be more comfortable than the moortbike. The yacht is for sale 




Next day it is off to Croatia, then Bosnia then enter Croatia again. There is a hiccup at the Croatian border. The immigration people want a Green Card ( a EU insurance policy card) . We don’t have one. I get summonsed into the “ headmasters office”. After  lots of gnashing  of teeth, lots of apologies and lots of grovelling we are allowed in. I promise faithfully not to have an accident in Croatia which doesn’t seem an unreasonable concession on my part. 

We pass by the lovely Dubrovnik 





At the Bosnia border we just get waved thru. It is amazing what handsome looks and an intelligent face will do to an immmigration Officer! . Then 20 minutes down the road we leave Bosnia and are back in Croatia again 



Then is a eye candy trip up the Dalmatian coast to Zadar where we stay the night 



We try and find our hotel in the old part of Zadar. However the streets  to thehotel turn out to be pedestrian only 



We beat a tactical retreat to a “ tour bus hotel”. I resist the naughty temptation to say “ Ba’a” 





And on the final of the four days we blast up the island of Pag and cross to the mainland and head to Opatija.










 There we will join up with Hamish and Melba who are flying ying down from London and joining us at Melba’s parents house. We get a delightful Croatian welcome as we arrive at their house. It is all very nice 

And finally the next morning I take the bike down to the BMW service centre for a full bells and whistles 40,000 km service 

Mongolian BMW service centre ( three months ago ) 




Croatian BMW service centre 



Oh dear. Within 5 minutes two problems  are found. The front shock absorber is leaking oil and has to be replaced 
  And the telelever arm is bent and has to be replaced. This arm is supposed to be straight 



Well, it is only money !  Both problems are presumably as a result of the Mongolian pothole of three months ago. We agree the arm will be replaced now and the shock absorber in London The thought of a flailing telelever arm detaching bears no thinking about! So we will have several fill in days until the spare part arrives from Germany. With Croatian hospitality that is an extremely pleasant prospect. 

Gosh, travelling here is so so easy compared to some of what we have been through






Comments

Mark said…
That was an expensive pothole😱
7 September 2019 at 09:35
Harry Reader said…
Good hard man ------- and hard on the gear
7 September 2019 at 13:25
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The last post!

By
How do you summarise a motorbike trip around the world from Tokyo to Los Angeles?. With difficulty!   Well we are not into record setting. But we believe we are the oldest couple in the world to ride a motorbike “ two up” ie with pillion passenger, right round the world on one season  Let’s start  off with the statistics for the little trip  -                                                                    Total mileage.        34,416 km *                                                        No of days travelling        165                                                      No of countries visited       29                                                     Max temp on bike               41 deg C                                                     Min temp on bike                0 deg.C                                                          No of punctures.              One                                                          No of breakdowns.         One                 
2 comments
Read more

Chapters 1 and 2

By
WHY MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES ? I have always been interested in adventure. Over the years I have climbed mountains, parachuted, had my private pilots licence, dived, sailed and done various adventurous pursuits (with various degrees of success I might add!). Motorcycling has been one of the later activities. Why motorcycles?  Firstly it is all a bit easier on the body as one gets a little bit older. This is of course on the assumption that one does not inadvertently part company suddenly with said machine!  Secondly, it does also require a bit of brain power - intellect you might say if that does not sound snobby. There is also, to me, an element of "man and machine" about motorcycling. Then if that is not enough justification in itself there is  the scenery and the absorption into the landscape you are passing through. On a bike you see much much more than in a car, bus or train. You are aware of nuances in the landscape, you smell the smells and you become more than just
3 comments
Read more

And a volcano stopped us!

By
What a day. First thing this morning it was off to check the rear tyre of the bike. Oh the relief !  The tyre was rock solid and the same pressure as after fixing yesterday.  So it is a pack up and first day on the road today. We get on the way with a just a little bit of nervous excitement.  On to the  Japanese motorway system we go. And what a delight. The traffic is orderly, calm not going to fast and not too thick. We track right in towards Tokyo itself before bearing West. Yes, there were lots of spaghetti junctions - It looks like The Los Angeles motorway system but it is so much easier (and slower). Japanese politeness really shows thru’. However there were lots of toll booths - we had chopped thru  about NZ$50 in the first hour and a half  Then we are on to the slow bit and off the motorways.  It was about a four hour stop and start crawl thru the urban sprawl of greater Tokyo. However I did find time for some serious reflection - I also saw a hotel called - and I kid you not
3 comments
Read more