Dubrovnik and the Islands

 This is the only motorcycle photo you are going to see in this installment. This was a mural on a wall in the town of Split, Croatia. The 1950 refers to the founding of the Hajduk Soccer Supporters Club and being part of the Croatian religion this is the date when modern history began rather than the year 0 that so much of the world uses today.

Tasha and I started in the town of Dubrovnik where we spent a couple of days topping up on food and good wine from the local Dalmatian vineyards

The fortress and walls of this old trading town where incredible and luckily the town that is usually a mob scene with a couple of cruise ships and tourists from every point of the compass was pleasantly quite. Dubrovnik has seen a huge increase in tourists over recent years especially since the movie series Game of Thrones was filmed here.

A very interesting history to this town, we learned on a Free Walking Tour, was that realizing that it would always be vulnerable to the big powers of the day, Venice and Constantinople, it concluded trading deals that basically paid them off to stay away- an early protection racket.

Main Ave in the Town of Dubrovnik

A gargoyle found in the Fortress wall

View from our room in Pomena on the first island we visited, Mljet. The ferry system between the islands is very efficient with high speed, twin hulled vessels running on regular schedules.

Next stop was the island of Korcula with another magnificent walled, fortress city

Even the nuns were willing to have their photos taken

 

Next ferry ride took us to the town of Hvar on Hvar Island, which although having a reputation as a party town we found to be very pleasant.

The beach at Pokonji dol was a 40 minute walk from the town center but well worth the effort to swim in the crystal clear, warm waters of the Adriatic. 

Back on the mainland in the town of Split we walked through this old Roman town where the palace built by the emperor Diocletian in the 4th century AD was incredibly well preserved in some parts but then incorporated into buildings of subsequent centuries in others. The emperor Diocletian reigned the Roman Empire for 20 years which was unheard of up until then as the average life expectancy of an emperor was only 1 year before that. 

 remember the whole Et tu Brute thing? 

 He was the last of the emperors who persecuted the Christians as his successor Constantine, was the first to allow the open practicing of this relatively new, at that time, religion.

This apartment within the old city did not get the memo about sprucing the place up because the tourists were coming and especially the part about hanging out your dirty laundry.

I got a little confused when I learned that they kept dragons down here in the cellars under the palace but it turns out that was once again the Game of Thrones rewriting of history. 

Two days in Split and we were ready to move on so we rented a car and drove back down the coastal road. 

Our last stop before returning to Dubrovnik was in Ston, built in the 14th century. The salt pans that gave rise to this town are still in production today with the defensive wall of more than 7 km being the longest in Europe.

Now back in Dubrovnik, with Tasha having flown home today I am preparing to get back on the motorcycle tomorrow and head into Montenegro.

War and Hope in Bosnia

 

It is difficult the travel in Bosnia & Herzegovina without coming across signs of war but no place quite like Mostar brings home just how destructive that war was, both in human terms as well as the senseless demolition of property

The old bridge over the Neretva River in Mostar was a casualty of the siege of Mostar with the almost total destruction of this UNESCO world heritage site. But just ten years after the devastation much of the old town and the bridge had been reconstructed. The bridge was rebuilt using the same techniques as well as a lot of the original stonework from when it was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and completed in 1566.

It is 72 ft ( 22m ) into the water and a group known as the Keepers of the Bridge will jump, for a small donation, or dive into the crystal clear water below. It is possible to get training to do this but only if the Keepers of the Bridge deem you worthy - I did not apply, unworthy that I am.

It was nice to get out of the thick forests and into some high mountain pasture land where large sheep flocks would cross the road at any given opportunity

Usually accompanied by the Keepers of the Flock

I had a very tough morning riding out of Mostar and after two and a half hours of this type of terrain I had managed to manhandle Moto Naranja a mere 17 miles ( 27 km ) 

This was just after I had dropped the bike and had to offload bags to allow me to get it right side up - remember the adventure bit of this story.

Riding back into Croatia  should have been an easy hour's drive on a paved road but of course I decide to take the long way offered by Google maps. Not looking too carefully at the map I set off and unexpectedly came across the Border to leave Bosnia. No problems with that part but then just around the next corner was the other border post to get into Croatia -- um then why the hell does it say Welcome to Montenegro. Now I had truly had messed it up as I could not go back into Bosnia before first entering Montenegro.  I cursed even more when it took me ages standing in the hot sun in full riding gear waiting to get back into Croatia at the border post on the coast near Dubrovnik.

I have found a place to safely store my moto for the next 12 days to allow me to explore the islands off the Dalmatian coast and the best news is that Tasha will be joining me!!

Mined

 I had heard that there were still areas in Croatia and Bosnia where mines still had not been completely cleared from the Balkans wars in the 1990's but it certainly gave me pause to reflect what this adventure is all about. I saw many monuments along the way with names of young boys who went off to war, many of whom I am sure thought that what they were doing was also just a big adventure. Is war ever justified? 

On a lighter note all calls of nature after this have been made strategically right in the center of the trail!!

Predjama Castle Slovenia built 1274

It is funny but as I am riding mainly on forest roads I have absolutely no idea where I actually am at any time. Coming out onto a main road I saw a sign for a castle - this is what I ended up finding.

One of my first stops in Croatia was the Plitvička jezera National Park. This entire area is a karst region and has many limestone caves, lakes and waterfalls. At one time a huge underground cave system existed but over the eons has become a series of open-air lakes as the roofs of the underground caverns collapsed.

The town of Senj on the Adriatic Coast of Croatia

Communist era statues in the main square striking heroic poses

And now for the obligatory trail phots for my motorcycle buddies.

The trail was often narrow and took a lot of concentration to not veer off into the woods

An unintentional parking job after a wild ride down a section with a few badly placed large rocks - no damage done.

I kept a careful lookout for my spirit animal on the roads but they were staying out of harms way. There were however a lot of very large bear poeps on the forest roads thus answering the age old question of whether bears do it in the woods.

I crossed into Bosnia & Herzegovina near the Croatian town of Strmica. This was the first time I had all my paperwork thoroughly checked, passport, Covid card, title and insurance.  When my paperwork was handed back to me as I was sitting on the bike I dropped the whole lot and in trying to grab it the papers, my bike and me all ended up on the ground - looked like a yard sale!

This gives an idea of what the Bosnian countryside looks like in the region that I am now traveling in. It is going to take me more than a little while to work out how this federation of states works in Bosnia & Herzegovina. Who is who far from easy and in my reading I came across this:-

The difference may be insignificant to us but can cause quite a stir. Bosnian refers to the nationality and Bosniak (Muslim) is an ethnicity. Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs can be Bosnian. Only Bosniaks are Bosnian Muslims. After the 1990s conflict, make sure you never get these terms mixed up. 

 

Across the Roof of Italy

 

In the high Alps of northern Italy a thick coat is essential even in summer. After working out which end was which to this guardian of the entrance to the Rifugio I cautiously edged around him to the front door - and he disdainfully ignored me.

I found many of these Rifugios in the mountains on my over 2000 km ride across Italy on some of the most amazing mountain passes, both paved and gravel. After a long day on Moto Naranja a warm bed, good food and a cold beer sure as heck beat camping in temperatures that could get way below my comfort zone.

The tiring part of the riding was the absolute concentration it took as there was always a possibility of a little old man coming round the corner in his dilapidated Fiat Panda. Although the idea of a guardrail had at one point crossed the mind of a road engineer the reality of building it was another story.

In so many parts of the world gas stations have become a place to get out of as soon as possible. Just what if they were all like this one where the wonderful lady owner not only filled your tank personally but also took pride in her gas pumps?

I have many more mountain and flower photos if anybody would like a personal slide show when I get home. 

Moving further east I entered the Dolomite mountains with equally steep switchback climbs and descents but now with vineyards in the wide valleys.

If all the roads on my travels cannot be gravel then please can they be like this paved woodland masterpiece. I did come across sections of gravel where there was no way my fully laden KTM was going to make it without taking a serious hammering to both bike and body. In these cases I did what most dirt riders would do - I pressed on.

This relatively "new" country which came about from the breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990's  and ensuing Balkan wars is so welcoming to foreigners. The two days I have spent here have been a delight. It is a great help that so many people speak English, the food is good, accommodation cheaper than Italy and the beer plentiful.

The paved and gravel roads are kept in very good shape in Slovenia but good roads are not what I am looking for on my moto odyssey. Following the TET ( Trans European Trail ) has been incredible because it guarantees that I will be staying away from most of the real big cities and tourist areas. Some tracks get just a little too tight for a larger motorcycle and this was the case in here where even to turn my bike around took a tremendous amount of manhandling, sweating and the occasional expletive.

This is the town of Piran on the Adriatic that was recommended to me. Never having heard of the place I was very pleasantly surprised by the charm of this old walled town on a peninsular that is closed to all cars.

I write this blog post from my hotel room with a view of the deep blue Adriatic - I love my life!!

Moto Naranja comes out of hibernation

 After nearly a year and a half of forced Covid hibernation Moto Naranja decided to continue her journey where she left off near Grenoble France. Apart from a few cobwebs my old friend weathered this quarantine exceptionally well with the help of my South African friends Alan and Fay.

I decided to resume my trip across Europe with the eventual end point being Mongolia. However that distant place will only be reached sometime next year with the more humble goal of riding as far as Romania before the northern hemisphere winter begins to set in and heated hand grips and heated clothing is not enough to keep the icicles off the end of my nose

I connected the battery and she started right up with hardly a cough, splutter or the need for a PCR test to allow her to venture out into the beautiful countryside of the southern French Alps.

The first day out I rode up the Alpe d' Huez without even breaking a sweat. I  have no idea what all the fuss is about during that annual bicycle extravaganza - just how difficult can it be?

My plan is the ride following the tracks of the Trans European Trail (TET) from France into Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia and Romania. This trail follows mainly back roads, dirt tracks and some paved minor roads, although I did somehow get on a major toll freeway without the chance of exiting for 20km. Having maps, gpx tracks and Google still does not guarantee that I am not going to get more than a little lost.

Here is a taste of what I have found so far:-

 This was the end of a very steep section coming off a ridge where I think the mountain bikers were very surprised to see a fully laden adventure motorcycle coming down off the pass on the single track 

I am writing this from the little town of Argegno of the edge of Lake Como in Italy and took the day off riding to explore this magnificent lake nestled in this deep glacier created valley.

                                                     This is where I am staying

                                                 This is not where I am staying

Trans America Trail

 Having promised to write about my travels across the United States on the Trans America Trail, a mainly dirt road adventure from “ Sea to Shining Sea” I find myself two weeks into it without having written a darn thing. So where to start?

When I saw this signpost I immediately thought of Shel Silverstein’s book of kids poems   

 

I am not sure which of these little characters I best represent - maybe the dog, holding on for dear life. However I really do love to explore with an increasing sense of curiosity as I now move through my late teenage years. ( get real you old goat you are 65!! ) 

In Mississippi this is where the Sidewalk Ends

It took over an hour to dig the back wheel out of this good red dirt with the only tools available to me - my own two hands. Both the bike and me needed the carwash in the next town 

So I must back up a little since my last blog post on munecatravels.blogspot.com found me having just arrived back in the US with Moto Naranja stuck in a shed in France until a nasty little disease would allow me to retrieve her to carry on with a little road trip from France to Mongolia.

Moto Naranja is still stuck in that little shed in France, so being the two timer that I am I bought another KTM 690 and equipped it for less international travel. 

The riding had been really good fun and I enjoy every day with so much variety but I have to say that it can be a little depressing to stop in little towns where jobs and industry have moved on and a good job is probably in a fast food restaurant.

 But wait, maybe I am just moving too fast and not stopping to really look what is going on. There is no doubt that these towns are hurting and the old factories that employed so many are never going to return but maybe this is where the opportunity lies for the real risk takers. Here is what I saw in the town of Helena, Arkansas on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River.

A walk down the main street saw hardly a store open apart from the shoe store that has been there for more than forty years. The old Nichols hotel is long closed and I only wish room rates were still a mere $1 a night

However this is the gem that I found run by a young man who moved here because the idea of starting his own business was intriguing and the buy in was relatively cheap.

                                                     The Edwardian Inn

Then I went out to supper and walked down the main street as it got dark - a little creepy. But the only restaurant open, The Helena Tavern, was owned and run by a young couple who also recently moved here as the place was going for a song. Helena does have a blues festival every year which sees twenty thousand people descend on one summer weekend — so just maybe these little towns will survive and be rejuvenated.

Headed over the big river tomorrow to ride through Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia and beyond.