Croatia

Split - Jadranska Magistrala - Plitvice Lakes National Park - Zagreb : 330miles / 530km

Sarah on a pier, lost along the Coastal road.

We disembarked the ferry and found ourselves sitting at a coffee shop in ancient Split, famous for its remarkably preserved Roman interior. Unlike most Roman ruins, this one never died.

Arriving in Split at 6am

Enjoying the warmth of the day and waiting for the Honda garage next door to open, where I wanted to try my luck and jump the queue, by asking if they could plug my bike into a laptop to diagnose the fault. 

Happily, the mechanic was really friendly and immediately obliged. The garage owner, on the other hand, had the demeanour of a man wearing nettle underpants and was properly grumpy. Anyhoo, I was already plugged in by then and understood the issue. (Apparently high electrical draw, easily remedied)

With the fault finding complete, we headed up the fabled coastal road of Croatia. The Jadranska Magistrala is the sort of road that makes you question whether the engineers built it for transport or simply to show off and we spent the day meandering along the beautiful blue coast.

The change of pace here is immediately noticeable compared to hot-headed, red-blooded, motor-mad Italy. The legacy of Yugoslavia gives it a different feel from Western Europe. People sit and watch the day go by.

Our campsite on the first night, lower left of photo.

Scoping out a couple of towns, we chose one to make our home for the night and located our campsite of choice on the beach. As luck would have it, the lovely lady proprietor granted us free camping because we were on bikes and apparently her deceased husband was crazy about them. I’m going to like ot here.

We watched the sunset over the Adriatic in the port next to two huge yachts. The clientele were wearing pristine Prada clothes; I was wearing Primar-ni clothes I’d hand-washed in the toilet sink. A natural balance was restored and we all lived in harmony that evening.

The following morning, we ventured further along what is considered one of Europe’s great motorcycle roads.

Forested hills to one side and turquoise water on the other, the road cutting an elegant path in between. Like bears to honey, the route attracts bikers from all over Europe and we passed countless numbers of them.

Heading inland towards a national park, we stopped to rest and admire the dramatic scenes, the view only somewhat spoiled by the smell of the premixed canned tuna salad we’d bought for lunch.

Mmmm, “Whiskers” for lunch. It was purrfect...

Slow pace of life waiting for the owner to show up...

...or watching a house decay.

Plenty of time for painting phalli-fish

Heading further inland towards, and then riding through, Plitvice Lakes National Park, we flowed like a river through peaceful forests on empty roads. Sarah commented that it felt almost meditative. (Which reminds me, Sarah has had four really good ideas in two days and then used the term ''meditative'. I was pretty worried by now, suggesting she lays down before her brain overheated)

The park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979 and is home to bears, wolves and lynx. By contrast, I spotted three hedgehogs, all squashed on the road.

Our home this evening is Camping Place Bear, a small but expensive family-run campsite with basic amenities, surrounded by wilderness

Upon arriving, another guest immediately approached with the offer of a cold beer, as he too has a bike at home in the Netherlands. Love the biking fraternity.

The guys that offered beer have an electric scooter for fetching more!

Our final saunter through the forest the following morning had us grazing at the local supermarkets until we reached Labogola Tours and its proprietor, Dooby, who has offered to store our bikes.

Breakfast on the TopBox table

I know of Dooby from the Horizons Unlimited online forum, where he frequently posts. He’s Bosnian by birth, a tall, thin man with a bald head and a Harley biker beard. He spoke fast and had many stories to share.

Slunj, Croatia.

He also had a large black dog, the size of a pony, with the largest testicles I’ve ever seen on a canine.  Hopefully, the bikes will be safe with big balls to guard them.

I look forward to meeting him again and continuing the baltic journey.

Zagreb