Category: Uncategorized
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26. Crossing the Alps: Austria, Italy, Austria, Germany then home
Theme of the final leg of the trip: rain. There aren’t many photos as it was just too wet. We cross into Austria at the well named Naßfeld pass (“wet field”) and join the excellent Austrian cycle network and head back towards Italy. It is an exceptionally wet day. All ideas of camping evaporate and…
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25. Italy: from Trieste to the Austrian border
We leave the Adriatic after a lovely meander along to Grado and then on over the lagoon. Aquileia is a stunner – in Roman times it was one of the biggest cities in the world. There are excavation sites everywhere and the museum is full of wonders. Then it’s on to Palmanova and its crazy…
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24. Italy: Trieste
Where to start… Probably over a decade ago when the whole idea of this trip came about. In its first iteration it was Marseille Corsica Sardinia Sicily foot of Italy Greece Western Balkans Trieste. Trieste was always the end point. We rapidly realised that the two months that we had off would be wasted racing…
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23. Istria – Croatia, Slovenia and into Italy
We get off the ferry in Pula at night and cycle along the harbour with the port cranes all illuminated in multi colours (it’s super cool and it’s an artist what did it) and head for a friendly hostel, then immediately out for FOOD. Only a kebab will hit the spot, so kebab it is,…
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23. Croatia: we say goodbye to the Balkans and head to Istria
So into Croatia we roll – and there’s a whole gear shift. Unbelievably slick tourism just about sums it up. A massive change from Bosnia (that both Jon and I really really liked, even if at times uncomfortable/poignant). Croatia suddenly feels like a country geared up to perfect the equation of preserving stunning natural landscape…
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22. Bosnia: Jajce to Izacic border crossing
We leave Jajce going back upstream and cross the river at a series of crazy mini wooden watermills (the watermill version of mini golf) backtracking through our tunnel. The Lure of the Emerald water is just too much – we strip down to the undies and have a cold but lovely swim. Two mating frogs…
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21. Bosnia: Mostar to Jajce
The first half of our trip through Bosnia (the last post) was definitely the more touristy Bosnia. Slowly we leave the more heavily beaten trail. Nothing very exciting happens in this section though it feels more like everyday Bosnia neither overly touristy nor gruellingly wartorn. It’s all polje/rain/headwind/churches. It does however start to give us…
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20. Bosnia: Klobuk border crossing to Mostar
One of the weird things about this trip is that every border crossing heading North seems to bring a new degree of lushness to it. Maybe it’s because most of the border crossings we’ve done have been over mountain passes so the North-facing side is always colder/wetter. This is no exception. There is also a…
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19. Of Jon’s clothing (for the Octonais)
3 pairs of socks, 1 pair waterproof oversocks, 1 pair Macedonian woolly oversocks bought in Ohrid market, 2 pairs underpants, 2 pairs cycling shorts, 2 pairs of overshorts, 3 long sleeved cotton shirts, 1 merino base layer top, 1 merino base layer leggings, 1 fleece top, 1 down jacket, 1 waterproof jacket, 1 pair waterproof…
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18. Montenegro: Perast to Ilino Brdo border crossing
So there we are, dripping wet from a wash in the Bay of Kotor, and back on our bikes we get, for what I can only describe as, well, lots of mountains. Spoiler alert: this is the section of the trip when Jon actually says, drum roll, “I think I’m burnt out by mountains”. So…
Tour de (Western) Balkans 2023 