The wanderlust is getting stronger as the days get longer. Putting the clocks forward is always a big reminder that summer is approaching, and reading CJ’s plan for the Arctic Circle trip got me dusting off the plans for this year’s odyssey on the Ulysses (geddit?).
(Jeez I hope this works!)
Older members may recall my Austrian Alps trip a few years back
(or see the January picture on the 2010 UKBeg calendar)
On that trip I was supposed to end up in Slovenia to catch up with an old Bosnian mate of mine who now lives in Ljubljana. However one thing led to another and I got bogged down bagging passes on the Swiss/Austrian border and never made it across to Slovenia.
The following year I had a whole month to get there but fate intervened in the shape of a polish artic with an attitude and scant regard for bikers (sorry Att)
That ended that trip. But after a few months hobbling about (me) and sterling work by
(on the bike) we were up for it once more.
Last July off I went to the Harz and then down to Stuttgart to meet up with my old mate Charly
The plan was to stay with a friend of Charly’s in Neustadt (Sudtirol) then off to Slovenia. It was a scary ride down through torrential rain. We headed for Timmelsjoch but were beaten back by the weather
And so had to divert via the Brenner Pass (think M62 writ large plus tolls).
Sudtirol made up for it. This is an amazing region of Italy with Lake Garda to the south and the Dolomites all around. Yet it is entirely German, even the TV, road signs and schools. When Austria lost WW1 this region was ceded to Italy but since then it has never lost its Austrian identity.
Charly is actually Austrian and knows this area very well. Over the next couple of weeks we explored the most amazing passes, well off the beaten track.
Jeez we had some amazing rides around Lake Garda
The road way down at the bottom of this picture runs for maybe 40 clicks through a series of tunnels down the west side of Lake Garda. Sounds phenomenal on a Buell with a dubious muffler.
After a day of ratting around we crossed the lake on a ferry and rode home up the east side
On another day we ragged around to the east of Trento, saw this amazing church
It looks like a mural, but it’s for real (apologies if it’s really famous!)
Another day we polled up at the local spag bol spot at a refugio (no I’m not joking)
And up trundles the Italian version of an Ariel Leader (one for Jane)
Now none of this was getting me any closer to Slovenia. And with Charly’s mate Karl having a vineyard as well
It soon became an impossibility
So back to the UK and apologetic emails to Nebojsa in Slovenia – sorry bud I got to within a hundred klicks of the Slovene border and I know I haven’t seen you since 2000.....
OK this is not good so in October last year son #1 and I decide to go see the man by car (eek!) I looked on it as a scouting mission. We took the scenic route (no choice) which included the Grossglockner
Which also allowed Erik the Marmot to revisit his birthplace.
The roads from southern Italy into Slovenia are quite stupendous. As you may expect the Italian side is mainly immaculate tarmac and tightening tournante and the surface worsened once over the border. However the Slovene passes were like stepping back 30 years into history. Cobbled corners, no prisoners and devil take the hindmost. Fantastic. Twisty as a bag of snakes
And the charming old fashion of numbering every true hairpin
On the way up AND on the way down, so Vrsic has around 90 genuine hairpin (plus all the pretend corners!)
Slovenia also had the appealing habit of being rather inexpensive, especially compared to Italy, and seemingly full of people who not only speak good English but like us
And so finally I got to Ljubljana and visited with Nebojsa. We got to stay at the Metelkova squat which now sports a hostel. It’s off-topic but if you’re interested have a read here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metelkova The hostel is the old army prison from communist days and every cell has been designed individually. Here’s ours with Jake banged up in it
The rest of the squat is given over to music venues and other artistic stuff
Oh, and there’s a bar of course
All in all Slovenia is a spectacular place. For the biker it has some of the charm of a lost era in the alps. Unless you know the road it’s as well to be cautious on the first lap but the rewards are exhilarating.
OK so now I’ve planned to go there 3 times and finally scouted it in a cage. So this year God willing the Ulysses gets there. Watch this space.
Dave
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