Pearls of the Adriatic Sea - CAS2402
It's a lovely morning as we ride out of Split. The sun is shining and as it's a Sunday morning the traffic is light. We soon exit the Split centre and suburbs and join onto the Jadranska Magistrala, the main coastal road that runs the length of the country from Slovenia to Montenegro. It's a bit stop and go as we ride through the small towns and villages but soon we turn into the Cetina gorge and everything changes. Both sides we have towering cliffs while the Cetina river runs alongside the road. We stop for coffee and check out the clear waters of the river and the bakery that is there. Then we are on the move again, and having to negotiate a closed road that is gravel only for a few km's before we climb out of the gorge and stop to make some photos. Afterwards we are over the top of the mountains and heading down towards Makarska and the riviera. We run along the coast again until we reach Drvenik where we stop for lunch and wait for the ferry. A short 30 minutes ferry ride and we reach the island of Hvar, said to be one of the prettiest in Croatia and famous for it's lavender. The ride to the hotel is a blast, once we get past the ferry traffic. It's twists and turns through the length of the island and the last 20km are just a joy with great tarmac and lovely sweeping curves. We gas up and then it's a quick 30 minutes to the hotel. We park the bikes and then reflect on the day - it has been a perfect start to the tour :-)
Today we were riding again back the beautiful Island Road of Hvar with a lot of switchbacks. After taking the Ferry we were heading to the South, to ride to our first photo stop of the day, with a view of the lakes in ocusa. The Road leads us to our Destination Dubrovnik, where we take a look to the beautiful old town and of course the well known City Walls.
Today was a short day, but the weather gods were on our side. The weather forecast is atrocious and sure enough first thing in the morning it is raining cats and dogs. So we take a leisurely breakfast and then drink another cup of coffee or two. By 10am it has pretty much blown over which is great as it gives us time to take a stroll around the streets of Dubrovnik - it would be a real faux pas to be here and not do that! We meet back at the hotel and by 1pm we are on the motorcycles heading out of town. No rain and the sun is peeking through the clouds. We ride along the coast through the small towns and villages and eventually reach the Montenegro border - there's a huge queue mainly of trucks so we just ride past and straight to the front. We cross over in record time and then continue on our way. As we get nearer to Kotor we can see some weather coming up in the distance and the wind starts to blow. We ride into the hotel just as a few drops of rain start to come down. The van is still stuck somewhere at the border so we take a beer with a lake view and shortly afterwards it starts to pour. We just sip our beer with big smiles on our faces.
Today we were a small group of 5 riders , so we decided to ride in the morning first 25 switchbacks up the Mountain to have a look over Kotor. After heading to the Levcen national park we took a perfect road to at the coast of budhva. Then we were Having a delicious Lunch in the Heart of Montenegro- Kotor.
We leave Kotor in the morning and head up the pass at the north end of the bay. We stop for a quick photo stop over the bay and when we want to restart comes the first problem of the day. The Harley won't start and the battery goes flat! Some genius decided to engineer the motorcycle so that bump starting it is impossible. We have to call the van back to get a jump start so the rest of the group heads off while the Harley waits for help! Eventually it is started and after crossing the border into Bosnia Herzegovina the group eventually connects up. We stop for a leisurely lunch at Lake Bileca and then decide we will ride to the hotel in Mostar and skip the afternoon coffee stop. About half way there another group of bikers becomes intermingles with the latter half of the group and we lose 4 of the group. We are waiting and trying to decide how to regroup when they turn up in the distance - well that was fortunate! We ride to the hotel where Lukas is waiting for us with refreshments so we sit outside and enjoy a cool boot beer while looking down over Mostar town. In the evening we wealk into town and have a lovely dinner with a view of the famous bridge - it's a great way to end the day :-)
Today we started from Mostar to the mountain Kriz na hamu which is known for the cross in memory of Jesus. After the wonderful view of Mostar we went on to the lake Busco Jezero, then we crossed the border from Bosnia-Herzegovina to Croatia and after a wonderful picnic with the best tastes we headed towards Krkr National Park, which is known for the movie Winnetou. Finally, the road led us along the coast towards Zadar, where we finally arrived happy and satisfied after 330 km.
Another rest day, another rainy start to the day. We take a late breakfast and relax first thing in the morning as it is raining heavily again. By midday it has started to brighten up a bit and some people venture into the old town of Zadar to take in the sights. At 2pm there are 3 brave musketeers who want to go riding and so we set off. We head out of town directly to the east and 30 minutes later we are riding the Jadranska Magistrala again. We head north in the direction of Karlobag. The sun is out and the road is dry - and what a road it is. Weaving along the coastline, a great road surface and not much other traffic - except it is Saturday afternoon and there are a lot of motorcycles about. We have an awesome ride to Karlobag and then make a quick coffee stop there. In the distance we can see a few rain clouds coming in so we head back to Zadar, just a little more tentatively. But it's a few drops of rain here and there and we just laugh it off. We arrive back at the hotel and everyone agrees it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Tomorrow we look forward to the last riding day of the tour......
Our last riding day starts with a cold and stormy morning by croatian standarts. But we made the best out of it and enjoyed the pure Nature of the krkr national parc with its many waterfalls. Our Lunch was on a mountain into a castle, where „vienna schnitzel“ was only one of the delicious foods. The last roads trough the dalmatian valley brought us back to the beginning-Split. Here we sit together enjoy the dinner and Talk about the best Moments of that amazing Trip.