The Second Grand Tour Part 3: The Way to Rumelia

"Kravice falls is a wonderful place for a morning swim" he stated, smugly

 

Three days after arriving in Makarska we packed up and headed south. We had indulged our seaside slothfulness quite enough and were itching to get back on the road. It didn't take long to reach The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina's border and the morning was steadily getting hotter. We crossed the Croatian checkpoint without any problems and then rode to the Bosnian side. They checked our passports and everything seemed to be going fine until we were asked to show our green cards.

Now for those who don't know The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina isn't part of the EU yet. We had gotten very used to crossing borders in the Schengen Area as just being roadsigns, even in the newest union countries all it would take is a flash of the passport. Now we required Vehicle insurance as proof of ownership. I couldn't help but feel a little worried at this point about the UK's future post-brexit (which at the time of writing, we still don't have the faintest idea how this monumental balls-up will go for us). Thankfully this wasn't too much of a problem. There was a small, ordinary looking house between the boarders that the guards said we should go and visit. This was all a little strange but we didn't have anything to lose at this point. Inside we found an old Croatian lady who seemed to know exactly why we were there. She asked for our documents, then filled out and sold us a sheet of paper. This was enough for the boarder guards and after the €5 fee we were on our way to our first destination. The road conditions aren't great in the federation but then again it is only a recently stabilised country, without the luxury of the EU's money to help build its infrastructure. A small and winding countryside road eventually led to where we were heading. Kravice is a little known gem in the Balkans, a huge waterfall flowing into a calm and protected river that is perfect for swimming and picnicking. It was really bloody hot and we had to carry our gear down to the falls from where it felt safe to park the bike so a swim was most appreciated.

Us. After the blistering heat the cool water was a 'warm' welcome

Feeling refreshed, we rode across across the Herzegovinan lowlands for about half an hour before we started the almost ridiculous decent on the western road into Mostar. The heat, combined with the steep roads and sudden turns meant a lot of stress on our brakes, which screamed as we pressed them all the way down. Mostar's outer suburbs were filled with traffic. It was hot and long and all the roads we wanted were closed.

But the reward at Mostar's heart was well worth the difficulties.

Stari Most, at the heart of Mostar's old town

If there is one place in Europe that I have to suggest you visit it is Mostar, a truly Balkan town in every sense. Holding to it's Ottoman influences, mixed with Yugoslavic hotels and Habsburg government buildings, it is a microcosm of a thousand years of history all rolled into a beautiful stone core. There are Bazaar styled street markets selling Turkish carpets, riverside coffeeshops selling tar black coffee (our favourite type!) and bars, museums and galleries littering the small maze-like streets. It was our favourite place on the trip.

Mostar. 'Don't Forget, but Do Forgive. Forever.'

 The troubled recent history of the city is still prevalent today. There is an unofficial divide across the river between Croatian catholics on the west and Bosniak Muslims on the east, an echo of the devastating Jugoslav wars that ended up destroying the old bridge over the years of bloody conflict that ensued. It is a complicated conflict and I urge you to look it up to gain an understanding of this incredible region of the World. We also have to recommend staying at Hostel Musala as it is centrally located, quiet and private, and the host Sasha was both kind and informative. Also I feel that I have to explain a strange local oddity: There are a group of men who hang around on the bridge waiting for enough tourists to come. One of them goes around collecting money in a hat, and another will get into a wetsuit and stretch. When they have enough money, the man in the wetsuit will climb over the edge and jump from the top of the 24m bridge into the river below. They apparently can make up to £150 a day doing this.

A lightly cooked Sausage with a dash of drinkable monastery water

The next day was going to be a long ride back to Dalmatia, then up Croatia to the Plitvička Jezera National Park, but we weren't done with Bosnia yet. We set off early and headed for an old Durvish monastery in the town of Blagaj. This monastery is built into the cliff at the base of a river source. We arrived early so the place was nearly empty and it really is an amazing sight to behold. Sasha informed us that because the river source is so close, the water is delicious and safe to drink (something we bravely tried and can confirm!).

Počitelj, a small medievil town with literally nothing stopping you climbing sketchy half destroyed towers.

From here we followed a much easier main road following the Neretva river to a town called Počitelj. This town, literally forgotten by history, is much like it was during the Ottoman Empire. It was pretty stunning and the crumbling towers are climbable right to the top which gives you a view of the entire valley.

Sadly that was in for Bosnia, we had one final Bosnian coffee and crossed the boarder back into Croatia. The rest of the day was a long and arduous slog up the motorway to Plitvička Jezera. it took about five hours for us to get there and by the end of it we were pretty sore. The next day we explored the park.

Plitvička Jezera, Plitvička Jezera, The Wife, Plitvička Jezera

It took the whole day. Walking around the parks, on old boardwalk planks, through dripping caves and over deep valleys. The day was spent laughing about the future, enjoying the present and generally thinking on how the trip has been. I recommend spending a day here as it is pretty incredible (Although sadly you can't swim in these waterfalls! BiH 1 - Croatia 0 ).

The day after that was another long and difficult ride. This time 320 miles across the Slavonia region of Croatia and into the Serbian region of Vojvodina. Croatia's roads were in great condition for riding, but five and a half hours in the saddle was killer on both of our legs. The Serbian boarder was easier, but in hindsight that seems like a false sense of security as the roads were just awful. Honestly it was like the wild west. There were lorries on fire in the road, pot-holes the size of lanes, and a military convoy that clogged up the pay tolls. At one stage we were stuck in a line of 10mph traffic when a dump truck, tired of being a dump truck, decided it was instead a drag racer  and darted into the other lane, attempting to overtake everyone around a blind corner nearly killing literally everyone.

I have made Novi Sad look beautiful, it was not.

I will summarise the last part of our trip as it didn't have the same impact as the rest. But after a really bloody long drive he were in Novi Sad, another slight disappointment, the layout was not too different from Debrecen with bad conditioned tower blocks and endless 4 lane roads. There was a small centre street where we had a nice burger, but the highlight was our '5 star' hotel at a massively discounted price. 5 stars was a little stretch of the imagination but apparently Tito loved this Hotel so we would to. Plus there was a Sauna which saved our lives. The next day we rode into Hungary again for the final leg. The Hungarian Border guards were surprised to see English plates riding north from Serbia, and were even more surprised when they heard the journey we have done so far. In fact everywhere we went we garnered attention for our plates. British vehicles are not common this far into Europe it seems!

The Hungarian roads were awful, the drivers were dangerous and it took hours. But through the literal tears we persevered until we saw the towers of the Nagy Templom over the long, flat horizon. We got home exhausted and before unpacking got straight into our PJ's. Another Grand Tour in the bag. Another adventure to remember fondly. And only four days before we returned to the UK for a week of chaos (which starts tomorrow!).

I shall keep you all posted, that is if anyone is still interested.

Thank you for reading, bro.

Puffer.

The Second Grand Tour Part 2: Rolling Down Illyria.

One of the few good spots we found on Slovenia's Coastline.

As said in the last post, we were a little disappointed with Slovenia's coast. For this reason we decided to head straight to Croatia the next day, as our original plan would have kept us in Slovenia for another night.

It wasn't a long ride to the boarder and the crossing was pretty easy. Before we knew it we were heading towards the Dalmatian coast and the sea again, this time hoping to actually touch the water. The view of the Adriatic on the Croatian coastal road has to be seen to be believed. Water and islands on your right, Mountains and seaside towns littered with orange roofs on your left, it really is quite the experience.

This was pretty much the entirety of the Croatian coastal road, not bad eh?

We stopped for lunch and a quick dip (finally) in the sea at a town called Crikvenica, which was nice but not quite as far down as we wanted to be. We reached the town of Senj that evening and found an apartment for the night before going on a little wander.

A few shots of Senj.

A lot of Dalmatia used to belong to the Venetian's at the height of the republic's power as it was a useful trade corridor between the east and west. Because of this, the main towns and cities of the Croatian coast have these beautiful Renaissance-era old towns at their centre. Senj had one such old town with a castle overlooking the bay. It was a nice starting point on what was to become welcome stops on our journey down the coast.

The next morning the weather turned. The coastal road was beautiful but not that easy to navigate on a fully-loaded bike, so we decided it was best to avoid it until the weather cleared. This may or may not have been a bad decision. The road to the motorway took us over a mountain just as the rain was coming in, which was exciting to say the least. After what seemed like forever climbing slippery and steep slopes, we finally found the motorway, just as the weather cleared for an easy ride through the Croatian mainland. Not as exciting as the coast but the landscape is still pretty breathtaking here, as desert hills and low shrub land stretch on as far as the eye can see.

We made it back to the coast before the afternoon was spent and hopped across a few island bridges to the tourist town of Vir. We were staying with a kind Hungarian man who Vanda knew through friends of ours and for the next day we stayed with him, exploring the islands around Zadar and Nin (the former being the local capital and the latter an ancient fort town. During this time we managed to get a bit of rest and relaxation by the sea, thinking this would be our only chilled out part of the trip (we were wrong).

Nin, Swans in the sea and Zadar...everyone was as surprised as you are about the swans

After saying our goodbyes in the mid-morning we left very refreshed for our next stop on the coast, Trogir. On the way we decided to stop at a sandy beach that Vanda had been to five years ago on a small island named Murter. Turns out that the tiny sandy beach is not that much of a secret as people lined it like sardines in a tin. We had a quick swim and left, somewhat disenchanted. This ride wasn't all doom and gloom though. The road leading into Trogir features a mountain decent where you can see the old town, a fortified island between two bigger islands, below. It looked pretty awesome from a distance. It was also alright close-up too, but at this point we got used to the fact that old towns were mostly filled with expensive Restaurants. So we decided to eat dinner and stay just outside Trogir. Our plan was to head to the bottom of Dalmatia and then up into Bosnia and Herzegovina to the old town of Mostar. So we figured it would be better to stay in one more place in Croatia before we did this to make the journey easier.

Thar she blows, fully packed and about to leave Trogir.

We settled on the tourist town of Makarska. Now for all intents and purposes it is just that, a tourist town, but with a reasonably priced Hostel, an abundance of coastal restaurants serving local food and a 5km beach we kind of had to take advantage of the time we had to spare. So we stayed there for three days (Not exciting to talk about I grant you, but even Motorcycing adventurers need a break!).

Saying hi to Hostel dog, Makarska, beautiful wife and beach, saying bye to Hostel dog

While here, we cleaned all of our clothes, made some adjustments to our equipment and worked out the next leg of our journey. Little did we know that what was to come next would be the best part of the whole trip.

But you'll have to find out next time on 'The Adventures of Puffer and Sauce'(tm)

I will post the final part of this adventure tomorrow, stay tuned kids!

Puffer

The Second Grand Tour Part 1: To The Water.

Didn't take many pictures in Hungary, so here is a poppy field, ooh, ahh

The Summer has officially begun.

The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing and Londoners are explaining to bartenders that it is hot outside, remarking that it's lucky that they are working in a dark bar, possibly for under the living wage and for longer hours than is technically legal, because at least they don't have to sit outside and have BBQ's with their friends, god forbid.

Ask not for whom the cloud rains, it rains for thee

Here in central Europe, the weather will now be a consistent mix of sun, apocalyptic rain, then sun again, then 'seriously guys I see the horseman, the end is nigh' thunderstorms and finally back to sun. The summer hit us quite quickly after the excitement of getting married and all, and we realised it would go just as fast if we didn't hurry up and get exploring. We have an amazing opportunity this year to take time into our own hands and have real adventures before we head back to London to begin the next stage of our lives together. So Two days before we actually set out, we worked out where we could go for a two week period before we returned to the UK to finalise our affairs and celebrate our wedding with the Brits. We considered Italy, a bit of Eastern Europe and finally a trip to the Baltic sea and Scandinavia (which on second thoughts would take a really bloody long time, plus it was the summer and hot. So there was only one thing for it; we would ride to the Former Jugoslavia and travel down the Adriatic coast. It turns out that Croatia has a pretty nifty sea road that would keep the sea at our right hand side as we rode down to Herzegovina. So on Friday 2nd June, we decided to wake up early and pack our bags for the long ride across Hungary.

We super weren't ready so instead we left on Saturday 3rd. Now Hungary has a network of convenient Highways across the whole country, linking important cities and international routes. That being said Eastern Hungary's flat steppe landscape is really bloody boring after the first two hours. Budapest was exciting as always, our GPS suggested that it would be advisable to go through the city centre. Now you may not know this, but there are a lot of impatient Hungarian drivers, and driving through a city is the worst. We were nearly knocked off and flattened on multiple occasions, the most exciting of which was when a lady decided that there were two many people in her lane and instead she'd try her chances at not slowing down and flying into oncoming traffic, during this performance the part of oncoming traffic was played by us.

Nevertheless we made it past the city and across the Western half of the country to the Balaton (a giant lake, locally referred to as the 'Hungarian Sea'). We found a small town by the name of Zalakaros on the south end of the Balaton and stayed there for our night in Hungary. It may not be news to anyone but me, but Europe is ram-packed with apartment rooms available to people touring on the roads. These are basically cheap hotel rooms in people's houses with parking spaces or garages, perfect for riding a motorcycle. At this point I'd like to thank the ageing German camping community for this, it definitely made our trip easier.

The Istrian Coast in Slovenia

The next day we crossed into Slovenia and the landscape changed dramatically. Where there were fields, there were now mountains, where the green was deep, it was now light, and there are amazing vistas as you roll across the gorges and through hills. The road bent and twisted in pleasing curves as well. Slovenia is a Motorcycling dream. We stopped for lunch in Ljubljana (a pronunciation that I'm not sure is possible to get right). And explored the city a little. It is an amazing green city, with no cars in its centre, beautiful streets lined with trees and huge Habsburg buildings dominating the skyline. Sadly we didn't have a choice but to carry all our stuff with us, which was really heavy and hot in the midday sun. We left for the Slovenian coast after Lunch and enjoyed more of the highways that this tiny republic had to offer. The coast was a bit disappointing. The small old towns were nice but access to the sea was not really a thing, there was a small crowded beach, but it was packed and right next to a massive industrial shipping yard.

Ljubljana, heavy bags, cobbled hills and delicious overpriced refreshments

Not really summer holiday vibes.

We spent the night in a coastal town called Portorož and decided to leave the country for Croatia the next morning. And this is where I will leave you in this part, stay tuned for the Dalmatian coast in part 2, which I'll post tomorrow!

Puffer

The End of the First Grand Tour.

The oh so Reichstag.

So as it turns out it is not too easy to keep a travel blog when the movement starts picking up as the days go by. As of now I am sitting in Debrecen, Hungary organising the final parts of the first two wedding celebrations and for the first time since my last post I have the time and energy to write this post. You are all welcome, drones.

To begin this where we left off. We came to a realisation in Maastricht that we were fast running out of time on our tour across Central Europe due to unfinished wedding preparations before the big day/days. So we had to re-organise the rest of the trip to get down to Debrecen in five or six days. Not an easy task as this didn't just involve cutting out days in places and destinations (sadly only got one day in Cologne and we had to miss out on Vienna which I was devastated about) but also spending much longer days in the saddle as we had over a thousand miles to cover. Motorcycling is a fantastic hobby and gives you a large amount of emotional freedom, but it is not without its downsides as will be explained in this post.

Two little dogs enjoying the sun with a third even smaller dog close to the camera.

Up until now we had been riding for 3-4 hours a day, stopping at various points of interest along the way, but now we had to cover too much ground and also fit into good weather days as riding in the cold and rain can range from a tad uncomfortable to downright impossible. So to start off easy, we took the quick trip between Maastricht and Cologne. Although the transition between countries in Europe is no more than a blue road sign these days, it has to be said that there is always a subtle change of scenery as the landscape unfolds in-front of you. I can't say that we saw a lot of the real Germany, even if we crossed everything except Bavaria, but there were two things of note:

1.) Germany is a giant forest of Conifers, a little like that sad part of Lord of the Rings when Sean Bean gets pin cushioned.

and 2.) The Autobahn is the most convenient and yet boring road ever.

Honestly this cathedral is bigger than Kanye, and only slightly more religious.

But anyway, Cologne is a pretty amazing place. Our host, a friend of ours who we met in London, was a local through and through and showed us some of the amazing things this Rhineland city has to offer. FYI: It has a bloody massive cathedral that you can see from pretty much everywhere, along with a bridge with so many love locks it makes Paris look as romantic as Staines. But the greatest feature of Köln is its breweries, which will keep supplying you with fresh glasses of beer until you physically stop the waiter by either placing a beer mat on the glass or wrestling them to submission.

We kind of had to didn't we?

We had a few technical problems with the bike in Cologne which delayed our departure (wouldn't complain after that hearty German Breakfast mind you!) but finally took the first long ride across the country to it's capital. It was gruelling and didn't get easier at any of the re-fuel stops but finally we made it on a beautifully warm evening to Berlin. We were kindly put up in Berlin by an artist friend of mine who is doing exciting things with reclaimed bones, if you would like to see her extraordinary work you can find it Here. Now we didn't get to experience Berlin to its full extent.

Motorcycling is a deeply personal experience. You must both fight and embrace the road simultaneously while navigating across landscapes and your own perceptions. You find that there is a lot of time for thinking sitting in the bucket that is your helmet, and between the two of us we thought both great and terrible things. But I digress, it was thanks to Vanda's patience that we found what was lost and moved on from the stunning but small town of Brno, which we didn't see enough of to write meaningfully about so here are some pictures:

Brno in its melancholy twilight.

We decided to stop off in Budapest to split the last journey in two and make it more bearable, like every other night we had been blessed with on this trip, it was a hot evening and we had a beer with a Hungarian friend of ours at the Akvarium bar. It was a cathartic experience having come so far to know there was only two hours left and we enjoyed the night with understated revelry.

Budapest of the bright lights.

The final ride was the worst, we were nearly run down by at least two impatient drivers and literally no-one was indicating or giving us any idea what they were doing, paired with strong winds it was a ride I would rather soon forget. But finally, we came into Debrecen with laughter and smiles having traversed Europe on a big bastard of a motorcycle, carrying way too many things over a route that was way too long and having all the ups and downs of a real adventure. Our first one. All in all we enjoyed the experience and are looking forward to our next 'Grand Tour'. But first we have to survive the greatest adventure of our lives, our wedding...in three days...god help us.

What pretty, exhausted mugs we own.

I shall leave you with the route map and hope that you can find it as impressive as we do, we are very impressed with ourselves.

Onto the next!

Puffer

The start of our adventure.

Well folks, here it is, the post you've all been waiting for! Maybe! Maybe you didn't care but also didn't have anything better to do today! Either way THIS post I'm posting is here!

And we're off!

So last Saturday Vanda and I said our final goodbyes to our flatmate and my family, packed up the last few bags of our life, realised we had packed too much and had to unpack a few things, repacked and THEN finally got on our still yet to be named Triumph Bonneville T120 and set off. We have been planning ("planning") this trip for a couple of months with a relatively open route between London, UK and Debrecen, Hungary.

"But Rupert, how has the trip gone so far?"

A little Sausage and a big bike.

I'm glad you asked hypothetical avid reader, it started in a relatively scary fashion with the coastal winds of the English Channel blowing us every which way but loose on our trip to Folkstone. We took the Eurotunnel at around 2:30pm, and managed to get our own compartment (probably because our bike looks miraculously unstable). If you are considering a trip to mainland Europe at any point soon I would highly recommend using the Eurotunnel train, before we knew it we were already in the subjectively beautiful Hauts-de-France. The wind decided it wasn't done with us and threw us from lane to lane for the rest of the day until we hit Bruges, which was our stop for the night. We had a wonderful Belgian meal and beer in the main square to celebrate our first successful day on the road and headed to bed, excited to see the city the next day.

"Maybe that's what hell is, the entire rest of eternity spent in F*@king Bruges"

Bruges is an interesting place, there is no doubt. But it is interesting in the way a toddlers first word is interesting. At first it is a little miracle, an exquisite experience that changes your perception of life's very meaning. But soon the novelty fades and you realise this word is all you'll hear for a little longer than you anticipated. Basically go see Bruges for a day or so. Any longer and you may go crazy.

Our next destination was Amsterdam. But on the way we decided to stop at the bizarre town of Baarle-Nassau/Baarle Hertog, a small Belgian enclave in The Netherlands. The town is split by such odd borders that they have had to draw dotted lines across the entire town. This has caused a number of funny situations, such as a house having two addresses, a shop having to have two separate tills and house numbers reverting half way down the street. At one point me and Vanda were in different countries 5 times in a minute, a new record for distance in our relationship.

The logistical nightmare of Baarle Nassau

So after a spot of lunch and a coffee on the Belgian side of the border (before paying in The Netherlands) we moved onto the Dutch Capital. We decided to stay at a location named Campsterdam on the north side of the river Amstel where we rented a vintage camper that opened onto the river. This was a beautiful location and in high summer I would definitely recommend a stay here, unfortunately for us the weather didn't hold at night (along with the power) and we ended up freezing on our first night there. Amsterdam is a mixed bag. I have been many times before but this was a first for Vanda. Surprisingly she was a little disappointed. I think we all build up ideas of places before we experience them, or even after we experience them, and we both felt a little let down by the Amsterdam we saw. It is a beautiful and vibrant city sadly let down by its in-your-face tourist trapping and brightly lit debauchery. That being said we also met up with some Italian friends of ours from London and had a great time relaxing by the canal with them, so I believe it is the city you make it to be, definitely a place you have to see.

Bikes, Check. Canals, Check. Wonky Buildings, Check.

Vintage campers allow for instagram like goldmines

After Amsterdam, we decided to visit an old friend of Vanda's in a town in north Holland named 'Lelystad', interestingly this town didn't exist before 1967, when it was built on land reclaimed from the North Sea. Even more interestingly we decided to take a northern route there, which required crossing the North Sea to get there. Anyone who finds themselves in Holland on a Motorcycle absolutely has to drive the Houtribdijk road. Pictures can't do justice to how magnificent the open road is with the sea on both sides.

Chilling in the sea...kind of.

After Lelystad we stopped off at Utrecht before the longest journey so far down to Maastricht to stay with a friend of ours. Maastricht is another town that you have to see if you can, a small student town with mixed German/Dutch architecture and an all-round friendly feel. Our next trip today sees us leaving The Netherlands for Germany and the start of our great European crossing. As soon as I get a chance again I will update you all on where we have ended up. But for now, ta-ra!

Puffer