MB & Snod Blatters Alpine adventure.. Slovenia and beyond... Part 6

motobiker's post:

"Now what?" is I rode the bike to what turned out to be the strangest of all campsites.. spent the rest of the day and that night umming and aahing then the next morning leapt into action. Phone Carole Nash. who then passed all the details over to the local organiser - who called BMW Kaprun - who promised they could fix it. Was taken there that morning and was back at the campsite later that day. all fixed.

easy.

shame I missed out on Snods bike falling over.. a photo of him trying to get it back upright, veins popping on neck - would have been quite entertaining. But.. excitement aside, he didn't hang about the campsite waiting for word from me.. he went off all on his ownsome.

The next morning.. we headed back into Italy for Cortina D'Ampezzo in the Dolomites. pitched the tent and went for a ride... 4 passes. pizza. the best coffee of the entire fortnight. and finally.. all good luck ran out and it started to rain. not just rain.. it bucketed.

but not before we had 'some' fun.

 a fair sample.. but, very sadly. it was dull and damp... and higher up. very cold. The snow was exceptionally deep.. though the roads had been cleared.

So, as I say after a couple of hours the skies opened.. fortunately we made it into the bar in a petrol station just in time.. and watched people come in for a pint and a fag to help recover from the price they had just paid for petrol..

eventually the rain stopped and we went back to the campsite.. and headed (inevitably) for the bar.. more pizza followed plus rather a lot of beer. I was a tad fed up... the main reason for visiting the Dolomites isn't just the roads are like spaghetti. or that its pass after pass after pass.. etc.

its the views. the terrain is breathtaking and we couldn't see a bloody thing with the clouds being so low.. (or were we high?) probably both.

next morning.. it was so different.

blue skies and sun.. but, we couldn't hang about.. we had to go.

a few photos on the road north...

Its a shame we didn't have more time.. but the wasted day due to the breakdown had put paid to that. still, Snod got more than an eyeful so maybe he'll get to go back some day.

After that we raced north.. through Austria and had a little diversion to Fussen. just so Snod could get an eyeful of the Chitty Chitty bang bang castle.. as well as a quick stop off at the Lidl. for cheap beer and munchies. cloudy wheat beer. 26c a bottle.. whats not to like?

Because the initial ideas for this trip had been scuppered by bad weather.. bad weather we missed out on (fortunately) aside from the very edge of it on day 1. Poor Snod never got to Liechtenstein.. though hopefully Monaco made up for that.. anyway. I had a cunning flan.

we went to Lichtenstein. (note spelling)

the back passage...

We were now deep in the heart of Swabia.. an area I knew nothing about.. still it was very pleasant. fairly high up rolling hills with the Black forest to the west.  We found a great campsite.. huge place. very german. got talking to a german chap who couldn't speak a word of english.. but he liked us because we were fascinated by his 3 wheeled scooter. (the first Ive seen up close)

i liked it.. and he liked us because we liked it.  

next day.. off to the Black forest.

My post:

 I (we?) forgot to mention that while travelling across Austria on Flappy-Clutch-Lever-Wednesday a lot of people seemed to be off work or rather off school as there were a lot of yoofs driving around in their modified cars, mostly VW Golfs. The number of these cars intensified until we reached a crossroads where they were congregating, all comparing notes and some strange dark lines had appeared on the road though there were no Polizei about to put an end to their fun. They were all nice enough though, clearly there for the love of the machines rather than to make trouble. MB nipped past a slightly Max Power-esque (i.e. deafening) Golf R32 (that's a 3.2L 250BHP 4WD cage for those wonder) which the owner seemed to be surprised about. He maybe recognised what my bike was in his mirrors and decided to show what his car could do.. I pulled out to overtake in second gear and he matched me all the way to the redline, as much a surprise to me as it was for him to see us so evenly matched. I pulled back in behind and gave him a big thumbs up which seemed to go down well, big laughs all round. Got him in the end though! That night was spent tutting at how BMW build their bikes and wondering what to do, but that's pretty well documented by now.

Thursday morning was spent getting sunburnt while talking to other residents of the campsite and watching the poor rescue people try and squeeze MB's grossly overgrown bike into their van:

And then the afternoon was spent going round in circles along the side of a mountain (including stumbling across Assling), having lunch at a very cheap backerei and then stumbling across what looked like a nice easy to follow loop over a mountains, through Italy and back round into Austria right near the campsite. It started off well:

 Though the Sun was beating down so hard my concentration was fading in and out at times - a roadside sign said 33C but it actually felt like more. I followed that road through half-tunnels (one side is half missing in slots) and started to climb the mountain.. Up into the cool, this was going to be good! But then it was closed with road repairs and I had to turn around, scuppering the whole flan. On the way down I stopped to take a picture and the K fell over. This is right after I picked up back up, thanking the powers that be that it hadn't rolled down the side of the mountain!

I picked up the pieces of mirror, had a rest and tried to tell a couple of Italians to turn back as the road was closed but they didn't believe me and carried on anyway. Back the way I'd come, back to the Hofer (Aldi) in Lienz and a few minutes after I'd parked up and was trying to figure out why the pieces of mirror wouldn't fit together MB pulled into the car park! I truly didn't expect to see him for another 24 hours at least, utterly amazing. We got back to find a crazy German kid who was cycling his way through the countries along the outside of Germany, much cake and beer was had.

Friday and time was starting to get a little tight but not tight enough to stop us going to see the Dolomites, MB's most favouritest place and I can see why. It started well with Cortina D'Ampezzo feeling very, err, Italian somehow. Beautiful and no one was in a rush.

 The campsite was found, the tent was put up (and some idiot left it slightly open in the rain ) and then we left again to go see some Dolomites. Some of these are really high up, we saw ~2200m and were well into the snow but somehow it didn't feel nearly as majestic as the Grossglockner at 2500m, perhaps because the cloud didn't let us see how high it was. Then it was time for some pizza!

The base was ridiculously thin and crispy, it was just generally delicious. The same couldn't be said for the alcohol free beer which tasted like alcohol free homebrew but hey ho, the coffee afterwards helped us cope. The barmaid watched us all the time we were eating the pizzas, it is possible that one is meant for two people and she was disgusted by our gluttony but whatever. A group of bikers and the manager/owner of the place also formed a group around my bike, Ks are rare on the continent for some reason and they seemed interested in it. I just wished the mirror was still intact..

After that it was back down and sadly into the rain. When MB says we stopped at a petrol station with a bar he is not joking, people were (probably) knocking off work on a Friday and off to the bar for a few drinks. But the bar also happens to be a petrol station. Once the rain subsided it was back to the campsite in case we got caught in rain like that again and the roads were already wet, not a whole lot of fun when they're so twisty. The night consisted of wheat beer, salad, pizza and Atlas branded paint stripper high strength lager.

The next day was the first of the run home, a sad feeling. MB has covered about as much as I can remember off hand, though the German campsite that night was memorable because 1) The Bavarian beer on tap is as delicious and tangy as people say and 2) My goulash had an enormous chilli in it that turned out to be really burning hot. It was delicious otherwise though, from what I could taste. Still, onwards!

MB & Snod Blatters Alpine adventure.. Slovenia and beyond... Part 5

motobiker's post:

Slovenia turned out to be a bit of a disaster - at the time, but given what happened later I actually think it was for the best.  The original idea was to spend a day or two there - as it turned out we were in and out in a day.

The campsite in Austria was really quite pleasant and as Snod says almost completely deserted. A young lad who was working a few fields away spotted us arriving and came over. we told him we were just staying the one night, so he contacted the owner and went off to get keys to open up the toilets and showers for us. Dinner that night was another lidl special and really nice too under the stars in almost complete silence miles from anywhere.  Next morning the owner turned up and charged us just 5 euros each he seemed happy enough - Snod suspected he was just 'some bloke' and we had been ripped off. strange lad.
We were only about 10 miles from the Pass which would take us across a bit of Italy and then on into Slovenia. A lovely road... not as steep a climb as many of them, lovely wide sweepers by comparison - it was obviously not a well used pass - At the top it soon became apparent that this was a skiing destination. with hotels and so on.. all very much closed with a lot of work going on.
Then.. 'Passo Chiusu' - pass closed signs and a barrier across the road. I sat there and wondered for a moment which alternative route to take when this little italian car came shooting up the road behind us.. signalling that we should 'go for it' and off it went down the 'closed road'.

We followed.. after a few miles we came to the first bit of works, nothing serious - the guys in the car stopped for a natter and we carried on - a lot more cautiously. never really knowing what was round the next corner.. for all we knew the road might simply disappear!! and leave us with nowhere to turn round. But.. as it happened the road was closed due to some major work going on next to a tunnel - a huge crane. was partially blocking the entrance. but.. we went through and just on the other side came to another 'Pass closed" sign.. and there, we were in the clear.  Seemed the road wasn't really closed at all. Maybe 'some' vehicles wouldn't have got through.. but we did.

A little further and we reached the little town of Pontebba. a place that seemed to have taken 'faded glory' and turned it into an art form. some of the buildings were so 'gently faded' they looked like they had been painted that way.. but no, it was all quite natural. has to be seen to be believed though.

 breakfast.. a panini and coffee.

after that another winding and really badly surfaced road took us over the heights and into the next valley.

Various road types.. some really quite good, some pretty awful. its always pot luck in Italy and eventually we were there. the Slovene border.

The rest of the afternoon was spent galumphing round the countryside.. the practically deserted countryside. A stop at another Lidl to pick up supplies and then on to our intended campsite for the night at Bled. after a short stretch of road that had been completely dug up. a very hairy 5 or 10 minutes off roading on what was left of a road.. I took a wrong turning and in a flash was lost. we stopped at a cafe and got talking to a 70yr old chap who was cycling from Rome to Oslo and was in desperate need of hills to climb on his bike. MAD! My maps of Slovenia weren't the right scale.. so many of the roads we needed weren't even marked. and worse.. the maps on the sat nav - had zero data!  so.. after an hour or so going round in circles we gave up and crossed back into Austria.. over another very nice but little used pass. calling into a garage to fuel up and ooh and aah at the cakes in said garage. while locals looked on smoking and enjoying a swift half litre of beer. in the petrol station.

it comes as a shock.. but you soon get used to it. smoking and drinking in petrol stations. pretty normal.

After that.. headed for a campsite. Snod turned down the closest. a naturist one. and so we headed for one close to a lake. Big mistake that was..  as dusk fell it became Mosquito hell. Snod was completely unaffected. I had 12 bites in total. Still... once we were back in the tent we were free of them and next morning they were gone.

breakfast was served to us by a rock chick in a roadside diner... she didn't speak a word of english but was all smiles and who could resist.

We had been told that the weather on the north side of the Alps was pretty horrible still.. a lot of rain about in bavaria and round berchtesgaden - so.. we decided to head west, sticking to the southernmost Austrian valley.. the Lachtal and pop back into Italy. I had convinced Snod that a look at the Dolomites (as we were so close) was a good idea.. and then we would turn for home and head over to the Black forest.

My post:

 After MB had given his money away to a random fellow we filled up with cheap Austrian petrol and headed to Italy. The pass was broken (as mentioned) but we made it through easily enough, to arrive at a cafe with melty cheesy things and the parking spaces outside covered in drops of oil, it definitely went to Italy. We sat talking to an old German man about our bikes and where we had been, his wife (maybe?) translating for us, all very nice. The next road was more sun bleached rocks and blue river, hairpins and tunnels.. You really can get used to it. Then, suddenly, an abandoned border crossing like something straight out of a Cold War novel.. The border with Slovenia was really serious business not so long ago and you can feel its oppression.

Still, Slovenia! Down the hill to the junction, only to find that the Mangart road we wanted to go up was still closed - a common theme for the trip, May is just too early for a lot of high up places. Still, off we go to the first campsite along some beautifully surfaced roads with nice views, even being chased by other bikes along the end of it. At this point Slovenia is rating A++ (Austria is A++++) but because the Mangart was closed we arrived at 2:30PM, what a waste of a day if we stop. Onwards to lake Bled, possibly the largest tourist attraction in Slovenia.. We don't really have any maps but it'll be signposted all over, 'course it will!

It wasn't.

The deeper we went into Slovenia the worse the roads became, the highlight being the "offroading" that MB mentions - the surface had been torn off and replaced with crushed rock, the pieces of which were a good 6-8cm in diameter and jagged as you like, shifting around under the tyres in a horrible manner. This was okay (not really) in a straight line but then there was a hairpin and it continued upwards the other way.. Pretty sure I held my breath for a couple of minutes until it was over. Just after this MB went to ask the crazy old cyclist where we were and I snapped this pic:

It's not much but I think it's all we have of the inside of Slovenia. On we went, past a thoroughly ridiculously coloured lake that looked to be filled with copper sulphate but is just a wide part of a river and along back roads that are made of patches upon patches upon patches. MB's GS looked to be making sense, the K100 making life difficult with its wallowing and general incompetence at poor road surfaces. After a bit more going round in circles we were both pretty exhausted and the general civility of Austria beckoned.. Sorry Slovenia, maybe I'll like you more next time. I rate it D- for now.

Indeed I did turn down the first naturist campsite in Austria, but I'm not sure it could be called a "big mistake"! The next one was near to a lake, but it wasn't a lake really.. It was full of reeds and a bit small. This was actually my first encounter with mosquitoes ever, but they were small and looked pretty harmless. "Do they bite?" we innocently asked the receptionist. "Of course they bite!" was her reply. Haha.. Ha.. Oh she's serious? No one else was outside that evening, they were all old enough to know better. MB joked that we needed a sacrificial cow for the mosquitoes to feed on and leave us alone.. Lucky for me he was the cow.

Breakfast the next day with Rock Chick was delicious, sold as goulash but it was simple beef stew.. But with a bit of crusty bread it was so good. The ice cream was good too, little wonder I seem to have picked up 2kg of extra belly during this trip! It was again baking hot that day though, we stopped a couple of times for drinks and ice creams. But then.. MB went for an overtake, pulled out but then slowed down and pulled back in. I thought he might have wussed out because of the oncoming traffic but it'd be a first. He beckons to me to come ride alongside.. DUN DUN DUNNNN! Flappy clutch lever time. Now what?

MB & Snod Blatters Alpine adventure.. Slovenia and beyond... Part 4

motobiker's post:

the next leg...

We needed to get to Zell am See - at the north end of the Grossglockner.. a fairly easy days ride, the only fly in the ointment being Innsbruck - though as it was sunday it wasn't bad at all.

the ride out of Nauders took us over a really nice road. the L17 'Piller Landestrasse' a fairly minor road with truly excellent tarmac that climbed over a mountain. the views from the top were stunning, looking back up the valley towards nadirs and the swiss border. it was a beautiful day and that - as a start to it really boded well.

we could easily have spent all the day on roads just like that. up and down and round and round, not getting anywhere particular but enjoying every minute... but, Zell am See needed us. so.. soon we were back in the valley floor and galumphing along the 171 through little villages and with the motorway just out of sight for most of the time - it became very warm again.

Lunch was at an odd American diner type place with as it happened pretty awful service. it took a while for us to even be noticed. very strange place.. Austria just isn't like that usually. but.. it seemed very popular with bikers so we stuck it out, the food wasn't bad at all. about what you'd expect from that type of place. Very popular it seemed with H-D and cruiser riders..  which outnumbered GS's. (most odd)

but, like I say. the food was good.

A Ducati turned up - which everyone made a point of ignoring. Thankfully the owner didn't spot me taking a photo...

We passed through Innsbruck fairly quickly... lots of traffic lights. but.. nothing untoward and because time was definitely on our side had a little diversion over another high road...  which passed close to a reservoir and had the inevitable gift shop at its summit with viewing area.

from there it wasn't far to Zell. and we arrived in excellent time.. took just minutes to get ourself booked in. find a half decent spot to camp. (close to the showers)

This was probably the poshest campsite we stopped at. Snod went to investigate the facilities and came back declaring it wasn't a toilet block it was like something out of Resident Evil. The fact that you had to go down stairs under an innocuous building - gave me quite a turn.

This place had everything.. aside from a chimney belching smoke. (Snod thought i was being a bit tasteless)

Once we were set we headed for the restaurant.. the view from our table was, special.

 Snod turned his back on it with more serious matters to attend to.

 Paulaner.. a firm favourite. Sadly, because Austria insists on being highly civilised, shops are shut on sunday - so no cheapo Lidl beer that day.. but hey ho. it wasn't such a sacrifice.

I just gazed at the Glockner...

 when I want otherwise engaged...

after all that we retired inside to the bar and proceeded to get completely meringue.. which as it turned out was a great strategy.. the bill for the meal and food was a bit of a shock. I was sat down.. and don't remember much about it now.

Next morning.. up early. everything packed. first stop - macdonalds.. for a typical Austrian breakfast. then lidl to stock up with beer and food for dinner.. then a shell garage to fill tanks then off for the Glockner.

it was fairly quiet. monday. not many cars or bikes once we passed the last village. through the toll. and onto the road.

theres little that can be said about that road.. its just stunning. very easy to ride.. and ride quickly if you want. we rode its full length 3 times. Determined to get our moneys worth.

The highest point... The Hochtor.  2,504 meters.  air was thin. it was cold. 1.1c but.. it was fantastic.

The tunnel.. just below it.. the inside was coated with ice - really amazing. But, despite all this. the snow, the temperature and so on the road itself was super grippy. the work that goes into opening it and then keeping it open - extraordinary.

We went for a look at the glacier...

Followed by a small treat.

then back out again...

Below the snow line was even more wonderful...

so.. we rode its full length three times... and truly wonderful it was.  this road is a MUST for anyone with an itch to travel..  well worth the effort of going. you pay €24 for the privilege - but you really do get your moneys worth. its a stunner. But.. finally we had to say goodbye. and dropped back down to the Valley floor.

And went in search of a campsite.. the next day we were heading into Slovenia.

My post:

The American Diner place was a bit strange, with slightly nonsensical slogans dotted around on stickers but it gave a hint at the car culture Austria seems to have - it's tremendous. A bit like we had here in the UK in the late '90s (so I'm told by people old enough to remember such things). We also soon saw at least two people being fined by the Polizei, you have to be careful in Austria - none of the locals speed in villages, it's serious business.

Trying to find our way to Zell we stopped at a little place called Worgl to let MB disconnect himself from his earplugs which were attacking his ears. Just a normal view in Austria.. Looking towards Zell:

 And away:

 On to Zell, and after a bit of staring at the map of the campsite discover the facilities are underneath the main building. Open the security door by swiping a keycard and you enter a world of white tiles and strange rooms, flashbacks to the underground lab in Resident Evil 2 were had. Weissbeer was needed.

After packing up the tent in the morning dew (definitely didn't mention any dews) and MB having his bike looked over by some Czech Beemer riders we were off. The Austrian McDonalds breakfast was strange in that it was actually good, with deliciously crusty bread.. Breakfast is definitely important over there. No time for this though, there was a mountain to climb! To the toll booths to hand over a bit too much hard earned, which despite there being a bike booth still requires you to ride through it fumbling with money and gloves, then fumbling with the ticket and info leaflet they give you.. But it's always the same. Thankfully just after there is a place to stop:

Having not done anything like it before I didn't know what to expect, but 2504m above sea level is really high. The gear was kept on because it's cold, and even had a go at snowing on us. I now understand why so many high passes don't open until later, May is really pushing it. The thinness of the air is noticeable, poor MB being done in by a few stairs up to the cafe (I wasn't far off myself!) and some silly Japanese bike outside refusing to start on the button, needing a group of people to push it. It was on GB plates.. We carried on to see the glacier, and parked up with about eight other bikes. Further inspection revealed they were all on GB plates, the Brits really do get about and apparently we have no imagination. My bike was of course by far the oldest though which pleased me greatly and was becoming a running theme.

As MB says we went down to the other end, then back across again, and then across again because why not? Flying Mode was employed on the brick on the final run, at least up the mountain.. It loves it. Flying Mode was not employed on the way down though because it just doesn't work so well downhill, the forks get too compressed and there just isn't enough braking. MB has none of these problems and merrily ran along at his usual pace, surprisingly hard work to keep up!

Back to just another Austrian campsite, once we found someone in charge (it was otherwise deserted):

A great day.