Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Croatia has quite a long coastline I found out today. The rule of all coastline lengths are infinitesimal if you measure with a small enough ruler. Around headlands, onto a peninsula and over a ferry all were part of the plan. However, these curvy roads around the coast had absolutely no shade (even though I left at 6am it was already 28 degrees) and I really struggled today with the heat hitting 38 at one point. Once over the border into Slovenia it was much greener and trees lined the roads making it much easier to seek shade when needed. There was also a tunnel and I managed to make 100m last about 2 mins to take advantage. The last hour or so of the day was following the river Soca up the valley and my campsite gave me direct access. I think a personal best of getting in the river 9 mins after arriving and that included checking in and pitching the tent. I will now be playing "Thunderstorm Chess". There are storms blocking my way home...

Now safely out of Bosnia, here is what happened. I had heard stories of insurance being refused or charged at extortionate rates on the Bosnian border so I went on the Bosnia Government website to get the details of which border had insurance agents. On arrival at said border, it transpires there is no insurance but this was no problem for the canny border police. He claimed he could sort if for €50. I questioned what he meant, ie sort insurance or ignore the no isurance and all I got was €50 equals no problem. Having queued for 90 mins to get this far I thought sod it, I am not going back through to another border that may or may not have insurance. So I decided to bluff, I showed him the online webpage showing insurance was available and told him I had looked it up and it was only €20 for a motorbike. He had a change of heart and agreed €20 was fine. So, I think he knew that I knew that he was asking for a bribe but I still pushed it and said, so for...

A very interesting day involving some challenging riding through Montengro and having to bribe a Bosnian border official due to "irregularities" with my documents. The Durmitor National Park is amazing and I will update this with some links once I get some faster wifi. The roads and views were worth travelling for and I would consider visiting again in winter for some skiing. Now at a very windy campsite in Bosnia where the owner laughed at my tent pegs and gave me a hammer and long nails to use. I had a nice swim in the cold but clear river only metres from my tent. Great to meet 3 British cyclists who are riding home from Athens and to go and have a meal together and share our experience. They are off super early but I have a short day tomorrow to get to the Croatian coast so may have a lie in until 7am.

Well, today did not go quite as planned. I was all up for an early start with tent down and bike packed by 6.30am. Unfortunately I hadn't seen the notice saying gates open at 8am. Oh well.  So after claiming my free coffee at 8.01 I was wheels rolling by 8.07 on way. Border with Albania,. Easy. €15 for insurance all under 15 mins and on way to my target campsite, high up in mountains near the Kosovo border. I assume there would be a breeze up high. Wrong! It was 35 degrees and I was sweating.   Arrived at the campsite for 2.30pm. Bargain. What! Closed until July. Bugger! Google said next nearest was 68km in the wrong direction (that is about 90mins on those roads).  As only 20min from Kosovo I thought I would carry on and take first campsite there. This was only €10 for insurance and a little longer at nearly 20mins to get sorted.  Through the border, fill up bike and grab a fizzy drink. Use free wifi and ask loca...

6am start and it was already 26 degrees. Based on thunderstorm forecast in Albania, I headed back into Macedonia to look for the road that the chap in the petrol station had told me about. It was very much worth it plus being high up it was cooler and there was a breeze. Following the road back down it was all around Lake Ohrid to arrive at my planned location for the night. What a campsite. Free coffee (and some spirit thing) offered on arrival. Free wifi. Young lad speaks amazing english and told me what was near by and where to go for a run. Free coffee when you get up in the morning. And all this for €5 https://campingrino.com/ So far, I think Macedonia has been my favourite place. Prices are cheap (fuel, food and camping) plus the people are so friendly.

What a difference a day makes! (And 2 countries and 400 odd km) Couldn't wait to leave a wet and miserable Bulgaria this morning with a 6am start and a 3 hour drive to the North Macedonian border.  By rights this should have taken far longer than 20mins  but it was this easy. Show Passport and V5 to get out of Bulgaria Show Passport and V5 to get into Macedonia. As I didn't have a green card for insurance I had to walk 50m to a booth, pay €50 for a month and then walk back to show the guard and collect my passport. Super easy. Hope the other countries I don't have insurance for are this easy though I suspect that may not be the case. The mountain roads in Macedonia were quiet and although not the best tarmac, the views more than made up for it. Lots of storks on lampposts, it was the same in Romania and Bulgaria. A very nice chap with excellent English working in the petrol station told me about the 2 lakes which were the ...