Special Dedicace

Pour l'equipe du Credit Agricole de Villenave d'Ornon: le Credit Agricole tellement fort meme a Belgrade en Serbie - merci bcp pour ma nouvelle carte ! J'attends une livraison speciale a Istanbul; la moustache du chef devrait aider au passage de frontiere.

Pour Chopator: On a pense a toi au McDo de Belgrade... et aussi au cours des derniers jours sous ces conditions meteo de m.... Tout ca pour etre la en Juin ! ;-)

Serbia

Today we made it from Slavonski Brod to Nis. We rode more than 450km and we are exhausted. (Old fortress in Nis)

We had an excellent night in the small residence in Sl. Brod. We had 2 HUGE rooms. We had our first small problem at the border crossing with Serbia. I was ok with my paperwork but the border guard asked us to show the insurance documents and whilst Cyril is insured in Serbia, he didn't have a green card (he didn't know this was required) and hence was required to purchase one at the border. But the problem was quickly solved and we were back on the road for Belgrade.

(At the Serbian border)

The difference between Croatia and Serbia is amazing. Croatia is a well developed country with nice housing, cars, amazing fields etc.... and as soon as you cross the border, the cars are really bad, the houses run down, etc... AND for the first time you have the indications in cyrillic. The motorway in Serbia are empty (you pay a toll) and we were able to move fast.

Big news! We saw the SUN for the first time since we left! It feels so much better to be on the bikes now.

We arrived in Belgrade for lunch and sorry, went to McDonald's...it was really needed (Xav, on pensait a toi). We were a bit worried for the bikes and hence visited the city in turns so we didn't leave the bikes unattended. Belgrade is actually an ok city, has both the nice Germanic 18 and 19 century style and the good old Soviet style.

In the afternoon we drove to Nis where we are spending the night. Nis is the 2nd biggest city in Serbia and it feels tiny. I can guarantee we are currently the only foreigners! We are in an old Soviet style hotel in the middle of the city. It is so old that we fear the windows are going to fall-off if you touch them (they are actually taped!). We were able to park the bikes in the service entrance, hence safer than on the streets. Oh and Robert De Niro came to this hotel once...he seemed bloody young.

(Robert de Niro)

Tomorrow we will visit a 12 century Serbian monastery and then cross into Bulgaria and stop in Sofia before heading closer to Turkey.

I've updated the photo albums with pictures from Serbia

(Austrian embassy in Belgrade)

(Pour Manon)

Opatija - Sl Brod

As Cyril said, we were finally able to move ahead today. It took us 3 attemps to go to Zagreb, but we made it! I just would like to add, that the wind was still quite strong next to the coast and we climbed up to 900m in 1st gear and held up a long queue of cars and trucks. They all looked at us as if we would come from Mars. At the petrol station at the top of the mountain, we met Goran, a friendly Croatian that chatted with us for a while and couldn t believe we would do the trip we mentioned to him. Generally speaking most Croatians we spoke to were super friendly and all were able to help. We both had such a grea time here (hmm apart from the restaurant owner where Cyril got sick).

It felt so great to be driving again after being stuck on the Croatian coast for 2 days.

In Zagreb, Cyril and I had our first fall. NOBODY should worry. We were both at standstill, Cyril came to close my bike and a strap at Cyril s bike caught something at the back at mine and hence destabilised the bikes and we fell. We had a big laugh. Nothing happened to the bikes or us but this is Official Fall nr.1 (Maddy, how right you were about today).

Some other stats today: We had our coldest day (-3.5c), it was my wettest day (the bath was soooo great) and I drove my bike over its first 1000km with me! My odometer is at 1120km.

I have finally downloaded my pictures from my camera, hence sorry if they include many pictures from the start to now. I have also updated the photo albums (see links in the right column).

(Day 1 - Cyril covered in snow/ice)

(Ljubljana)

(Cyril 10mins before being sick)

(Our hotel in Opatija)

(My bike in the mountains next to Rijeka)

(Goran)

(Zagreb)

(Special pour Manon)

(Special pour Manon nr.2)

(After our wet drive...finally at the hotel)

Heading Towards Serbia

If you are looking for a good restaurant in Rijeka, I know a very good one. Tourista guaranteed !

Long day today but we finally made some progress and managed to reach Zagreb on our 3rd attempt. The highway was still closed to traffic because of snow and wind and the police redirected us towards the country road "for safety reason"... don't ask us why, sounds completely illogical!

After crossing the mountain range, the wind calmed down but we then had the cold (-3.5°C) and still quite a lot of snow on the road. On the way down to Zagreb, the temperature turned a bit milder but it started to rain quite heavily... my 6th day since I left London and I have not seen the sun yet !

Spending the night in Slavoinski Brod 200km east of Zagreb and pretty close to the Serbian border. We found a very nice little pension and Niccolo is already enjoying a well deserved bath. If everything goes along plan now, we should catch up with our original schedule and reach Istanbul by Monday.

Still stuck close to Rijeka + Cyril is ill

We had a great plan yesterday night, wake up very early and drive all the way to Dubrovnik in one go. So we woke up this morning at 6h and made our way to the motorway just to discover that the wind that held us back yesterday was blowing even stronger, so we came to exactly the same point as yesterday talked to the policeman that was warning people of ice and high winds and quickly were discouraged. If already cars were having accidents, lorries weren t allowed with these conditions, we would have been completely mad to pursue on going on.
So, we reversed and came back to Rijeka for a nice breakfast at which Cyril was completely sick...poor cleaning lady. We decided to go back a little (15km) to spend the day in Opatija, a nice little "aristocratic" (as the lonely planet says) beach resort. Whilst it being winter, there are many more hotels and the scenery is much nicer than being in industrial Rijeka. I found us a very nice hotel in an old villa (since Cyril is ill and needs a warm and nice place to rest). Cyril has spent most of the day either in the bathroom or in his bed. He has some fever and some stomach aches. Good that I thought of taking all the medikit on the trip (thanks Manon, my pharmacist for indicating what is used when).
I hope he will feel better tomorrow.

Since the wind is not likely to change tomorrow we decided to drive back to Ljubljana and then from there to Zagreb, Belgrad, Sofia and Istanbul instead of going along the coast. This way is faster and hence we shouldn t loose any time on our schedule (bloody Turkmen visa which is only valid for 5 precise days). Unfortunately for us, this means missing out on the beautiful Croatian cost, Dubrovnik, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Greece. That ll be on another trip then.

Pictures to come in the next days.

Stuck in Croatia...

After a leaving Lubjiana under the snow but still making good progress, we met with gusting winds upon reaching the Croatian coast... we painfully learnt that these winds are called "bora" and are quite common on the Adriatic Sea (can last for several days). The bikes were totally impossible to control and we had to ride for several minutes on the emergency lane, on first gear and with warning lights on until we could get out of the highway. The police stopped us and recommended us not to take the coastal road and the road North towards Zagreb was covered with snow. They actually said: "Road closed to Motorbikes!". We tried two different roads down to Zadar but after few kms, there was no way we could go through the wind hence we turned back to reach Rijeka.


Now spending the night there - A bit frustrating but hoping to wake up very early tomorrow to make as much progress as possible before the wind starts blowing later in the day.



(Nicco getting his export stamp at the Croatian border)
(first class parking spot in front of the hotel in Rijeka)
(the bikes need a proper wash - salt already attacking the metal)

Day 1 Together - Across the Alps - Odometer 300 km

Finally on the road together. Just arrived in Ljubjjana in Solvenia after crossing the Alps under the snow. We are already all wet, dirty and tired but happy to be on the move! Heading towards Croatia tomorrow.

(start from Niccolo´s house in Mondsee)

(On the Austrian-Slovenian border - pretty rough)

We also had to make some changes to our schedule. Instead of going to Italy and staying overnight in Istria, we got to Ljubljana. The ride was so exhausting. 30mins after leaving home, we had big snow storms and they lasted for most of the road (up to 20km before Ljubljana). We even had to slow down to 50km/h on the motorway at times as the road was quite slippery.

Anyhow, we got there and will now enjoy a good Slovenian dinner before crashing into our beds.

It is unbelievable how dirty our equipment is after 1 day of snow and dirty motorways...the shower was great.

See below another picture from the bike under the snow (after leaving the bike 10mins for a warm cup of coffee):

D-1 for Niccolo

Today is D-1 for me. Cyril must be on his way down to Austria as we speak. He was in FFM yesterday night. Poor guy, he had to drive in some horrendous storm in Europe. I hope the weather will be nicer in the next days.
I have some pictures from my bike at the BMW dealer, the bike whilst being prepared for the trip and the stuff that I will need to take with me. There is a LOT of stuff, but don't worry, some is for Cyril as well. By the way, I had a short hair cut...should last me a while and I like the beard! Today I resigned. I feel ready to go now.

A few pictures from the last few days

(With Michou and Fred in Frankfurt)

(Securing the bike in the ferry after a 2 hour wait)

UK-France-Belgium-Germany

(Signs by the highway blown over by the wind)

The Western-European leg of the trip was supposed to be a walk in the park but this is so far quite challenging. A storm on the Channel delayed our ferry by about 4 hours and prevented Maddie and I reaching Brussels yesterday night. But the worst is the wind - 70 to 90km/h side winds since we left that forced me to constantly ride with a 10/15 degree angle. With the large surface of the bag and the side paniers, each blast shakes the bike quite dangerously and i have had to limit the speed to 100km/h. Will have to taste the freedom of the German highways some other time!

(In the morning by the coast in Dunkerque)

I left Maddie in Brussels at lunch time today - was quite emotional for the both of us! Should reach Köln later this afternoon and depending on how fresh i feel, i might try to get to FKT before nightfall and catch-up with the initial schedule.