Mogs Travels

Day 13 & 14, Zalbjak & the on to Dubrovnik

One of the reasons for going to Zabljak was to see the Tara river canyon, only 200m less deep than the Grand Canyon. What we hadn't realised was that the only way to see it was on a one or two day raft trip We didn't fancy that ( it was too cold! - I know....we're wimps!) Instead we enjoyed a walk to the Black Lake, which is beautiful shades of blue and green!

Zabljak being a bit of a one horse town we moved on the next day, taking minor roads towards the coast. This was another fabulous days riding through more mountain scenery. The roads were narrow and a bit rough but no problem for the GS's. I wouldn't have wanted to try it on a sports bike though. Initially we crossed a high mountain plateau where the numerous small herds of cattle showed a definite preference for the roadside verges rather than the acres of grassland

The road then continued twisting and turning down river valleys, through woodland and more mountain scenery

We had hairpins down the steep valley side to the small town of Savnik then more hairpins up the other side. On to the rather more industrial Niksic where we refuelled then took the road to Bosnia past some lovely lakes

The border post was up in the mountains

This was the only border we crossed where the police were rather surly and the only one where they asked about insurance. We were marched to a back office by a gun toting policeman and were aghast to be charged €21 each for only 3 days insurance! This compares to €10 or €12 for 15 days in Montenegro & Albania, where we'd had to ask for & hunt down the offices & officials ourselves.

Anyway, insurance bought, we were allowed into Bosnia and some lovely roads to the Croatian border post in the hills above the Adriatic. This one was a border with a view!

There were minimal formalities and we were waved through with a smile. We left the peace and quiet of the mountains and were soon on the busy coast road heading for our next destination - Dubrovnik

Day 12 Kotor to Zabljak

After a couple of days off the bikes we were ready to move on, and we headed off to Zabljak up in the northern part of Montenegro, in the Durmitor National Park. The first section of the route took us up this mountain on a very narrow B road round 27 hairpin bends.

The riding was a little hairy, but the views of the bay of Kotor were superb.

When we got to the top we crossed this bowl shaped plateau, which in winter can have up to 1 metre depth of snow. Truly one of those places where you can swim or ski on the same day as the temperature at sea level is often 15 degrees C in January.

Just as we started the descent from the plateau we saw these hills stretching into the distance.

From here the gentle slope down led us out of the Lovcen National Park, and on towards the capital city of Podgorica. We crossed the city without difficulty and headed up the Moraca canyon towards Mojkovac.
Here's a picture of Elvie riding up the limestone canyon.

After Mojkovac we turned right and followed the Tara river towards the Tara gorge. After just a few kilometres we were several hundred feet above the river and we came across this memorial stone to a skier.

We don't know who he was, or what he did, but the views were fantastic. This is a view down to the valley floor.

The road continued to climb as it headed for Zabljak, and we soon reached the famous Tara bridge whick marks the entry in to the Tara Gorge which at 1,300 metres deep is second only to the Grand Canyon.

From here we climbed even higher onto an upland plateau and pulled into the M B hotel in Zabljak just as the chill in the air was starting to make itself felt.

It wasn't too long until we were settled in the bar with a beer, discussing the day's ride. We both felt it was probably the best ever day we'd had on a bike.

Day 8 Vlore to Shkoder

This was by far the worst day's ride of the whole trip! It started off on a reasonable single carriageway road but heavy with cars and slow lorries. The scenery was nice enough and at one point the road went through an avenue of huge eucalyptus trees which filled the air with their aromatic scent. With clear noses we then reach Fier and the start of the motorway. This was fairly empty and free flowing but after 50K we were back on a busy, slow single carriageway road, here we had some horses and carts to contend with as well as the slow lorries. We got slightly lost after Durres and had a very pleasant ride on minor rural roads until a stop at a filling station where the local lads helpfully pointed us in the right direction to a bit more motorway. Just before Tirana we turned left onto a major road with major road works and heavy traffic. We had 85K on it & it was horrendous! The extensive roadworks involved large stretches without tarmac but with deep potholes. The cars were really struggling not to bottom out. We arrived at Shkoder mid afternoon but the journey had seemed an awful lot longer!

This seems an opportune time to mention Albanian driving . This is universally condemned as being appalling though, once used to it, we didn't find it so bad, just different. The worst was definitely on this day's journey where fast expensive cars would overtake in the face of oncoming traffic at ridiculous speeds. Fortunately the majority of Albanian cars are clapped out old wrecks that stick roughly to the speed limits. The limits are very low by Western standards so most of the time one had plenty of time to anticipate and react to the usual Albanian modus operandi. Town limits are 20 or 40kph, outside of town is 60kph and the motorway limits are only 80kph. On the motorways in particular there were police with mobile speed traps every couple of miles.

In towns and smaller roads driving was interesting! There were few rules regarding right of way. On the whole major roads had right of way over any minor roads joining ( so that's better than some towns in France!) Cross roads were largely by negotiation, with no road markings and often traffic lights that didn't work. I didn't quite manage to work out the rules for roundabouts! It was acceptable for cars to stop, often at a strange angle, for the driver to have a chat to another car driver or pedestrian and then to pull away without any indication. Mobile phone use was common though it seemed to be the rule to slow to 5-10 mph while you were doing so. No one got angry at other road users and there was no horn tooting. In Vlore the main street was a three lane dual carriageway, though the inside lane and half the middle one was occupied by parked cars. Turning left across it was easy as traffic stopped and gave way. Perhaps they were just surprised by my indicators! Seriously though, while eating we observed pedestrians crossing & they just stepped out into the maelstrom and everything stopped to let them pass. In some ways it was more civilised than home!

Anyway in Shkoder we took Lonely Planet's advice and booked into the 5* Grand Hotel for €65 B&B. We were lucky to get a room as a local football team had all booked in for the same night. There was secure underground parking for the bikes. Our room was pretty plush though the shower leaked and there was no plug for the bath! The electric supply was a bit erratic too but breakfast was a feast! The views from the top floor bar were magnificent so we went up there before sunset to take photos of the gathering storm

and later, the setting sun

.

We had a big meal at a nearby traditional restaurant. Here we met four elderly Poles who'd travelled by car from Warsaw via Kosovo. They'd had no problems in Kosovo although commented that it was an incredibly poor country. It was the one place we'd actively decided against visiting due to warnings of possible trouble near the Serbian border. Perhaps we'll put it on the itinerary for next year? Anyway, afterwards, a good night's sleep and good breakfast banished traffic problems from our minds and put us in the mood for the days ride into to Montenegro

Mogs Travels

Male (that's pronounced Marlay by the way!)

Theluveligaa

A Life on the Ocean Waves.

Frost!

Off on our Travels Again!

Elvie's Return!! A Morning in Roath Park

Thursday 15th. A good end to a very sad day.

A Day in the Bay

23rd November. Taree to Byron Bay.

21st November. A short road trip. Day 1. Canberra to Katoomba.

17th November. A boat trip in Hervey Bay

15th November. A day on the beach.

12 th and 13 th November a night at Tangalooma Beach Resort.

Friday 11th November. A day at the koala bear sanctuary

Thursday 10th November

Wednesday 9th.

4th - 6th November. A weekend on Fraser Island.

Safe and sound in Australia

Tuesday 27th September. Roath Park

Sunday 25th September. A Day at the Zoo

A Few Days with Anne and Bill

The Peak District

A Night at the Theatre

Thursday 1st September. St. Justinians a circular walk

Tuesday 30th August. Seals on Stack Rock

Sunday 28h August. A day out at Carew.

Thursday 25th August Manorbier Castle and Lamphey Palace

Fishing on the Sleekstone

Lunch at Druidstone.

A Trip to Dale

A Day Full of Great News

Llanelli WWT

Off to West Wales

Our First Skype Call

A Random Evening

The last day

The Last Sleep.

A change in our lives.

A ride on our bikes

Early Start.

Highs and Lows

Chichen Itza

Cancun. Mexico.

Gaz's Birthday.

Saturday 26th March. Beechenhurst Sculpture Trail

A walk with P and V

Tintern

Dunster & Cleeve Abbey

Dunkery Beacon & Lynmouth

Tarr Steps

New Explorations

Bosherston Lilly Ponds

Bristol Balloon Fiesta

A day's fishing....not

A lovely w/e

Facebook.

Derbyshire

Exmoor

Slimbridge WWT

Silverstone 2

Silverstone Weekend

Wildlife on Skohttp://www.flickr.com/photos/pontydoc/4704617794/mer

Broadhaven at it's Best!

Broadhaven Again

Albarracin

Goodbye Ruidera

A Long Walk

Ruidera

Exploring Antequera

Antequera

MotoGP & the Feria

MotoGP Practice

Jerez 2

Arrival at Jerez

First night - Caceres

Off to Spain

A Watery Theme

Fog

Bakewell & Chesterfield