Photo shows somewhere in the north of croatia. Actually writing this in a hotel room in Albania, but have a lot to catch up on. The last few days have been incredible. A few days ago, not sure when (i’m not even sure what day it is now!) we were in northern italy riding up the Stelvio pass when Dave dropped his bike. I rushed back to make sure he was ok, as a car driver helped pick up the bike. Making sure dave was alright, we set off again only for Dave to come on the radio saying something was wrong. No gears. We are 8000 feet up a mountain with snow around us and a steep road beneath us, with a broken bike and nowhere to fix it. We rolled down to a safer spot and tried to see what might be wrong. I tightened the gear lever and then we adjusted the clutch. No joy. Only one thing for it, a freewheel ride down the mountain to see if the bike shop we saw advertised, opposite the last petrol station we used, could be of use. Fortunately it was downhill all the way and dave did well to roll it there, but the bike shop looked deserted, abandoned even. Nothing more than a shed and a couple of old bicycles. I went off to look around for other options while dave stayed with the bikes. I spoke (in german) with a waitress in a coffee shop who said the bike shop would be open again at 2. So we waited. Meanwhile i called dave lambeth who suggested a bent gear selector shaft, which would have been a major problem. When the person we thought was bobo turned up, he tried the bike, found that the gears didn’t work and said, "problem". Yeah. We know. It didn’t give us much confidence. Shortly, the boss turned up, and inspired quite a bit more confidence. Soon he revealed the underground workshop we hadn’t noticed, and then revealed the missing countershaft nut we also hadn’t noticed. That would be the problem then! Some time later, a new nut was welded on over the stripped thread, and off we went, back for a second bite of the stelvio. What a road! Incredible views, classic sports cars tearing the place up, hotels perched over sheer drops, and mile after mile of breath-taking hairpin bends. Picked up the obligatory sticker at the top, and off we went. Down was even more incredible than up! But by now we had lost a lot of time and were also realising how tiring and slow it is on these twisty mountain roads, so we decided to try to catch up some time by modifying our route and cutting the corner of slovenia. Using our now proven method of camp site discovery, we picked a suitable looking lake to head for, and some hours later we were there and indeed had no problem finding a decent camping spot by the lake, this time with the bonus of a pizza parlour, for the best pizza i’ve ever had, at the end of another very long day.
Croatia
2 Jun
