Maybe that's over dramatising it a bitMaybe that's over dramatising it a bit.The next day dawned damp and uninspiring but a bit of encouragement from Her Indoors and a conflab with Steve(the chap from Colne)led to us rugged blokes hi-ing us off to the forests in search of Camp 20,a partisan camp which stayed undiscovered by the Italians in WW2...the next 4 hours gave us an idea why!OK so the signs were in Slovenian and vestigial to say the least we managed to footslog it (suffer suffer)o'er mountains and valleys dank and bear infested(once long ago)finally emerging triumphant and bloody hungry!Well,this is a holiday - you can't expect too much fun.....
Back to camp in Steve's BMW,aaah,luxury so brief!Bean stew down the hatch and Ho! for the open pub where a jovial evening was spent swopping tales of darring-do,possibly over egged,before our returning as mozzie fodder and a good kip.
Monday dawned as they seem to-damp and uninviting but with miles to do through God's own country on our(planned)way to Hungary/Transylvania we bade Steve good luck and tentatively headed off on a dodgy surface of smooth traffic-worn roads with an 18 inch(down to nothing in places)track between giving varying degrees of grip.Kept me busy for a while until the day brightened up around the Zagreb border crossing and the ride was pleasant again.A long sweeping curve gave me a good view of an inviting coffee bar and leg-stretching interlude so I pulled in and we had a brief look around before getting back on for more miles.
Starter buttons are so insignificant until starting doesn't follow....my stomach chilled as the engine turned over but only fired intermittently,not at all given any throttle.By now I was beyond the gut-sickening'Howitz to the Headmaster's study' feeling and into diagnosis mode but nothing nothing nothingfollowed by nothing.Bugger.
Rang my insurers Footman James who cut the call and rang me back to save my mobile credit(more later on Orange crapness)and sat back awaiting assistance.Morale in the basement,sat at a real crossroads knowing nothing.Gutted.
Not much interest was taken of the dejected duo with the pile of luggage and a dead bike for a while.A trio of local lads in a VW Golf wandered over for a look,I nodded in response to their looking us over,then realised this was the local brand of Breakdown assistance! Jernej,Vito and Mitja got stuck in and my initial disparagement was short-lived as their obvious understanding became apparent and time went by and by and by again.By 8 pm 4 hours effort had yielded nothing as far as the bike went(or not in this case)we were however lined up with an evening at home with Jernej and his mum Helene where we were fed,watered and encouraged then on to Vito's uncle Igor's gortza where our kit had been taken earlier and where we stayed in some style(as did the resident ceiling mounted harvest spiders whose harvest was any fly daft enough!)So endeth this chunk,with our Heroes enjoying a well deserved sleep(and a raft of unknowns to chew on!)