I forgot to mention that in Zagreb I lost my Ipod, bloody annoying as I really miss having music while riding. You may remember that I put the Ipod as the number one thing that I brought with me on this trip.
Ok so now I'm in Italy, I have decided to go to the Dolomite Mountains to play. Again motorcycling heaven, you can tell just by the amount of bikers here, loads of Italians, Austrians and Germans. Most of you will know that this region is also famous for it's ski fields. Really is stunning, the scenery is fantastic and of course you have those beautiful mountain passes with loads of hairpin bends. I had originally intended to stay my first night in Cortina d'Ampresso but the hotels were full and the ones I could get a room wanted €150 a night! so I had to backtrack to the previous village (still not cheap). I met two Swiss bikers at the hotel and we spent the evening together chatting and drinking some vino (the house red is so cheap. They gave me a copy of motorcycle routes through the Dolomites which take in all the good mountain passes and I spent the day riding as many as I could. Great, great day but I knackered. Tonight I am staying in Bozen (Bolzano) and have lashed out and brought a tent, sleeping bag and mattress as the hotels for the rest of my trip are going to be expensive. If I camp (not my forte!) for three nights it will have covered the cost of the gear so not a bad deal. Now I just have to find the campsites!. Actually the swiss bikers told me that I would meet a lot of other bikers at the sites and that they are very well equipped with showers and even food is available (I'm not into camp cooking!). So we will see how it goes.
Really enjoying this part of my travels
Kia Kaha