Day 6 - Bohinj

After reviewing the information provided by Jani and my own pre-travel notes, I embarked on a tour of Bled. The lake and mountains around Bohinj is stunning.

Pausing for photo's, I then rode to the Vogel cable car station which rises to 1800m. I had a little walk at the top but the paths were not kind to my weak foot so by the time I returned to the cable car, I was limping.

The return ride to Bled was fantastic, I chose the quieter roads which led through lovely villages and pine filled forests. It was so good, that when I reached Bled, I u-turned to do it again, stopping half-way for a late lunch of pork steak and a beer.

Day 5 - Postojnska Jama

In the early 80s I had visited the Postojnska caves whilst on a coach trip to Italy. Back then, Slovenia was Yugoslavia and I was interested to see if anything had changed. So I packed the bike, bought a motorway vignette from a gas station and headed west. After being directed to a secure spot next to the car park booth, I purchased a ticket which included entry to a castle a few kms away. Almost 30 years later, the entrance to the caves, the shopping and eatery areas, were exactly as I remembered them. The caves are huge; all tourists are guided, at first by a small train deep into the cave, followed by a 1km walk, returning by train. If you can ignore the coach passengers and wanna-be photographers, the caves are quite spectacular.
I moved onto the castle, said to be one of the oldest in Slovenia. But sadly, it had been fully restored in the 90s and had lost character. But its location was great and had it been cooler, there was more to see in the area. Knowing I had a fair distance to ride to get to Bled, where I had pre-booked a recommended hostel bed, I programmed the SatNav to take me there via the non-motorway route. A few kms later, it pointed towards a thick gravel road and wasn't happy to take it. So I turned down the only piece of tarmac, only to find myself in someone's garden with the family sat outside. I removed my helmet to prove I was a dumb blonde who meant no harm - the man strolled over, looked at my written directions and said "No, you must return to the motorway". Feeling deflated, I returned to the motorway and headed north to Bled. On my arrival, the owner, Jani, greeted me enthusiastically. He had cleared a space in his garage for my bike, briefly introduced me to his biker friends at the nearby bar and provided me with a comfy bed with no one else in the room. That evening, I went for a stroll to the lakeside and munched on a pizza for dinner.

Day 4

Today was spent meandering around the town, visiting the castle and reading in the park.


It was good to have a non-riding day, the pain in my shoulder hadn't eased. I contemplated looking for somewhere to have a massage but decided that it may be incorrectly interpretated....

Day 3 - Sept 4th

Breakfast was an ample self-service buffet & I was back on the autobahn by 9.30.

After an hour or so, I was fed up. The pain in my shoulders had returned and I was desperate for a rest. I purchased an Austrian autobahn vignette for the bike (4.70 euros) and passed through the border.
I checked the map and found a bit of a circular route which would take me over a little pass and through some villages. I took the exit to Rottenmann.

Since it was Sunday most shops in villages were closed. I spotted a harley at a cafe & pulled in. Enjoyed a very nice pasta dish with a huge cold drink for 9 euros. Back on the bike, I rode through the mountain pass, got more petrol then rechecked the map. Unfortunately, I was a little further away from the motorway than expected so I had a blast back towards Graz.
At the next Austrian checkpoint, there was a sign for a Slovenian Vignette so I asked to buy one. She charged me 7.50 euros but gave me no bike sticker, just a receipt. In my broken German, I questioned what I was buying but didn't understand her reply. As I rode away, intuition told me I'd just been ripped off. Bitch.

I entered Slovenia and switched on the GPS & programmed it for Ptuj without using motorways. I'd heard there could be a big cash fine without a vignette.

The original but deserted border control was a mess and the state of the road was terrible, cobblestones and broken up tarmac. I hoped the cars ahead didn't stop.
Despite it being 3.30, the heat was oppressive.

The minor roads to Ptuj weren't too bad. I rigidly stuck to the speed limit & was overtaken by both bikes and cars, ignoring solid white line and blind bends. But I arrived in Ptuj and found the hostel with just 1 u-turn.

It was closed.

However, a woman performing a U turn in the car park, got out to chat to me. Between us and a bit of German, she understood I needed a room. Turned out, her son ran the hostel & 10 minutes later, I had a twin room. The shared bathroom facilities were very clean and there was free internet access but nothing else.

I showered, changed and went for a walk. There were 2 restaurants near the hostel. One appeared to be full so I chose the other - a chinese.

Day 2 - into Germany

The bike had remained upright - a good start. Getting through passport control was easy (he didn't even open my passport!). I pulled over to set the GPS to get me onto the right motorway and head south towards Brussels and then Frankfurt.

My first stop near Liege was at a petrol station which confused the hell out of me. A french man explained I had to pay for fuel first but I had no idea how much the tank needed! So I gave her 10 euros and decided it was their loss I didn't buy a full tank. As I paid the woman explained, if 10 euros was too much, I should return for the change. Typical!

At the gas station, 4 brits on bikes explained they were on their way to the Nurburgring. The day was hot and they were collapsed on the grass verge - said they'd been riding "flat out" since getting off the ferry. They didn't see the irony that I had been on the same ferry.

I headed towards Frankfurt. Alongside the autobahn, I noticed the KPMG offices looked like a gigantic cruise liner. It was a tough ride, the heat was almost unbearable. I had bookmarked an Etap hotel near Wurzburg but as I approached around 6pm, I decided with another 2 hours of daylight I could make it to another Etap at Regensburg - meaning I was 120 miles further south.

At this point, the scenery changed. I was surrounded by pine forests with a great aroma and the farmland was pretty. The temperature dropped and the air felt refreshing. For a while, I was happy I'd made the decision to continue riding. But after an hour, I developed an ache between my shoulder blades which I could not shift no matter what position I adopted.

The GPS led me to the Etap, just a mile from the autobahn & I was happy to receive an en-suite room for 47 euros including breakfast. Miles today: 550

Day 1 - Fri 2nd Sept

My intention was to travel light which, without camping gear, it should have been easy. I packed and unpacked and repacked several times. Should I pack for cold and wet or hot and sunny? 2 yrs ago, also in Sept, I had taken a tour of Austria and spent most of the time riding in waterproofs wearing almost all my clothes.

Eventually, a waterproof holdall contained clothes, toiletries and spare shoes. A top box held electronic gadgets and leads, a few bike things, waterproofs and hi viz vest, first aid kit and a map of europe. Lastly, the tank bag, held immediate essentials - money; passport; gps; phone; glasses and spare contacts; sunglasses and spare gloves.
I set off from the house with plenty of time to spare and took a casual A road route to Hull.

Boarding the ferry was relatively easy, although I dislike the steep and narrow ramp that P&O like to direct bikes onto. These days, they don't help to tie the bikes down either, so I grabbled a couple of ropes and made a vague attempt to secure it to the ground.

I had booked a shared female room & was lucky to find no one in the cabin so took a bottom bunk. But in fact, no one at all joined me which made it very pleasant.
Later, in the bar, I didn't recognise any bikers from the ferry queue so perched on a stool to read my book of Slovenia. A Belgian truck driver began to chat and I then spent a nice couple of hours discussing politics, travel and the hidden gems of Belgium. I declined the offer of a 2nd beer as I didn't want to give him any ideas of anything more than a friendly chat.

Why Slovenia?

For some time, I've liked the idea of touring the Balkans but I've been unsure about going alone. I don't speak the language and wasn't sure what to expect - although, having already purchased a travel book, I knew there was a lot of beautiful places to see.
After spending almost 3 months not able to ride my bike due to a foot injury, I met a young woman who had been touring the Balkans on her own by motorcycle and she inspired me to make a solo trip too.

So, just 2 weeks before I left the UK, I booked the overnight ferry from Hull and did a bit of internet research. I decided not to overplan the trip as I still wasn't sure how much time I would spend in Slovenia - I also liked the idea of going to the Dolomites area of Italy.