Day 13 - Coldrano (80 kms ) - " A whodunnit special" !

It was an Agatha Christie / Sherlock Holmes mystery all rolled into one ! I'd definitely washed my Orica Green Edge jersey and hung it in the closet but this morning despite triple checking everywhere, it could not be found.

The chief suspect, one Kevin Henley could recall putting some washed riding gear on our open 3rd floor verandah, but couldn't recall handling the OG jersey.

I'd considered torture to make the suspect "spill" but Wimbledon (H's pet hate) wasn't on till later in the day ! Id also considered some form of hypnotherapy transgression but thought that could bring up more issues than any reasonable human could deal with. With H adamant that the jacket could not have gone over the balcony I decided that my best bet was to look in the garden 3 floors below !

Sure enough as I wandered around the garden i spied my jersey hanging up on a hook in reception and momentarily had visions of doing the same to Henley !

With our delay over we hit the trail on another hot day and cycled surprisingly easily into and around Bolzano having only to do a minimal amount of city road riding before again picking up the lovely cycle trail that continued to follow the Adige river northwards.

With spectacular mountain scenery on our sides and in the background (still with smatterings of snow) we continued onwards at a small gradient until we hit Merano.

It was here our profiles showed an average 4% climb which started off actually as a 10% climb in the strong 33 c heat.

At one point I mentioned to Kev that the no 7 on the trail sign indicated 7kms of this type of climbing - Kev's response was to have an immediate cardiac arrest shortly after mine !

Thankfully i was wrong. The numbers in fact indicated the number of each switchback as we worked our way upwards to the ancient toll point of Zoll.

Here we breathed a sigh of relief as the the significant gradient (14% in parts) flattened giving us the energy in the heat to sit back and enjoy the marvelous mountain views

We were passed in the opposite direction by numerous groups of MTB riders suggesting that some good trails were nearby but i suspect that most had caught the train up simply so they could ride the extended free flowing down hill section !

After a coke at Naturs we finally finally at Coldrano at around 6.30 p m. In time for me to plunge into the hotel's pool while H did some relaxing !

Only 1 more day in Italy !

Day 12 - Rest Day - Bolzano

After 600 + kms it was a joy to give relief to our tired bodies and not do all that much on another hot sunny day !

With my panniers splitting we at least had some motivation to get off our butts and head the 10kms into Bolzano on the way looking like a couple of idiots trying to work out how to use the on board ticketing system

Getting out at the last stop the central station at least gave us a point from which we'd be unlikely to get lost as we walked around the picturesque old town section along narrow alleyways.

It was interesting to see Bolzano's original heritage with language and food being much closer to German origin than Italian. In fact if you check out Bolzano's history you'll see that it was annexed from the Austria Hungarian Empire as a playback to the Italians for their entry into WW1 on the side of the Allies - this then meant that some 300,000 Gerrmans were forced to undertake what they referred to as Italianization - today you can see the Gerrnan culture coming to the fore.

With new panniers bought and The 5,000 year old iceman ((Bolzano's main attraction) having a siesta it was back to our hotel to lounge around our 5th floor swimming pool taking in the magnificent mountain views while wondering how the tell we were going to cycle out !

Rest Day

Those two words have a sweet sound
After a longish day in the saddle on Monday it was going to be nice to put the cue in the rack for a day and do nothing , or close to it .
The ride into Blaivers in mid 30's temps was sapping and chasing Litchfield ( who obviously received a covert shipment of performance enhancing drugs from somewhere ) didn't leave much time for a breather. He forgets I'm a SAP ie Senior Aged Person , not the other SAP .
The first surprise in our Blaivers Hotel was ( don't know why according to Mike ) being upgraded from a basement carpark room , or close to it , to a suite , nothing more than we deserve , they obviously recognise classy people .
Very comfortable beds had us waking around 9ish and off to breakfast we went . Bowls of jams , spreads , butters etc made it look impressive but not much else so we were forced to nick several slices of apple strudel , cakes and fruit as payback .
Our first venture of the day was a 10km bus ride into the nearby city of Balzano and an encounter with the Italian bus ticket system . Looked simple enough , place Euro 1.50 into the machine and out comes a ticket , yeah right . Every coin we put in got rejected , just lucky that machine was firmly fixed or it was out the window .After working out ( more by accident ) that we needed to push a button first we finally had our ticket and so the other 28 people in the queue could now get theirs .
I needed some more Euros and this is a whole new battle front , dealing with ATM's only in Italian . After threatening to chew my card up after attempt number 63 I finally extracted some local moolah , that machine was close to destruction also .
One of Mike's panniers was coming apart at the seams and our priority was to replace it . We located a 5 level bike store which made Ivanhoe Cycles look tiny and purchased a set of Deuter panniers .
Back at out hotel we took a closer look at the pannier and decided to attack the split seams with good old Super Glue . It worked a treat in sealing the seams so now he has 2 sets of panniers , you never know when you might need a spare set on tour .
A casual stroll for dinner to the local restaurant where Litchy is attempting to create a World Record for pizzas demolished in 3 months , currently his tally stands at around 12 .
A trip to the 5th floor to sit by the pool completed a most relaxing Rest Day , should be more of it .

Day 11 - Near Bolzano (105 kms) - "Coke & Beer thanks " !

Yesterdays late afternoon thunderstorm that we'd been successfully drowned in, had succeeded in clearing the skies as we set off towards Trento on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning.

It deemed like most of the local population were out cycling on the trails this morning, roadie's a few tourers and many mums & dads !

We headed towards Caldonazzo which took us around the beautiful lake of the same name with Italians sunning by the foreshore and canoeing through the still waters.

Following our guide book we ended up climbing into the small village of Roncogno unsure of which way to go to enter Trento to avoid the motorways. One local in a small blue Citreon in broken English indicated that if we took a small nearby lane we could get to a point where we could carry our bikes down an embankment and over a railway line thus avoiding having to cycle back.

An hour later we'd discovered the old railway line and disused railway station but despite employing Indiana Jones style tactics we had failed to find an exit trail !

So it was back the way we had come eventually crossing over to the other side of the freeway and getting lost on two occasions before climbing through Madrano and Civezzano to eventually find our way into Trento.

Despite our hatred of navigating through cities we thought it would be easy to ride into Trento on a Sunday and find the Adige River by which we could then navigate towards Bolzano - Wrong !

We were sent in 4 different directions by 4 different people before finally finding someone who could speak reasonable English (not easily found in Italy) to tell us we were only 200 metes away from the river after the last person had sent us in the opposite direction !

It had taken us nearly 5 frustrating hours to travel the 35 kms to get here but all was temporarily forgotten as we indulged in a baguette style lunch and took in the beautiful scenery !

Well fed we jumped back on our bikes for the stunning river side side trail ride towards Bolzano

The weather was hot but at least the cycling was flat and other than a couple of stops so Henley could lubricate his family jewels we were making reasonable time.

What impressive scenery to be taken in with giant monoliths either side of you and Austrian style villages disappearing up the many side valleys.

With H starting to fatigue badly after a longish day we finally made our destination at Leifers just 10 km shy of Bolzano and were pleased when the front desk upgraded us to a mini suite where H had just enough energy left to enter the room l

After slightly recovering we were able to venture out for a nearby dinner for some much needed sustenance where because of my thirst I ordered a coke and a beer. The waiter looked at me a little strangely then went away and came back with a suspiciously dark coloured beer - I tasted it and almost spat it out - the waiter had interpreted my request as putting the coke in the beer not providing both separately !

With Henley now at least able to manage a laugh it was time to crawl into bed and enjoy our much look looked forward to rest day tomorrow !

Day 10 - Barco (74 kms) - " The hills come alive "

For those wondering our navigational prowess comes from our occasionally working GPS tablet locator, a German guide book and some bike sgns indicating the Via Claudia Augusta route a 2,000 year old ancient Roman road that runs from Bavaria to the Adriatic - so not exactly NASA !

We left our fabulous host Luciano in Sovramonte with you guessed it, a final grappa laced coffee and descended down yesterdays hard earned 5 kms to cross the river and climb immediately 5 kms towards Lamon.

It was apparent waiting on the top of the climb that Kev was struggling more than normal and upon pulling up complained of chest pain and severe shortness of breath. Thankfully it wasn't a heart attack as I was internally debating whether I'd have the courage to go mouth to mouth, but most likely Kev thought, a cracked rib from his fall going into San Rocco a few days back.

We pulled out the painkillers and loaded H up wondering what effect they may have on top of his grappa and didn't have long to find out.

Riding up ahead towards town I told Kev I'd wait at the next turn figuring that a large road sign saying do not enter did not count as a turn !

Waiting patiently I thought I spied H in the distance riding through the centre of town down the one way road and sure enough after 15 minutes and a phone call I found H had done not only that but had kept going choosing his own turn in the centre of town !

Finally reunited we set about asking directions for the Via Claudia Augusta and were soon climbing a taxing 8km road out donating litres of sweat until we reached the quaint town of San Donato. It was at this point that our German maps showed some alarming facts a) we were off our intended route which was in fact on the other side of the valley and b) the only direct trail was a 7km 4wd track that climbed considerably !

It was interesting that the local who gave us the 4wd trail information was in fact one of the original Snowy Mtn workers having lived in Australia for 15 years before returning to his native homeland !

With considerable grief we descends our 8kms and more back to the bottom of the valley this time climbing 7kms on the other side almost as steep and within a good zip line to San Donato.

After 15kms of climbing H was pretty spent but the climbs and our stops had meant that we had only covered 15 kms forward in 4& 1/2 hours not reassuring when we still had a reasonable distance to coverr.

With some undulating riding we finally had a magic 10 km descent towards the main valley floor that led towards Trento.

We made a fateful late afternoon stop at Nivaledo for a cold drink taking in some cultural Bavarian style dancing before setting off with thunderstorm clouds looming following the Trento bike path signs.

The closer we got to Barco the more ominous the clouds appeared and even the roadies were now pushing to avoid the potential biblical downpour !

Sure enough about 2 kms from our destination we were dumped upon with huge volumes of rain water forcing a hasty retreat to the trees and much cursing !

It soon passed but the damage was done as we cycled into the small village of Barco and set about with difficulty trying to find our unmarked b&b

After asking directions we finally arrived outside close to 7pm to an apartment style buzzer system that no one seemed to answer.

Eventually raising a racket over the background music we were finally admitted but with no restaurants on offer had to race back up to the towns small supermarket before it closed still in our wet gear !

Finally in we settled down for a romantic dinner of cold cuts and some apple custard desert to end a pretty tiring day about 25 kms shy of Trento !

Day 9 - Sovramonte (38 kms) - " Pit lane service " !

After yesterdays draining "walk" and H's insistence on no repeat I was left to study the maps for a work round looking for a more direct route to our destination on main roads !

Henley was so excited to get going that he got up early to pack his bags and put on his bike gear before promptly going back to sleep !

We first took a magic outdoor breakfast in the sun with Francesco feting us while we took in the incredible Dolomite views. Not to be one to ignore a challenge Henley then followed up with his first hammock experience successfully depositing himself before failing miserably when it came time to get out !

Saying goodbye to our lovely host we rocketed downhill through small villages to join the main road and sit back and enjoy the first 8kms which were mainly downhill !

It wasnt long before "eagle eyes" spotted a problem with my rear wheel - pulling over I removed all my gear (panniers not clothes) to establish I had yet another broken spoke !

At the next town Feltre I was directed to a nearby bike shop where they embarrassingly replaced my broken spoke as well as my rear tyre in less than 40 minutes and charged me 34 euro which also included some lube oil (the tyre was marked at 25 euro) - talk about prompt service with a smile !

Back on the main roads again and with a much nicer running bike we came to an intersection that required some decision making - keep going and take on some road tunnels (not recommended) or put on our climbing gear for the 11 kms remaining to Sovramonte.

I'm glad we chose the later because after a few kms we entered the first of 4 road tunnels (there was apparently only one direction). While the last 3 were manageable the first one scared the hell out of us. At 850 metrs long you could hear cars coming from ages away with a steadily increasing noise similar to a fleet of tanks ,!

It was easy to crap yourself not knowing what was approaching. Henley still shell shocked realized in the 2nd tunnel that he was riding in the middle of the tunnel blind no tunnel lights ) until he worked out that he still had on his dark sunglasses !

We gladly exited for a change of nicks and some outstanding mountain views !

The last section of our short days ride was a bum busting 5 kms into Sovramonte where we were greeted by our amazing host Luciano who went way out of his way to make us feel at home by providing us sandwiches and soft drink for lunch and even grappa filled coffee !

With Luciano doing volunteer work for the community we were left to our own devices in essentially his own house. While Kev was feeling energetic going for a walk i was too buggered given the constant sun we've been getting !

Dinner was a long walk downhill to a nearby village to complete a welcome short day !

Re: Day 8 - Tiago (75 kms) - " The category 1 walks begin " !

> A Henley sleep in gave me some time to do a work round thus avoiding the nightmare of cycling through another major city this time Treviso.
>
> This though involved cycling back 7 kms in the direction we'd come late yesterday to pick up the first of two regional roads that would take us a further 50 kms to the foothills of the Dolomite range.
>
> With the impenetrable barrier growing larger by the minute we took our time honoured supermarket lunch (this time Liddls) before tackling the first of our tour climbs.
>
> While the food "fuel" helped what we really needed was some nitro as we launched straight into what appeared to be a 15% gradient sweating bucket loads before deciding that walking the bikes was an easier option !
>
> The 8km climb was "Achilles snapping stuff" pushing our bikes and put to shame by the occasional light weight roadie that flew by.

Rounding one corner I delightedly saw a 10% gradient stupidly thinking the road level would ease - wrong !
>
> I finally made the summit and took time to take the outstanding views that I suspect on a clear day would reach back to Venice
>
> H to his credit also summited some time later although sounding a bit like he was towing his irong lung behind him -  regardless we'd both conquered this really steep opener.
>
> We took time to have a soft drink at the Col strangely in a small bar that a) had no refrigeration and b) had a fire going even though the outside temperature was in the mid 20's !
>
> Slightly refreshed we took the following downhill almost as slowly as the we'd come up as the descent at 15% with loaded bikes required full braking ! Weirdly my bike developed some form of brake fade with my rear brake (hydraulic) function disappearing only to return 5 minutes later when on the flat (????)
>
> A wrong turn at the bottom of our descent had H doing his best Godfather impersonation to extract info before we backtracked (yep up another 15%er) to reach our partly off road track to Tiago . For H it was his first off ride ride since his accident as he rode nervously still suffering the after affects 4 days later !
>
> After a hell of a tiring day we reached Tiago at nearly 7p.m. and took up our B&B owners gracious offer to come down and pick us & our bikes up as the km or so to the b&b was one steep mother !
>
> Our delightful host Francesco gave us the run down on his work in progress, a restored farm house with amazing views across the valley to the Do!omites National Park !

The view of Henleys "arse" though was not so enticing so we were able to talk Francesco out of the double bed on offer settling instead for 2 twins !
>
> Francesco dropped us off at a restaurant a few kms away for dinner but the hair raising drive down narrow roads was such that we didn't feel overly hungry - F had actually accelerated when coming to a stop sign on a blind intersection !
>
> H almost done in by days end skulled his beer and looked forward (not) to doing it all over again tomorrow !

Day 7 - Rovare (105 kms) - "Punch up, Puncture & Passport " !

Well we've had our fair share of eventful cycling days over the years but this one was up with the best / worst depending on how you view them !

The morning had started well enough with 60 mms of torrential overnight rain clearing to a beautiful sunny morning !

It was a slow start to the day with Kev reluctant to leave his bed but soon changed and breakfasted we left our b&b to have a quick look a the nearby basilica famed for is role in the spread of Christianity in the early Roman Empire period.

The Basilica housed some marvelous mosaic floors and ruins associated with the Roman settlement but was not within Kev's interest as it still somehow constituted a  church " !

Our first disaster of the day occurred shortly after with our cultural attache leading the way exiting Aquileia with  1 basic instruction to leave town the same way we entered it !

Hanging back a bit to film on our way out Kev took wrong turn no. 1 after 200 metres and compounded it by also taking wrong turn no.2 immediately through a set of changing traffic lights preventing me from following !

His first wrong turn was probably my fault as he may have confused turn left straight away with turn left back on the main road (7kms away).  I guess also his next immediate wrong turn through the traffic lights may also have been my fault as I did say we were riding on the Venice road and the road that Kev took was to Udine ... 1e, 2es who's counting !

Also the fact that Kev cycled onwards for another 3 kms without noticing my presence could also be attributed to me as at 6 foot 3 I can easily merge with trees in the back ground if Kev had chosen to look back.

As was we had another of those famous Mexican stand offs until after 30 minutes and a couple of phone messages Kev finally returned to accept my humble apologies !

Take 2 and this time with self in the lead we took on the S14 the main secondary route to Venice with the road traffic light and views picturesque as we  passed through lands dotted with vineyards and cafes !

The late start had put us under the pump a little with 100 kms to cover in the day but as it was easy to maintain 20-25kms/hr on the flat roads we weren't too perturbed - until ..

Problem no2 occurred shortly after getting off the Venice road to join the Treviso road when I had my first puncture on tour. This was not so well timed either being on a bridge cross over. Because of the speeding traffic Kev helped lift my bike over the guard rails to a pedestrian walk area with the real danger now being that any dropped bike bits were likely to fall 30+ feet to the ground requiring a long delay to go and get !

With the bike repaired and another 20 kms of riding we took a break set back from the busy Treviso road when  disaster no. 3 occurred !

Cycling ahead thinking that Kev was just behind me I was pretty surprised when a car pulled over in front of me telling me to stay put until my cycling mate got to me.

The mystery was solved when Kev finally arrived. Apparently in riding off from our last stop Kev had dropped his waist wallet containing his money, cards and his passport on to the road !

Kev was also informed of such by the same driver that stopped me ! Now frantic he did a quick u turn and rode like a man possessed getting a km or so when a passing policeman handed Kev his fallen wallet -  apparently you  could have heard the sigh of relief in Diamond Creek !

The cycle though had come at a cost with Kev now complaining of restricted breathing maybe because of something he'd done in his panic to ride back or possibly relating to his accident 2 days back.

Anyway you night have gathered that by now Kev was starting to feel the pinch struggling over the last 30 kms when concentration was most needed as we hit peak hour traffic complete with a few Aussie style truck drivers happy to blast us on their horns simply because we were slowing them down !

With a few rests to accommodate Kev's breathing ailment we finally arrived at out hotel in Navare 13kms shy of Treviso where Kev crashed on to the bed while i got into the first of my 4 Coke Zeros !

With Kev finally appearing (rested) we had our best dinner on tour so far with tappas, bruschetta, pizza for me and Tripe for H (no comment !)

Tomorrow sees us getting into the climbing zone after we first work our way around Treviso !

Tonight I think young H might just sleep well !

On the Road !

Were only 3 days into the tour and already there are some wisdoms to be shared !

Best Impersonation of someone showing sympathy -

Mike - after Kev's first crash yesterday I told Kev excitedly after pulling my panniers off to obtain my medical supplies, that I'd found the source of my annoying bike noise (a loose nut) Kev's reply was "Litchy you can shove your loose nut up your ..." !

Mike - after Kev walked into the hotel at the end of the day with blood soaked riding gear and skin ripped legs - " How's that chocolate bar you've been carrying around all day in the heat" !

Best Deja Vu experience -

After crossing into Slovenia I turned around to find that Henley had gone missing - when  i queried him after he eventually showed up Kev said that he'd seen some plum trees and had gone over to steal some fruit - he indicated that he would have done so until he remembered his exploding dirrorhea attack in Germany in 2011 doing something similar to some apple trees.

Best quote on tour -

After telling Kev that wee cycling on an old Roman Road because of its straightness Kev replied " kinda like the Roman Road that runs across the Nullaboor back home" !

Beat effort to get lost -

10 minutes into our tour trying to get out of Porec - a new record even for us !

Best Impersonation of someone unhappy -

All Croatian and Slovenian cyclists we've acknowledged and been returned with nothing but a sour faced grimmace !

Best effort to waste a cultural experience -

Our B&B owner in Motovun getting Henley to try slices of bread with a truffle spread on them!

Best effort to look like idiots -

Joint award to Kev and self when our cycle signs run out yesterday approaching Trieste - our jaws dropped looking at our surrounds thinking WTF do we do now !

Day 6 - Aquiela (67 kms) - " Goodbye Trieste " !

The " sound effects machine " (KH) woke this morning with a few new grunts to his repertoire but i guess i couldn't blame him after yesterdays accidents and the fact that his bed sheets were super glued to his wounds as he walked in to take a shower !

With Kev cleaned up we took advantage of our hotels beaut breakfast and its location (4th floor) to spy out across the bay to our impending nemisis the 200,000 plus person city of Trieste !

We both hate cycling through city's as you have little visual reference and often end up riding on winding roads with a a horde of vehicular traffic ready to eat you up should you or they make a mistake !

We eventually got off to a late start partly because of Kev's injuries and partly because he succeeded in locking himself out of the hotel as he tried to access our bikes in the hotels underground car park.

After finally working out how to get back in we both set off to the promise of some heavy afternoon rain but didn't get more than a few hundred metres before Kev raced into a pharmacy to purchase the two lorry loads of first aid supplies that he'd used up yesterday !

On the bikes again I had to slam on my brakes not long after when our return road attempted to channel us down an incredibly narrow and long road tunnel ! We somehow avoided entering and did a work around retracing our way back to the bike signs we'd followed to help us arrive in San Rocco.

This worked well for a short while until the Trieste direction bike sign disappeared at a busy round about leaving us both looking stupefied about how to enter Trieste and avoid the massive city flyovers & expressways !

As if to answer our prayers a Swiss father and daughter riding team came around the corner. After pulling them up we found out that they too were heading into central Trieste. Whether they liked it or not Kev and I were going to be attached to them like super glue !

Our Swiss heroes pulled over a couple of motorists and with directions in mind and a Garmin GPS set about cycling the 10 kms into Trieste central.

We cycled on busy roads, through roundabouts and tunnels on the outskirts of Trieste before finally entering the downtown area.

Trieste took us back to a discussion we'd with a woman cyclist a few days back who complained about it taking her 2 hours to get across Trieste ! We now realize how good at navigating she was - if  Kev and I were left to our own devices we would gave taken a week to have crossed the city given its size and complexity.

Relieved to be somewhere near the sea front we took coffee with Mark and Christina (our Swiss guides) before setting off by ourselves to follow the road along the Adriatic coast and thankfully away from Trieste !

While the road surface was good the frequent road side memorials provided for some sobering moments as we worked our way along the coast.

We cycled through Malfacone getting a few spots of rain before finally talking the Aquiela turn off to eventually enter this delight of a town. UNESCO listed Aquileia is a former wealthy Roman port with high quality ruin's that attract visitors from far and wide !

We'd no sooner located our hotel than the heavens opened with a burst of monsoonal type rain that continued on and off for nearly 5 hours !

As for the patient Henley is still cursing but this time it's not about about his injuries which could have been far worse if his wheel had seized on road, but now about using his Nexus tablet to send emails - something's never change !

Diving

Well that was fun .
Yesterday is definitely not going into the scrapbook of pleasurable rides , more like the scrap heap .
I've never been a fan of off road cycling but when it's on a rocky loose surface with 32mm tyres I become even less of a fan .
After losing one of my front pannier rack clips when my bike box was delivered at Venice in a saturated and disintegrating condition ( no idea how because it wasn't raining ) so I was left with only one clip and bolt which proceeded to work its way loose on the rocky trail . The result of this was to allow the pannier rack to fall onto the tyre creating an instant brake and me sailing through the air to endure a rather solid all points landing .Not to be daunted we got going again for another 100 Mt with a very similar result only this time with the loss of a lot more bark . The Russian judge gave me 8/10 for dismount , a bit lousy
Hopefully that's the end of my antics for this trip and the rest is pleasurable .
Happy pedalling
Kev

Day 5 - San Rocco Italy (76 kms) - " Kev leaves the best part of himself in Slovenia"!

What started out as an enjoyable days cycling was to end in near disaster as Kev experienced 2 serious crashes within the space of 100 meters leaving a fair bit of skin & blood behind in the picturesque Slovenian countryside

We awoke to a beautiful morning taking the short walk into the old Town to put together some form of breakfast from our favourite cafe, a couple of toasted sandwiches a cuppa and a free helping of sensational views

We left Motovun just after 10a.m.delayed for at least 10 minutes by a van collecting recyclables in the narrow street - there was no room us to squeeze past !

Cycling down from our fortress our mission this morning was to link up with the Parenzana rail trail partly because it reportedly offered great views and primarily because it guided us towards our destination at San Rocco in Italy

The Parenzana trail crosses Italy, Slovenia and Croatia for 130 kms on various terrain types and is promoted for its beautiful scenery and large rail tunnels.

Our initial experience for the first 10-15 kms was not too bad although Kev spilt the first of his blood for the day when caught by blackberry type thorns soon after leaving Motovun.

With the trail seemingly disappearing every time we came to an intersection we took to the road and launched into a 7 km climb to the picturesque town of Bujie. En route we were passed by what almost looked like an episode from Top Gear with a skidding Lamborghini leading a pack of more sedate high class sports cars around the bends and of course with H giving the first dick head a well deserved 2 fingered salute !

After Bujie we worked our way to the Slovenian border crossing point Henley delighted to have another stamp in his passport although mightily peeved that he was taking out of the country nearly 70 Kuna ($10) in unspent Croatian money !

We found our way around a beautiful resort style sea area to Piran before heading inland once again picking up the hard to find Parenzana.

It was on an unmade section of the Parenzana with rocks and scree that disaster struck. The first I knew was when a cyclist going in the other direction babbled something at me - thinking he was asking for directions I kept cycling saying I only speak English before glancing back to see Kev trapped under his bike !

After getting to Kev the Slovenian cyclist had already freed him and after establishing he was reasonably OK (only loosing a litre of blood a minute) he cycled off.

By this time H had used quite a number of profanities to describe the condition of the trail and when not swearing was also trying to stem the blood loss from his grazed legs.

I did fear concussion at one point as we went back to the crash site to look for Kev's supposedly missing pump with H now cursing about that as well - after 10 minutes of looking we went back to his bike to find it still securely strapped on the other side of his down tube !

Back on our bikes we had only gone another 100 metres at only 10 km/hr when I heard another bang behind me and a heap more profanities !

This time Kev had done some fairly significant damage to his elbow with a haematoma immediately evident !

Fast forward through the now even worse cursing H was convinced that his braking combined with a poor surface had somehow contributed to his falls !

I left Kev so I could check how long the unmade trail went for (only another 400 metes) and by my return Kev had finally worked out what had gone wrong.

It appeared that the roughish terrain had worked Kevs front pannier rack lug (i.e. the pannier rack he is not using !) loose causing the rack to drop onto his wheel and Kev to go flying over the handlebars on two separate occasions !

Now looking like something out of a horror movie with his bloodied bandages and a blood splattered top we continued on to Koper.

I don't easily get grossed out but Henley succeeded when at one point stopped on the bicycle track on the Koper seafront Henley delightedly yelled out " hey Litchy have a look at this" !

Expecting to see a topless female sun baking I hurried over to be taken aback by a grinning Henley squeezing his Haematoma on his Elbow causing an almost femoral blood spurt on to the surrounding bike path !

With my lunch back down we somehow made it through the really busy city of Koper with enough blood left in H for us to get to our accommodation at San Rocco just across the waters from the bustling city of Trieste.

H with blood spoilt bandages made it to the room where a shower , antiseptic cream and heaps of band aids and bandaging almost made him look human again !

Dinner constituted a pizza down on the picturesque seafront with H trying to replace lost blood litres with equivalent alcohol ones !

The big test will be tomorrow to see if H can get out of bed without bringing the sheets with him and whether his battered body is capable of our long ride through Trieste.

I'm sure Kev would appreciate well wishes feedback at his address at kevinhenketwb54@gmail.com

Day 5 - Motovun Croatia (33 kms) - "A view of the world !

I'd forgotten what a privilege it is to have the opportunity to cycle through such beautiful parts of the world and today's opening leg was a great reminder !

In no rush we took to the streets this morning to improve upon our "cheapie" Youth Hostel 3 euro breakfast (an orange, a roll and a cuppa) loading up as well with some goodies from the local bakery !

With stomachs filled, bags packed and bikes loaded it was time to get this epic under way. We posed briefly for a few pics on the waterfront before seeking advice on how to get out of town.

N.b. pics alarmingly read as "shits"until I picked up my predictive text error just now !

Now call me stupid but the advice from our Croatian friends to keep turning left after heading out meant I thought, that it was pretty likely that we'd be back on the hostels doorstep within a few minutes !

We need not have worried though as we were lost within the first few kms ! Kev tried to pull over a pedestrian who simply started walking faster (I don't blame her ) while I pulled over a holidaying bike rider who left us holding his bike while he raced over to the local service station to ask for directions on our behalf, amazing !

Our new found friend then cycled with us ensuring that we were on the right road before saying goodbye !

We were pleasantly surprised by the low traffic levels heading away from the beautiful Istrian coastline inland beyond Visjnan.

After nearly 30 kms we had our first view of Motovun our village destination, perched on top of what appeared to be an impregnable fortress - an impressively steep hill against a beautiful valley backdrop !

A solid 8% climb soon brought us up to the old town itself with its stunning 180 degree views !

Having to wait for our apartment to be cleaned we took some lunch although Henley felt his green salad would have struggled to have fed a pigmy rabbit !

When H still grizzling we retired to our nearby apartment with some of the best views you could find anywhere ! A magnificent balcony and an incredible bedroom window outlook giving us surround sensory overload !

With nothing to do other than take in the views we eventually headed back up the road for dinner in the setting evening sun with Kev this time going for something more protein enhancing !

Back at the apartment standing on the balcony watching the sun going down was one of those moments you'll never forget- the spell subtly broken when Henley yelled our delightedly from the bathroom " Hey Litchy" I've finally been able to flush that damned thing down the toilet ... !

Tomorrow the going gets tough as we head off road on to the Parenzana trail on our journey through Slovenia back into Italy.