It seems Croatia has a very long coastline and tomorrow will be the last day before we arrive in Montenegro.
Slovenia by bike – short but sweet
Slovenia is a small but perfectly formed country bordered by Italy, Croatia and Austria. I found it a remarkably peaceful and tranquil place. It varies from the high Julian Alps in the north to the stunningin places but short length of Mediterranean coast in the south. We passed through the country twice; once from Monfalcone in Italy for a loop up into the hills, then from Trieste we followed the Slovenian coastline until we reached Croatia.
The hills were wonderfully empty, just traditional meadows filled with spring wild flowers. We stopped and ate wild figs and endless fresh cherries on the roadside. The ancient mountain villages were alive but only just. We filled water up in the villages and rarely saw anybody moving. The temperature was scorching as we rode up into the hills and we took shelter under shade where we could mainly where there were cherry trees! We finally descended back to the coast and through Italy to Trieste. The next visit to Slovenia was from Muggia on the Italian coast. A great coastal road followed the peninsula and gave a less than inspired view back to the industrial part of Trieste, think shipyards and gasworks.
We reached Lazzerreto and saw an “encampment” we rode in thinking it was a good spot for the night. In hindsight it seemed odd that the staff wore camouflage and held guns. We asked if we could camp but after a rapid Italian response it was clear this was a military camp and somehow we had been blissfully unaware! We were just focused on the word camp!
Next stop was a proper civilian campsite on the border. We met an Hungarian chap who had done lots of cycle touring and I advised him on kit and bike setup as he admired our minimal lightweight set up. That night I swam from Italy to Slovenia just because I could and then watched a fantastic sunset life is good!
The beauty of unplanned cycle tours is the gems you stumble across. The D8 cycle route from Slovenia to the coast in Croatia was one of these. A car free route that followed the coast before using a disused salt railway route to the interior. This included old bridges and tunnels to allow a super interesting route. It was, as you might expect from a railway, very flat which was also nice. We passed Koper to Izola and crossed the border at Secovlje into Croatia on this same D8 route.
Cycling across Italy – Is this the best country to cycle tour?
We left france about a week ago and our progress through Italy has been pretty quick and certainly enjoyable.
Cycling from Chamonix, France to Istanbul, Turkey
So only a few days to go until we cycle across Europe to Asia. Crossing 9 Countries (France, Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece and Turkey) and 9 language borders.
The route is about 3000km and we have 31 days. This is fixed as we fly out to Argentina on July 17th to go ski touring for 3 months. Therefore we have to average 100km everyday, and probably a bit more after factoring in some rest days. It is not an epic challenge to cover every mile so we might get the train if struggling to make that!
Kit is almost ready, I am taking a Kona Jake the Snake cross bike, and I have created a pimped out CroMo framed hybrid type thing for Marion, still waiting on some brakes but it is looking sweet. We have manged to keep kit minimal so should be fast and light.
We are a bit interested to see what happens in Turkey and Istanbul…so far the situation seems OK, we still might detour to Athens if needed.
My new best ever mountain bike descent – South Chilcotins, Canada
Road cycling in France – Chamonix to Annecy and Back
It is hard to beat the road riding in the Alps during the spring. The snowy mountains and lush green valleys make the scenery its most spectacular.
We cycled to Lake Annecy and back from Chamonix, not too far but we detoured to take in a couple of category 2 Tour de France climbs. Around the resort of La Clusaz just past Megeve. We enjoyed col d’Aravis then dropping to La Clusaz before passing through Manigod and Thones on a pleasant small road. It was then just a slog to the lake front.
What always surprises me is how much I enjoy big climbs in the Alps they are normally long and steady and I find a good rhythm and just keep going. Stopping for me is like defeat and makes it harder to start again. A good view at the top and sense of achievement make it worthwhile.
We stayed at http://www.beausite-talloires.com/en/ while in Talloires, dirt cheap on booking.com and a spectacular setting.
These are a few pictures from the trip;
The above waterfall was full with the spring snow melt, just off the road as we headed towards Servoz
Beautiful views along the valley in the Alps’ bright spring green colours
Descent into Thones was twisty and super long, we had in our minds that we had to re ascend this tomorrow!
Resting tired legs in the hotel’s lakeside sun loungers looking across Lac Annecy
Chapel at the top of col d’aravis
Fun Splitboard touring on Glacier du Geant – Chamonix
We came across this old ice cave riding back down to Chamonix. Who knows what lurks in the icy depths under the Mer de Glace. I heard there was a Bond villain’s lair masquerading as a hydro electric plant. This is just a rumour discussed in hushed tones in the dark parts of town, like Cham Sud.
This was stopping for a spot of lunch with a cracking view of the Grand Jorasses. I look radiant in my Frenchie style striped thermals!
Splitboarding in the Aiguille Rouge, Chamonix
Splitboarding in the Aiguille Rouge in March was great this year. The huge volumes of smow even down to the valley level opened up so many options. The Go Pro edit below was from the couloir Lac Noir and a couple of other random couloirs in the area. We also rode down to the frozen snow covered Lac Noir on some slightly heavy powder slopes. I love skinning or riding across frozen lakes the perfect flatness combined with the irrational fear of falling in!
Snowboarding Freeride Terrain in Verbier, Switzerland
Verbier is ace. Probably the best easy access freeride terrain in the world. If the snow is good it is pretty unbeatable. This is my favourite shot from my trip there. It was a sweet slope with some fresh powder after a decent hike along a random ridge which involved a small amount of sketchy rock scrambling.
Mountain biking in the Chamonix Valley
There is an abundance of quality biking around Chamonix, some super steep, lots super scenic and the odd glacier to dodge! It is all about the natural trails for me here is selecton on a wee Go Pro edit from fall 2012;
This was winter 2013, Chamonix
Winter 2013 was pretty epic both in amount of snow and length of the season it was still snowing hard in May! This is a Go Pro edit from snowboarding the insanely deep powder in December 2012, mostly shot at Grand Montets but also a bit at Brevent, Flegere and from the Plan du Midi
Some of my favourite pictures from winter 2012/13
- The winter started early in December 2012, sadly our copious amounts of snowboarding gear were still in a boat from Canada, it had decided to go via Hong Kong, which seems to me to be the long way around to France (thanks Seven Seas). The solution was to buy a toboggan and start extreme tobogganing, this was a classic pow toboggan face shot!
The snow just kept falling, this is the local Powdersaurus it hangs around outside Macdonalds (seriously it does). Then one day in the depths of winter it was gone, no foot prints nothing it had just left without a trace! I suspect it is the south of France living it up.
And still the snow kept falling, this is a walk to the supermarket along what is normally a busy highway. By the end of that day it was over a foot deep on the road.
The snow in November had confused the goat sheep, as I like to call them. This was during a hike when I found him standing posing for a picture. The horns and stocky muscle make them a little intimidating when they are just standing staring back at you!
