Croatia - the beautiful coast 17th July - 26th July 2014

After the fun in Brezice we started towards the Croatian boarder which we almost crossed illegally through a field by accident.  A friendly police officer directed us the correct way which unfortunately required us to do a 40km detour to an international boarder crossing + a huge storm came out of nowhere & soaked us.

We found a sweet forest spot for a "stealth camp" but got attacked by giant slugs sneaking into our gear :(

Next was Zagreb the capitol city of Croatia where we met & received maps & directions from the local bike club. Darinka was very friendly & helpful + gave Joel a "Bike Revolution Flag"

We also met some Fins who are cycle touring from Istanbul back to Finland

Then it was time to choose our route. 

Option 1. The beautiful coast of Croatia with its picturesque islands

Option 2. The wild Romanian countryside & the Transfagarian Highway (Voted best highway in the world by TopGear)

After much map reading & coin flipping we decided on the coast

Which we loved

We spent a solid few days pumping along the coast & enjoying the nice sunny weather with an occasional drizzle of rain.


Joel turned masterchef & created a very tasty jam from the fresh blackberries we picked on our fire.

+ We made some pretty epic burgers with from our discounted finds at the supermarket


We explored the wonderful Plitvice Lakes National Park. It was uber crowded but super nice & we found a cheeky spot for a cliff jump next to the waterfall

 

Some morning stretches with Joel then we hit the road passing Zagi & Buffet Gagi

 


A bit of singing in the rain but then the sun came out & we made a nice brew

2000km in the bank when Joel lives up to his name & stops off for some Domestic Products

We meet & ride with a Slovenian called Nejc who is riding to Greece to meet his family.

(He is also on the love trail) We ride with him till the outskirts of Dubrovnik

Sweet sunset over a real cool city + epic view from our campsite when we wake up

Enjoy our last day in Croatia at Marko's Fleamarket (A friendly warmshowers.org host with a really cool camping set up)

 

Slovenia - The small country with lots of LOVE 9th July - 17th July 2014

After leaving the the crew in Schladming we headed into the Alps towards Slovenia & checked out the Soča
 Valley. There was a sweet old WW2 bunker system we explored & heaps of old tanks & military vehicles around the boarder

It was a bit rainy but very beautiful & well worth the difficult climbing & hard mountain pass.

We accidentally stumbled across a neat bouldering wall & Joel had a go at a few of the problems

Also liberated some tasty ice cream treats from a well timed dumpster dive

We arrived in Ljubljana & spent a night "stealth camping" in a construction site then met up with the awesome Manca & Renata who hosted us for a couple of days & we had a great time exploring Ljubljana with them & meeting their friends

+ Manca lent me a skateboard & I got to roll on a skatey for the first time in 3 MONTHS! The longest time in my life. I was having massive withdrawals & it tasted real nice to have a cheeky sesh.

Next stop was Kisovec to meet up with Ziggy's luge friend Nina.
We shared a delicious BBQ dinner with her family then took us on a tour of the town & we got to check out the ski jumps & luge starting ramp.

The next morning we set off & she was tempted to join us on her pimping trike.

We headed onto Brežice to meet Robi & the crew @ the "Chill House" & 1st Wake Park.
Not a bad view from Robi's office window

We checked out the Brezice local traditional music concert, Robi played the double bass & it was jazz-tastic

Rad vibes & rad people. Had a sweet time hanging out, wake boarding, jamming & enjoying the chilled vibes of the "Chill House"

Special mention for their "Sticker Wall" (Spesh Ziggy Stickers) & "Time Machine Shower"