THE LATE SPRING RIDE 2018-Day 03

“RIDE ON”

Despite some things went awry and the loss of about one whole riding day I continued my trip through Slovenia and Italys Alps alone, because my riding buddy had to abort the tour due to his wrist injury.

Date: 21st Mai 2018; from the city Celje in Slovenia to the village Lateis in north-eastern Italy.

I slept really well after the exhausting day before and started at around 0700 in the morning with a, for me real uncommon breakfast.

At around 0800 I visited my buddy in the hospital. He told me that he already got a call from the Austrian automobile club. They told him that a ambulance car from Austria was sent to Celje and will pick him up around midday and will bring him back to Austria, where a complex surgery was made to his wrist later that week.
Now I was alone and had to think about the route and made the decision that I will try it by myself to ride as much as possible of the planned track.

Short before midday, I left the hotel and settled my black beauty.

While doing this an older Bavarian dude talked to me. It seemed he was very focused on god/talked a lot about religious stuff. I recognized a small tattoo in the shape of a drop near his left eye and asked what he had done, because this kind of tattoos are often signs that the owner was detained in a prison.
He told me that long time ago he was citizen of Bosnia, did the wrong things in his life and finally murdered a person in Germany for getting some money. Therefore, he was imprisoned for 20 years in a Bavarian jail, what explains his German Accent. After that nice talk I wished him all the best and went of. Strange.

Чернотa and I rode westwards to the Slovenian city of Bled where …

we tried to get a good view to the name giving lake “Bled”, which wasn’t easy. After strolling around …

a bit, the journey went on in the direction of the city of Kranskagora, a famous skiing place.

*tractordog*

Along the road the first higher peaks of the Julian Alps showed up. Here, the highest mountain of Slovenia showed up: “Triglav“.

We entered from Slovenia over to Italy and …

followed nicely bend streets which led along …

old world war bunkers …

directly back to Slovenia and the entrance of the still closed “Mangart Road” (one of the most famous pass roads in Slovenia). But the “Do not enter”-sign didn’t stop my black beauty and me. We tried to ride …

Slovenias highest pass road.

It didn’t take much time …

until the first obstacles showed up.

Here at this place, where a whole tunnel entrance was still covered with snow our ascent found its end. There was no way to ride further up the mountain, so …

Чернотa and I made a rest, …

enjoyed the view and …

filled up the water bottles with fresh, cold mountain water.

After a few more pictures …

we rode the way …

back which we came before.

We also stopped at this impressive WWI monument located on Pass Predel.

Back in Italy / Friuli showed its …

most beautiful landscapes and …

also the mountain villages are worth …

taking a closer look.

After a loss of about an hour due to logging works in Friulis woods ….

we rode on westwards.

Short after we passed this “Greek Style” church …

light rain caught us. But it ended quick after Чернотa and I …

gained some height. Also, a hardly visible rainbow accompanied our ascent.

The weather at this day was generally very oft changing. Rain, sun, …

clouds and …

snow. Everything was included. The track got narrower…

what at least ended in a dangerous situation for Чернотa and me.

Here at this place I made the decision to turn. I tried one time to pass, but if the back wheel had slipped down this little edge, I probably wouldn’t have been able to bring the bike up again. A 690ty is too heavy for such actions, especially when being alone. So some back tracking was on the schedule …

what offered also some great views!

Down in the valley I saw the sign that Monte Crostis is still closed. doh

Go west was the direction …

to ride this day.

Чернотa and I climbed near the Italian village …

Lateis the next mountain road. At around …

1800m or 5900ft attitude the …

panorama over …

Friuli was tremendous. Sadly the …

part of the mountain street down to the lake “Sauris” was also blocked with left over snow. Because it was late I made the plan to …

built up the shelter here, near the blocked gravel road and use the provided table and bench …

for cooking some chicken breast and peppers. The view, the meal and the beer was SUPERB!

With the rising moon the temperatures decreased, what forced me to crawl into the cozy sleeping bag. Short after that it started to rain. The noise of raindrops on the tent sheet let me sleep very well.

Total distance this day: 360km or 223mi.