Today’s route is an easy one, straight to Dubrovnik. Yes it was that simple, if you can’t see the sea on the right hand side, you are not going the right way!

The day started early for me, a 00.30am start from Trieste in Italy, through Slovenia and onto Karlobag in Croatia. A very direct and the quickest route possible, I got to bed at 03.30am and was up again at 07.00aam getting ready for another departure.

Breakfast was okay, I was a bit jaded but everyone was in good spirits. I found out that one of the guys has an oil leak at the drive shaft on his Honda Blackbird and it is putting oil straight onto the left hand side of the rear tyre. So he will not be heading south with us to Dubrovnik but limping to Split to join us at the ferry in a few days time, which will be a ferry crossing the Adriatic sea over to Ancona in Italy.

A later start was planned  today because of me I presumed, leaving at 09.30am. The weather is already hot and we expect to see high 30’s today. The route did not disappoint, the Dalmatian Coast for 300 plus miles. Two fuel stops along the way as the route took us down towards Zadar, Split, passing Ploće, through Bosnia & Herzegovina and back into Croatia. Finally landing at the hotel in a very nice setting in Dubrovnik.

The route was very twisty, hugging the coast line for much of the way, stopping regularly for the odd picture and to load up with fluids. Dehydration is never too far away in 38 degree heat and especially when wearing protective motorcycle clothing. It always amazes me that you put litres of water into your body and don’t sweat or need to pee!

Anyway, back to the story. The roads and scenery are fantastic, in reality there were not many stops for pictures but I managed a few on the move. We will be taking a more leisurely ride back to Split in a few days time, so there will be more photo opportunities on the northbound leg of this stretch of road.

The coast road is a little more congested than I remember, slow going in places and very few decent passing places. But because we give Advanced Riding guidance on these trips, we were able to work on overtakes and cornering in this beautiful part of the world. I’ve heard it said many times before and I conquer, that this has to be one of the best riding roads in the world.

The team worked really well, the group rode extremely well and we arrived in good time for a beer and an evening meal. The evening meal did not end well but we were sorted out for the confusion, so top marks for the hotel for their immediate response. Basically the buffet meal was taken away as we were trying to get food on the plates! We were not happy riders after such a long arduous ride to get here for the last 5 days but all came well in the end.

It really wasn’t long before it was time for bed and a well earned rest. We needed to get our heads down as it was going to be an early start to head to Montenegro early tomorrow morning.

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