The rest of Europe and going home...

Two counties in one day, Albania (rained like a bastard all day with roads so potholed and slow that it was like taking a step backwards to India again) and then Montenegro. Although as I didn't bother buying a map for Europe, I actually thought I was in Croatia until the guy selling me the insurance at the border looked at me and patiently explained the insurance only covered Montenegro... I realised I didn't know what language they spoke, where the borders were or how big the country was. Hmmm. I stopped in Podgorica, a pleasant, modern looking city, but the cheapest hotels there were between 60-80 Euros a night!! I rode out the town a little bit and eventually found a nice clean, modern room for 30Euros and quickly realised the days of living off $30 a day were long gone. Boo hoo...

Riding up a great little twisty road the next morning, I stop and chat to Emil from Poland on his BMW1150GS and we end up riding together the rest of the day, stopping to take loads of photos of the beautiful Montenegran countryside. We catch the ferry near the ferry and cross into Croatia, riding up the stunning coast road until we stopped in Tucepi where we got a shared room by the seaside for 35Euros. Emil had been here before a few years ago and it was a nice choice. I decided to stay for a day and laze on the beach and enjoy a last bit of sun before heading north and homewards although even in Croatia, it was bloody chilly at night. My new buddy knew a road that took you up to the top of a nearby mountain via lots of fantastic twisty sections with great 360 degree views all round to the coast and inland. We swapped bikes for a while and even though I have the exact same bike as Emil back home, it felt about twice the size as I remembered it and was glad I didn't drop it, unlike the old guy on his big BMW on one of the sharp bends but we helped him pick it up again much to his relief.

And so the following day, Emil and I road up the frankly too gorgeous Croatian coastal road for several hours before we parted company as he was heading home to Poland. It was great to have someone to ride with again after being on my own for so long but I guess one of the good things about this sort of trip is that you get to meet so many different sorts of people. I was riding to Germany to see a couple of friends but as that involved around 1200kms, I stopped after around 600kms in Italy and once again, did the rounds of all the hotels before finally taking a room in a small village that cost 40Euros without breakfast. I even got charged 1Euro for having cutlery with my dinner which the grumpy waitress pointed out was written on the menu after I complained about the extra charge. Hey ho.