It was a dismal forecast for the day, so we togged up in our wet weather gear from the get-go. Settling the car parking fees was an ordeal as the hotel wanted their cut, and the parking guy seemed happy to deal direct ... the hotel won, so by definition we got ripped off.
We were just about the leave, when I became aware of a somewhat serious problem affecting two of our members. Evidently one of the matching soap dishes had been left in a bar the night before. So, we had to retrace our drinking route but on the motorbikes ... not easy when a lot were located in pedestrian areas. Anyway, with no success at the first place, after a ride down the pavement, and an arguments with some bollards, Im sure I overhead the muffled words "I'll buy you another bloody dish" coming from under a helmet up front. And so we were on our way dicing with traffic and wet tram rails...
Stopping for coffee and some form of breakfast, we found a combination coffee shop/village store. Black coffee and a bar of chocolate was the only thing available...
We trundled on in patchy drizzle for another hour or so, finally reaching the border with Kosovo, where the guards understood a reasonable amount of English. "
Where have you been?" was Dave's cue to pull out the map, and practice his well rehearsed list of countries.
If nothing else it greased the way through for the rest of us.
Next step was to buy the compulsory insurance that Kosovo insists on ...
15 euros each, but peace of mind I guess.
The rain continued on and off as we rode up into the mountains, before stopping at a junction with a gravel road that had been planned into the route. We also found another convenience store at the junction, so while Dave shot off to investigate the feasibility of the track, we bought breakfast. Now we asked for something that looked like a quiche, but got 4 pastry looking things that contained cheese of unknown origin.
Dave returned and the mud covering the front tyres said it all. We all pretended to share his exasperation, and offered him a pastry in consolation. We all left a very well fed dog that lunchtime.
The afternoons biking was fairly uneventful, and on the last mountain pass, with Thorpy feeling a little tired, Dave suggested me and Neil went off for a "play" and would see us all at the hotel, which we did.
The evening saw us find a few local pubs, culminating in a meal at the Sarajevo Steak House. It was excellent, and while two retired shortly after, I somehow got goaded into another 4 pints with Dave before bed.
