Ferries

Ferries have become an integral part of my travels in Europe. This year, I travelled on 5 ferry routes.

The route from Plymouth to Santander on Brittany Ferries is a great route. Expensive compared to the Mediterranean routes, but wonderfully well organised and quite luxurious.

Also, Plymouth, with its amazing maritime history, is a great place to head to ‘The Continent’.

The queuing for the ferry is a great place to meet other touring bikers and check out their bikes.

After riding east from Santander along the Pirenoes, the next ferry route was Barcelona to Genova. This was on GNV.

The Italian ferry companies are a little less organised than Brittany Ferries. Also, Barcelona is a challenging port as it’s right in the centre of the city, which adds the additional challenge of managing city traffic to get to the terminal.

The overnight ferry left Barcelona late morning, arriving in Genova just after dawn. Perfect if the plan is to head to Torino and the Italian Alps

After a three week tour through Italy, the port at Civitavechia called as there awaited the Grimaldi lines ferry to Tunis.

The ferry terminal at Civitavechia, the port of Rome, is large and sprawling with a large number ferry and cruise ship terminals.

Civitavechia itself is a lovely seaside town.

The ferry to Tunisia was the smallish, oldish, MV Catania a bit quirky, but full of colour, and life.

It was a moment of total excitement arriving in Tunisia.

Thankfully, there was a motorcycle tour group from Italy to follow through the rigours of customs- visa, import bike, buy insurance and change money

After a couple or weeks touring Tunisia, it was time again to negotiate customs again and catch the MV Catania to Salerno.

Arriving just after dawn in Salerno was both beautiful and perfect for riding the Amalfi Coast road traffic free. (But that story is for another blog)

Having said goodbye to Tunisia it was soon time to say goodbye to Italy. Back at Civitavechia this time to board the Grimaldi Lines ferry to Barcellona. The MV Roma and MV Barcelona cross between the Italian and Spanish capitals 6 days are week. These are the largest most luxurious ferries on the Mediterranean. After over 12,000km of travel the 23 hour crossing is a luxury.

Unfortunately, the ferry arrives in Barcelona at 23.00 not handy really for anything but it saves over 1,400 km of riding.

It was late October as I queued with the other bikes I the cold and rain of Santander to catch the ferry back to Plymouth. The Bay of Biscay was a little rolley but it was warm and pleasant inside the ferry.

Santander is the only ferry port that has a duty free shop. Perfect for buying a beautiful Spanish Brandy.

Over the years of motorcycle travel in Europe I’ve come to learn how the careful integration of ferry travel the planning helps the traveller to spread their wings much further that otherwise possible.

Gippsland -Eastern Victoria

The major natural attraction in South Gippsland is Wilsons Promontory Naional Park (The Prom). A mountainous Promontory that juts out into Bass Strait.

But west of the Prom, between the lighthouse on Cape Liptrap and the Prom is Wararah Bay. A beautiful stretch of sandy beaches and rocky headlands.

On the western side of The Prom, there are the historic ports of Port Welshpool and Port Albert.

Port Welshpool above and Port Albert below provide access for all types of sailors to the sheltered waters of Corner Inlet at the northern end of The Prom.

I think the fish and chip restaurant on the jetty at Port Albert serves the best fish and chips in Australia!!! A big statement!

Just east of Port Albert is the western end of 90 Mile Beach. An uninterrupted sand beach that stretches 94 miles (151km) to Lakes Entrance. Its the longest beach in Australia and 3rd longest beach in the world.

The sand is beautiful yellow stretching on over the horizon.

Some local beaches are very popular with little villages and Surf Lifesaving Facilities for safe swimming on the wild coast.

Other sections are only accessible down rough, narrow tracks with the help of local knowledge..

Testament to the wild seas are skeletons of wrecks burried in the otherwise pristine beach.

Its a short distance north into the southern foothills of the Great Dividing Range and its high mountains and rivers that flow down to the Gippsland Lakes.

Near the town of Briagalong is the beautiful Blue Pool swimming hole in Freestone creek.

With a small campground, a short walk from the pool. A perfect spot for foe gazing at the moon while sitting beside the camp fire.

The Mitchel River National.Park is between the towns of Briagalong na Dargo.

The Mitchel River is the last wild river in Victoria and the national includes a beautiful river gorge and the southern moste temperate rain forest in the world.

The temperate rain forest is part of an aboriginal sacred sight- the Den of Nargun.

Its a 5km loop walk down into the Den of Nargun and to the Mitchel River and returning via the bluff lookout.

At the end of summer, the waterfall over the Nargens Den is only a trickle.

The track to the river is along the creek through the rain forest with a series of water holes.

The Mitchel Rivers flows slowly through the gorge. Beautiful for a swim!

The final stage of the walk is a steep climb out of the gorge, where there is a beautiful view over the gorge.

The Mitchel River NP, is along the road to Dargo in the Great Dividing Range. It runs along the Wonnangatta River. There are a number of places to camp along the river both south and north of Dargo.

The mornings by the river may be misty but the nights in the mountains are clear. Perfect for sitting by the camp.fore and gazing at the Milky Way through the tree canopy.

Further up into the mountains, the forest becomes thicker.

The forest provides homes for Australia’s beautiful birds.

The dirt road from Dargo to Mount Hotham crosses out of East Gippsland and into the Victorian Alps.

On the top of Mount Hotham (1860 mtrs), it’s close to the top of Victoria with amazing views over the mountains.

These are relatively remote part of Victoria but well worth visiting.

Otway Rangers Rain Forest, Victoria, Australia.

The film ‘Force of Nature‘ has recently opened in Australia. Parts of it were shot in the beautiful temperate rain forests of the Otway Ranges.

Hopetoun Falls features in the movie. Its currently approaching summer, so the waterfalls in the ranges are flowing slowly. Some, like Henderson Falls, gently cascade over the cliff face.

Henderson Falls, are near a rocky feature in the ranges named The Canyon. I think I recognised it in the movie.

Its a beautiful walk through the forest to reach the Canyon in a quiet part of eastern end of the ranges.

The western end of the ranges faces the incoming weather and is a thicker forest. With more Beech trees, ancient Beech trees.

The Otways are a mountain range that abuts the sea. The Southern Ocean, to be precise.

So after a long hike on a hot day, it’s easy to cool off with a swim in the cool ocean waters.

I camped a couple of nights at Apollo Bay, which sits on the ocean about halfway along the ranges.

It’s a beautiful town, at night as dark slowly descends over the harbour.

Or as the sun rises over the rolling surf.

Eric Bana is the star of ‘Force of Nature’

But you will have to endure having me in the starring role here.

On to Kosovo

From Ohrid, the route to Kosovo continued through the mountains of North Macedonia with Albania to the west and Kosova to the North.

The small village of Janche is nestled in the mountains of the Mavrovo National Park.

Where remnants of old Yugoslavian industry can be found.

Beside the new highway heading to Peje in NW Kosova sits the Terzi Bridge. A fine example of Ottoman architecture.

The destination, though, was the White Drin Falls in the Accursed Mountains near the border with Montenegro. A spectacular natural park. With the waterfall….

And limestone caves.

This area of Kosova and its border with Montenegro is home to significant forests of Spruce, Beech and Fir trees.

Just over the border with Montenegro is the village of Rozaje and nearby nested in the forest in the most beautiful camp ground.

These forests are the best I’ve visited in Europe, amazing old growth forests.

It was late September in the mountains so turning cold. But the welcome at Sastanci – Grahovaca was as warm as the fire and the home cooked meal fresh and delicious.

It was hard to find but worth it!

Montenegro – a bikers paradise

Montenegro is a country of absolute scenic beauty with high mountain ranges that run right to the sea and mountain roads the match of any in Europe.

A day didn’t go by that I didn’t find other riders.

The great roads started at the Bosnian border. The first destination was the Bay of Kotor and the Kotor Sepentine.

With 25 hairpin turns and amazing views over the Bay of Kotor this is a special ride.

After a night in Kotor, it was off to the city of Podgorica to undertake one of the great rides of Europe through the Moraca and Tara river canyons.

The ride along the Moraca climbs from the Montenegro capital Podjorica into the mountains and onto the Serbian Border.

The village of Kolosin is just off the road. At 1450m elevation its a beautiful ski village with lots of accomodation. It is a beautiful place to stop after a hard ride.

Its also a good place to see some striking Soviet style architecture.

Mixed with some good local beer French Romantic style buildings.

It was a short along the Moraca canyon road to Mojkovac to the start of the Tara Canyon road.

The Tara Canyon is second only to the Grand Canyon as the longest canyon in the world.

What a ride!!!!

The road finishes at the Durdevica Tara Bridge, which provides a wonderful view down the Canyon.

How good was the ride? So good. I turned around and road it again as set my course for Albania.

In all my riding in Europe and Australia, these canyon roads are close to the top.

The road to Albania continues through some remote mountain country. Where the script changes in the little villages.

On the return trip, I took the road from Serbia down through the Durmitor National Park. Beautiful, high plain roads.

That lead back to the Bay of Kotor. Being late September, many of the water side hotels were closing for the season and rooms were relatively cheap. Right on the water at Herceq Novi, which is right on the Montenegro/Croatia border.