Passing through another town border crossing on the edge of Gorizia, albeit now unmanned since Slovenia joined the EU, I was once again quickly up into the hills and woodlands on a minor road ride through Slovenia to its capital Ljubljana. Rolling wooded hills gave way to more pronounced mountains as I got closer to Ljubljana. I tried to find the local Harley-Davidson dealer in the city centre, but it was too hot in the middle of the day in all my biking gear. The coordinates in my satnav weren't quite right, so I gave up and headed for the hotel. Jean arrived by air and, on check in, the chap behind the counter noticed in her passport that it was her birthday. A short while later there was a knock on the door and a fancy piece of cake was delivered, which was very well received by her.
We took a short motorway ride before getting onto a lesser highway to cross the southern part of Slovenia. We had short stop for lunch close to the substantial border controls that punctuated the crossing into Croatia, although both parts were lightly loaded because of the more minor road chosen. However, once in Croatia, it was onto a very new motorway towards Rijeka, with no vehicles whatsoever visible, front or back in either direction - wonderful! Later, we would hear Croatians complain about their motorway toll charges, but I found them very modest. Croatia has invested in its motorways, presumably to draw in tourism traffic. Rijeka is a substantial town on the coast overlooking the Adriatic and offshore islands. It is busy and has a sizeable port and we took a short ride northwards along the coast through small fishing villages, then enjoyed a very pleasant dinner overlooking the Adriatic.
The coastal route from Rijeka south to Biograd was very pretty indeed, offshore islands in the Adriatic with the sea bathed in sunshine, as more and more Harleys were being encountered converging on the rally site. I missed one planning element where I could have crossed over by ferry to a long island that is now connected at the southern end by bridges into Zadar. It would have avoided a rather prolonged period of 'contour riding' of sharp bends towards the end that began to tax my arms and concentration. It would also have avoided a delay for an unexploded landmine that closed the road, still quite common, although it was actually dealt with quite quickly all things considered.
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