Solo Ride to Istanbul Day 6 - Blue Skies and Sunshine Travelling Through Slovenia to The Croatian Coast
I woke up at the usual hour, 7!
Oddly I found myself submerged with sheets/blankets. I left my curtains and windows open through the night and the morning was beaming with sunshine. So I must have grabbed the covers half awake to cover the light.
As soon as I sensed the sun, I immediately jumped out of bed. I’ve been waiting for this moment for 3 whole days, it doesn’t seem that long in everyday life - but when you’re on the road for roughly 8-10 hours day; it can feel like a lifetime.
I started my morning with the usual breakfast routine, stuffing my face on as much free food as I can so I don’t need to pay for lunch. Todays meal was a strange one, scrambled tofu, which I’m no stranger to - but with roasted veg and curry sauce - for breakfast? Okay!
It tasted delicious! The curry sauce was similar to a Katsu Curry flavour, but a lot thinner in consistency.
When I finished breakfast I went upstairs to get ready for the day. I was feeling extra good this morning, so I put on a little more make up and even did my hair!
I was making an extra effort for today, because today was for sure going to be a great day - and it really was.
I took the 404 road down through Slovenia into Croatia - I called it the error 404 code road. Going through twisties and lovely little Slovenian towns I quickly approached Llubjana - where I met my first biker on the road! He gave me a quick fist bump and a bit of small talk at a traffic light. I must say, the bike life in Slovenia has probably been the best I’ve experienced in any country so far.
After crossing the border into Croatia, I met a guy called Patrick, who had been travelling for many weeks now on his bike. He had a whole load of stuff piled onto his bike, I immediately walked over and said the casual “nice bike” as I went in to pay for petrol - I guess to see if he spoke English. He did! When I came out after paying, we stood and talked for about 30 minutes - about travelling, world politics and future bike plans. Patrick is planning to ride the same route I am to istanbul, but then carrying on further to Australia and maybe more.
After telling him of my travels, and how I want to explore the world - he said “wait, I have something for you”, I was shocked, I didn’t expect him to give away anything to me. Patrick handed me a book by Lea Rieck about her solo adventures across the globe, he told me it was perfect to me and that I need to read it and feel inspired. To which I got really excited about and took it off his hands.
After the book, Patrick asked if I needed any clean clothes. Well, actually - I did. I ran out of things to wear and I’ve just been ignoring any chores of cleaning clothes. Patrick needed to giveaway some of his belongings because it was becoming too much of a burden for him to lug around with him. He started by giving me a pair of loose fit trousers, I told him I got mine all muddy by jumping in lake bled yesterday. He asked me if I needed any T-shirts, but my packing was overflowing as it was. I said okayyyy let’s see what you’ve got, as he seemed really determined to lighten his fully loaded bike. I see him pull out a yellow T-shirt, then a yolk appeared and I screamed “OH MY GOSH IS THAT GUDETAMA?!?”. It was! He was giving me a gudetama t shirt! I loveeeee Gudetama! Gudetama is a kind of mascot in Japan, he’s a really lazy, kawaii egg yolk who goes on adventures with a chicken.
Of course I took this shirt and wore it with pride! He then pulled out a beautiful blanket he bought from Indonesia - I said no at first, but then I thought - actually - that’s the perfect fabric and size for a hair covering for when I visit the mosques in Istanbul. So I took that too.
I felt bad about not giving Patrick anything back in return. I thought about what I could give him and then I remembered, I bought some marmalade at the hotel in Slovenia this morning; I bought it with no one in mind to give it to. So I thought Patrick was the perfect person for this gift in that moment, I also gave him two of my Motowaifu stickers as a thank you. He was really grateful for these as he told me a story about his panniers flying off his bike and him losing all his stickers and having to start again!
It was a simple, equivalent exchange with a complete stranger on the road. This is why bikes bring bonds, this kind of thing would never have happened had we not both had bikes.
When you’re a biker, you have an immediate connection with any other biker. An instant conversation starter in any circumstance.
Thank you Patrick for my gifts, and I hope you enjoy yours too! It was a pleasure meeting you today and it truly felt like fate - you confirmed to me that one day I do need to ride to Japan. I need to do this for me and you giving me a book about solo travel around the world and a Japanese t shirt just on the off chance, we’ll, that was enough reason for me.
After leaving the petrol station and waving goodbye to a new friend, I made my way towards Rijeka. I took a few wrong turns and ended up on the motorway, I ended up just skipping Rijeka and sticking on the motorway until I got to Zadar. The last hour of the motorway was really really tough - but I just kept thinking it’s one hour less that I have to do tomorrow.
This is my 6th country in 6 days, and I still have at least 3 more countries to go until I reach Turkey. I’ve not even thought about the way back home yet!
When I got to Zadar I looked at hotels. There was a hostel by the beach that had a private room for £30, so I quickly snapped that up and headed over.
The hostel is nice, I’ve always enjoyed hostels. They always have this community feel.
I arrived at the hostel at 7pm, so I quickly threw all my belongings on the floor, got changed - and ran down to the beach to catch the sunset.
I sat on the pebble shore and flew my drone high up in the sky. Getting some epic shots and also P***ing off some seagulls, oops.
The sunset was beautiful, but it was starting to get dark and I hadn’t eaten yet. That’s when I made my way to the most British holiday pub I could find. Tiki bar style with string lights everywhere and the football playing. I rode away from England to go to… English pubs. There’s something homely about them… 😂⚽️🇷🇴
I ordered a Pina Colada and some pizza, then had a dinner date through FaceTime with my partner Dan.
Today was a great day, a total Opposite Day to yesterday. This is as good as it has been since I left England last Friday!
Feeling very deep into the on the road travel mindset, and Europe itself. Plus, are you really in Eastern Europe if there aren’t cats everywhere?
Tomorrow I’ll ride to Dubrovnik, ready to make the crossing to Montenegro!
Ride safe,
Waifu x