I just got an email from Lindsay, as expected he's had a tough time of the weather. He's also had a couple of minor bike troubles. He's now in Freiburg, Germany so lets hope the sun shines for his final leg home so he can thaw and dry out

Just got home ten minutes ago. Feet still cold, mouth still tastes of seasickness. Tomorrow I'll begin an account of it all. Did that in Freiburg but they shut down the computer without warning and I lost the whole message. Linzi.

welcome back linzi

Thanks for the welcome. I wrote out a first instalment, clicked send and lost it. Grr. Then was too late for the bank but hey, it's bright and sunny here on the south coast and I sat in the sun on Madiera Drive and-- chilled out? No, warmed up! Right, now I'll try a third time to post a report. Linzi.

That's over an hour I spent writing the report yet again and yet again I send it only for it to be lost, being told I'm not logged in. I'll contact the management, but I'm pissed off now. Linzi.

That's happened to me before. If I'm typing something longish, I select all and save it fairly often. I think I started doing that with this site, but I do it for all sites now.

__________________
Not Ted Simon since 1970!
http://nokilli.com/rtw

Hi, yep I'd thought about that but didn't know it could be saved. I shall have to look into it. How's the weather over in California? It's bloody cold here!

It's been cold here, too. Cold for California at least. It dropped below freezing last night, but today is already warmer. I like to see snow, not live in it. The weird thing is, I really want to ride through snow. I like contradicting myself.

__________________
Not Ted Simon since 1970!
http://nokilli.com/rtw

Sorry for the trouble - I know how frustrating it can be when it doesn't work right!

Tips:

When on a strange computer, all sorts of things can go wrong.

1. Be sure you are on WWW.horizonsunlimited.com - the www is important and if it's not there can cause login problems. If for instance you log in at an address without the www, the system can automatically go to http://www.hu for something, and guess what - you ARE NOT logged in at http://www.hu, but at http://hu etc. Different!
2. Tick "Remember me" when logging in at WWW.hu and be sure to LOGOUT.
3. If writing something very long, on ANY computer, write it in Notepad, and save it to the desktop. Then copy and paste it into a post. That way you can also do spellchecks!

hope that helps,

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Thanks, I am on my own laptop but got back to find the anti virus warning me that it's out of date. I make so many mistakes these days myself I try to never criticize anyone. My fault for not finding out about saving. Must say I do love my Fujitsu Siemens Amilo's keyboard though. Here goes again. Linzi.

Sorry for being so incompetent but I want to include pictures when I work out how. First I need to get to the photo lab when they open again. I've only had one roll developed in Montenegro and wonder if that lab did the work well or if it can be improved upon. Tragically my helmet mounted video camera didn't work from day one. I bit off more than I could chew on this trip. Linzi.

Bummer about the helmet cam! Lots of testing needed on those before committing to a major trip with one.

Re posting pics, it's all in the FAQ: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...q_postapicture

hope that helps!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Hi, here's a short account as six attempts at detailed reports go to ether.

I arrive in Mojkovac late at night, in torrential rain from the train from Beograd.( Don't bother with Beograd, or Serbs). A van driver takes me to his family's farm for the night. I experience the warmest heartwarming hospitality imaginable. I need to go to Podgorica now to develop the photos I took of them. Next day I reached Rade, his family and the bike. Again wonderful hospitality. This little country is mountainous, has fabulous, challenging roads and wonderful, wonderful people.

The bike is in good condition but has a very slack chain, no damping in shock, no friction material on front pads, empty Scottoiler reservoir but starts at first stab of button. It excells on the Balkan roads but later is unsuited to fast cross-country work--650cc single. Weather was good in Montenegro when not pouring or later freezing. I'll try "post" now and hope! Linzi.

Ok , keep it short. I bivi'd high in the mountains on a few nights but then temps tumbled and the Balkans froze. One road was surrounded by frozen snow covered land. The road was dry mostly but then required me to thread where cars' tyres had cut through to tarmac. 10mph was average for an afternoon. I decided against Sarajevo and Mostar with these road conditions. Once I opted for an interesting road rather than the main road but after a day of pioneering up to the frozen summer pastures and the shuttered shelters, I reversed the route to safety. A hotel for the wimp to dry things out. Off towards Dubrovic. Pea soup fog, ice, darkness crossing into Bosnia. Over the border and downhil, down, down down seemingly to the bowels of the earth. I stayed in another hotel, met some bikers, had the bike checked again, swapped a waterproof rool bag for a bike club shield and headed off again.
Above Dubrovnic I searched narrow tracks just out of curiousity. Ghost towns lie scattered in the hils there above the cappuccino bars. The forest has been scorched. It is eery. My guess is Serb troops arrived, inhabitants fled, houses were torched and finally houses were stripped. Now there are just clean, empty streets and stone shells of houses. Now, later I am musing that I didn't think of land mines or booby traps. Yikes! I am eager to see if any of my photos of this come out well.
The Croatian coast up to Slovenia is the most perfect bend swinging paradise for a biker. This is race-track like in its sinuous flow. The Beemer swept through safely in heavy rain and proved itself to be an excellent adventure bike due to its safe nature. Should you make a mess of a track or road the bike stable and supportive with no scorpian sting. Linzi.

The Croatian coast was substantially longer than I remembered. I bivi'd in a forest near Split after noting the oddly warm wind from the Adriatic all day. Care needed taking a heavy little pussycat like theF650 in there. It would be really embarassing to get stuck or drop it there! Would you have expected night time thunder after daytime warm wind off the Adriatic? I didn't. Snoozing inoccently, snuggled up in white goose down warmth, I came violently awake with a lightning bolt falsh which lit up the leaf mould infront of my face like daylight. Half a second and the earth shook a the thunder cracked like a whip then rummbled on for a minute. A deluge then pounded the tent flysheet stretched over me like a roof. It filled and dipped down towards me body. I emptied it three times, each with about three litres of water. It's a big fly sheet but wow that's quite some storm.
I managed to stay relatively dry and rose, packed, got out and onto the road to a Lidl and some food. Back on the road and ever northwards. Got to Trieste with the evening rush hour. That made me realize just how light the traffic was in the Balkans. That is one of the glories of the roads there. Linzi.