Quit our jobs, sold our home and everything in it, gone riding...

[Lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/317.html

The BMW shop in Split didn't have the tools to repair the shaft drive on my bike, and it would take at least a week to get both the tools from Zagreb and the parts from Germany shipped in. Although we are taking our time riding down the Adriatic coast, we are still on a rough schedule and a week stationary in Split would really crimp our pace.

I explained our haste to the mechanic and asked if the fix was urgent. He worded his reply carefully: "This problem didn't just pop up over the last day or two, the final drive bearing has been slowly wearing down over thousands of kms. If you leave now, your wheel could fall off in the next few hundred kms, or it could last another few thousand kms..."

Maybe I was reading between the lines too much or only hearing what I wanted to hear, but it seemed like he was covering BMW's liability, while indirectly saying the fix could wait. Just not for too long. After discussing this with Neda, I made the decision that we should go ahead and complete our tour of the Adriatic and then get the fix done in Zagreb, the capital city.

As I signed the indemnity form releasing BMW from any responsibility should my rear wheel fall off while I was riding, sending me hurtling over the guardrail into the Adriatic Sea, I wondered if I was making the right decision...

Seagulls follow our ferry as we leave from Split harbour towards the island of Brač (pronounced BRA-tch)

We bask in the warm sunlight on the deck, watching the birds dive-bomb the waters behind us, eager to pick up any fish stirred up by the wake of the ferry. A few bold gulls swooped down into the passenger area hoping to steal scraps off the customers coming out of the on-board snack bar.

Another glorious day.

 

[Lightcycle]

Brač is the largest of the Dalmatian islands

It takes less than an hour for us to arrive at Brač. The passengers on the ferry crowd the railings to get a glimpse of Supetar, the port town we are docking in. After riding off the ferry, we stop at the side of the road and let all the cars go ahead of us. We're in no rush.

Neda reaches up and picks something off of the branches (Bračs?) overhead

"What is it?", I asked. Neda replied, "I don't know the name in English, but we call it murva"

Then she popped it in her mouth. Neda continues her habit of picking stuff off the ground, in trees, out of the sea and eating it. Nature's Buffet! She knows everything there is to know about living off the land. She should totally be on Survivor or something.

I looked up "murva". It's a mulberry!

Okay, enough free food, let's ride!

 

[Lightcycle]

The road leads up and out of Supetar, we can see the town below us as we ride away

The coastal road is so twisty as it clings to the jagged edges of the island (see map above)!

We pass by small villages and farms and vineyards. Absolutely beautiful!

Looking over the town of Postira as we ride the northern coastal route

 

[Lightcycle]

The road dives south inland for a bit and we ride gentle switchbacks to climb higher up the shelf of land

Then back down to end up in the town of Pučišća, where Neda plans out our next stop

Wanna go dancing?

We climb up, up, up inland through more twisty roads and forests to the highest spot in Brač, Vidova Gora

 

[Lightcycle]

Vidova Gora is also the highest peak in all of the Dalmatian Islands. From here you can get a great view of the south coast of the island

That little cape of sand down there is called Zlatni Rat, or "Golden Horn". We'll be riding all the way down there later on this afternoon.

Close-up of Zlatni Rat. Looks like a lot of suntanning going on down there

We pass lots of vineyards as we head down and around to the southern coast looking for a campsite

Brač is expensive. There is no finding any cheap AirBnB in a far away town here because every place on the island is a holiday destination. The only economical option is to pitch our tent while we're here.

While searching for a campsite, I make a friend.

Our site for the evening

This is the first time we've broken out our tent this year. I think it's been over 7 months since we camped! I stare at the mess of poles, groundsheet, and tabs and clips on the tent and struggle to remember how to assemble it all together. Neda is loving being outdoors in nature again and I'm so thankful the weather is holding out and that we don't have to pitch the tent in the rain.

 

[Lightcycle]

Our campsite is just up the hill from Zlatni Rat, so after we eat a quick meal of sandwiches and soup outside our tent, we take a stroll down to the beach.

And then we come across a cheeky Croatian man skinny-dipping in the waters

Outside a restaurant near Zlatni Rat.

Ahhh, the beach! Turns out the golden colour isn't sand at all. It's a pebble beach! How unusual that it should look like sand from a distance!

We reach Zlatni Rat just before the sun disappears behind the mountains so all the sunbathers have left for the day. We have the entire beach to ourselves, so we stroll lazily around the small cape while Neda finds flat rocks and teaches me how to skip them on the waters of the sea. Yes, I am such a city boy... Skip rocks? Pick berries? I can code my own blogging software from scratch, is that cool enough for you?

What a totally relaxing tour of the Dalmatian Islands! So chill.

 

[Lightcycle]

We walk further past the cape and look out to the sea to all the ships anchored off the coast

Less than 2kms from Zlatni Rat is the town of Bol. It's the most ritzy place on Brač.

The marina at Bol

As we stroll the boardwalk in Bol, we peer at the menus posted outside the very frou-frou restaurants lining the harbour front. Everything is priced well out of our budget. It's a good thing we made our own dinner tonight. And walking around is free, so that's what we do.

"Where is your motorcycle, Neda? I would like to claim dominion over its seat. With my pee..."

 

[Lightcycle]

More of Bol

The buildings here are made from a white stone that has been excavated from local quarries here on the island. The white stone from Brač is world-famous and was used to build Diocletian's Palace in Split, and also the White House in Washington, DC!

Peering into a church

We just continue to be Bol-ed over at the beauty of our surroundings

Having an awesome time in the Dalmatian Islands!

 

[tiborgh]

I guess when you've grown up with a specific meaning for a word and then someone tells you it means something else in another language, you're never going to stop thinking of it in your original language.

Do that every time you mention "Pula Girls", but let's not split hairs

 

[Rick CH]

We just continue to be Bol-ed over at the beauty of our surroundings

Wait a Manute...

 

[Fazerrr]

More of Bol

The buildings here are made from a white stone that has been excavated from local quarries here on the island. The white stone from Brač is world-famous and was used to build Diocletian's Palace in Split, and also the White House in Washington, DC!

So... the brick is from brac? or as they say in French bric-a-brac?

 

[Lightcycle]

Do that every time you mention "Pula Girls", but let's not split hairs

Wait a Manute...

So... the brick is from brac? or as they say in French bric-a-brac?

Hohoho! Buncha comedians here! :lmao:

 

[GagguP]

Soooo uh, how are things going? No posts in a while..

 

[nfq]

Soooo uh, how are things going? No posts in a while..

It's the mid-season break. Gotta keep us in suspense before new episodes released.

 

[GagguP]

It's the mid-season break. Gotta keep us in suspense before new episodes released.

Ha you may just be right

 

[bocutter]

There were so many updates in Sept I thought maybe they'd found a nice spot to hole-up for a while ... or were twiddling thumbs waiting for parts

 

[Lightcycle]

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/318.html

We're going island hopping today! Gonna head to the next island south of Brač, called Hvar. But strangely enough, there is no direct ferry between Brač and Hvar. Which means we've got to take a ferry back to the mainland, ride south a little bit and then take another ferry to Hvar. I guess there's not enough traffic between the two islands to justify a direct ferry. Oh well, more riding for us, we don't mind!

While at the ferry dock in Sumartin (Brač), Neda talks to some sidecar folks from Germany

I got to talking to another German rider, Günter, he is traveling around on his beloved Yamaha Diversion

Last view of Brač from the ferry before departing

We spent the rest of the ferry ride hanging out with Günter. His English was better than our German, and we talked a lot about our trips and motorcycles. We got along really well and he invited us to come visit him in Germany if we were ever in the area. That was very gracious of him, we'd love to hang out more with him again! Just gotta figure out when we'll be around Germany again...

 

[Lightcycle]

Thanks to Günter for this pic of us - we don't have many of us together. Enjoying the sunshine!

After only an hour we arrive at Makarska, on mainland Croatia.

Günter is traveling further south, while we are going to stop less than 30kms away in Drvenik to catch the ferry to the next island of Hvar. We say our goodbyes in Makarska and less than 20 minutes later down the coast, we find ourselves waiting for yet another ferry!

Taking a dip in the Adriatic Sea while waiting. Weather is perfect!

It's a couple of hours wait in Drvenik for the next ferry, so we duck into a supermarket to get some cheese and Croatian prosciutto and we sit lazily by the edge of the sea while the blue sky and sun smile down at us. Nice.

Finally our ferry arrives. We park the bikes onboard and this was our entertainment for the next 15 minutes

When I first saw the long tour bus approach the already-loaded ferry, I told Neda, "There's no way he's fitting that thing on here this trip". The ferry operators corraled all the cars to the sides to make a bus-sized hole in the middle. Every single person marvelled at the bus-driver's Tetris skills as he shoe-horned his vehicle onboard with inches to spare on either side!

 

[Lightcycle]

35 minutes later, it's time to disembark the ferry again. What a roundabout way to get to the next island!

Motoring around the twisty coastal roads on the island of Hvar

It was getting late in the day, so we headed to the town of Stari Grad

We're now about 10 kms away from where we slept last night, as the crow flies. But we didn't fly. We crossed two islands, took two ferries and rode around 120 kms to get here! Oh well, it's a motorcycle trip!

There was no one in this wine store when we walked in. I went into the washroom and when I came out, Neda was ordering us some wine. Where did this guy come from?

Sipping our glasses of Croatian wine outside the store

 

[Lightcycle]

Walking around the marina in Stari Grad

Main square in Stari Grad

For some reason, Neda thought Stari Grad was the main tourist town on Hvar island, but it seemed kind of older and small. Well, it was getting too late to relocate. We had to find a campsite soon before the sun went down.

Church of St Stephen, Stari Grad

Although it wasn't the main town on Hvar, Stari Grad was still very quaint with its typical Croatian narrow streets and pedestrian cobblestone roads