I had been toying with the idea of riding to the Balkans for some time, when I came across a website for MotoTours Europe which included a 16-day guided trip around Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania, starting and finishing in Zagreb, Croatia. It seemed silly to leave my GSA parked in the garage whilst we flew to Croatia and hired a bike, so we would ride down through France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Slovenia to Novigrad on the Croatian Istria Peninsula and meet the tour at the end of its first day out from Zagreb. At the end of the tour, we would ride back from Zagreb, riding the ‘Romantic Road’ up through Germany from Bavaria and then across Belgium to Calais.
With bespoke routes researched and loaded in the GPS, we set off from South Wales to catch an early-morning Shuttle to Calais. From Calais it was the A26 for 130km down to Cambrai and then what was once the old N43 for another 130km through Charleville Mezieres and Sedan to Douzy. I say the old N43 because much of it has since been redesignated as the D643/1043/8043, but the final two digits are based on its origin as the N43. From Douzy, it was enjoyable riding along the banks of the River Meuse in the sunshine for 70km to Verdun for our night
