Croatian Backroads

[Damir]

Dr.Chala (also member here) and I decided to explore some gravel roads on Southern Velebit on Sunday (10.08.2008).

There was about 200 km of “normal” road till we reached interesting stuff.

You can see radar site on Gola Pljesivica Mountain, it was made “famous” by this report: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=240446
Picture was taken from gas station in small city named Korenica.



We softened up our suspension and reduced tire pressure on last petrol station before turning to gravel road.



Finally, we turned towards Velebit. Our plan was to reach Mali Alan Pass(or Halan, spelling differs from map to map).





Road starts as narrow paved road, and after crossing Sv. Rok tunnel, it turns into gravel. Sv. Rok tunnel is one of the major choke points on new highway from inland towards coast. It is Sunday in height of tourist season, so big queues are “normal”.













Text on the sign says “End of asphalt”, really useful as you can see.





We started to climb, but had to stop very often as we can’t resist taking pictures, it was quite windy, air was clear and views are spectacular.













First stop was at the small church which was built during the road construction. Road was opened on 4. X. 1832.













Next location is Tulove grede, old legend says that dragons live there. Chapel is dedicated to Colonel Damir Tomljanovic Gavran who fell there in 1994 during Croatian war for independence. Whole area was frontline during the war.



















We finally reached Mali Alan, height is 1045 m. I had few other tracks on my GPS, and I tough that it is possible to turn from “main” road and reach another track. As you will see I was very wrong.



It was not looking bad at the beginning, but soon it started to look “interesting”. I was able to see other track on my GPS, but it was dead end, so we had to turn back.























We lost about an hour, but we managed to come back. It was late, we were tired, and quite far from home so we decided to leave other roads for another day and come down from mountain.

This picture was taken after we come back, don’t take left turn here.









We reached Gospic and there we decided to take little detour on our way home and hit another gravel section. Road was interesting, but it lead trough forests, so no nice pictures from this section.





It was around 100 km back to home on paved roads. We made more than 500 km, and had really good time.

[dr.chala]

[MoBill]

Fantastic. Thank you, would love to hear more about travelling there. The people, the government and prep for travelling there.

I know I'm an ignoramus...but I'm trying to change that.

[kktos]

Nice one !
We are so used to see Croatia coastline that I even forgot there are mountains too... and quite a lot !
Thanks for those great pictures !
/thierry

[StinkyCheese]

Really interesting part of the world. Love the pics!

[Damir]

Originally Posted by morriswf

Fantastic. Thank you, would love to hear more about travelling there. The people, the government and prep for travelling there.

I know I'm an ignoramus...but I'm trying to change that.

You just have to come here.

Traveling in Croatia is completely straightforward for US citizen. You don’t need visa or any other extra papers, just bring your passport. Croatia is very touristy country, especially Adriatic coast during summer, sometimes I got feeling that half of Europe is vacating here.

For some general facts about Croatia look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia

[Matt]

Thanks for thr great report Damir.
I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks riding around your wonderful country in 2005.
I was on a road bike but I took a few wrong turns and ended up on some spectacular gravel roads.
I especially liked the area around Plitvice and towards the coast from there.
Obviously the coast road was awsome, but very crowded as I went in August when as you say, it seems like half of Europe is in Croatia.
I hope to get back one day, friends of mine have a house on Pag and I would like to spend a couple of weeks there just relaxing.
Keep up the good work!

Matt

[dr.chala]

Originally Posted by Matt

Thanks for thr great report Damir.
I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks riding around your wonderful country in 2005.
I was on a road bike but I took a few wrong turns and ended up on some spectacular gravel roads.
I especially liked the area around Plitvice and towards the coast from there.
Obviously the coast road was awsome, but very crowded as I went in August when as you say, it seems like half of Europe is in Croatia.
I hope to get back one day, friends of mine have a house on Pag and I would like to spend a couple of weeks there just relaxing.
Keep up the good work!

Matt

Pag-beach Zrce-Club Papaya-this days...

http://www.index.hr/xmag/nightlife/g...1370/show.aspx

http://www.index.hr/xmag/nightlife/klub/0/show.aspx

http://www.index.hr/xmag/nightlife/g...1363/show.aspx

The best of...

http://www.index.hr/xmag/nightlife/g...3397/show.aspx

[GB]

Great ride!! Nice backroads you've got there!! Thanks for posting

[AnteK]

Dakle, ništa od planiranog niste obišli, opet ću morat ja voditi
Nice photos

[miromax]

And you forgot to mention that the region is the homeland of WINNETOU! There is still a postbox there!

[billyji]

I love goat trails !


Thanks for the write up. Keepum coming

Mike Green

[NaMi]

Hi!
Me and my friend Rok do the same path in april 07 but in opposite way.

[Stormbringer]

Wonderful World Of Croatia

[Direktor]

Nice drive and nice report! Nice country!