Slovinia or Bust

[Ollie]

Great trip report! Love reading these.

[sladey]

unable to have a proper shower because bracket was at chest height.

You never sit down / squat in the shower?

I had an excellent “Onsen” shower in Japan (sitting down) and loved it. But this was neither one thing or the other and was over the bath.

I try not to squat in the bath any more since I was blacklisted by dynorod.

[Bootsy]

I try not to squat in the bath any more since I was blacklisted by dynorod.

Yes, that unfortunate incident is folklore these days

[sladey]

I believe it’s part of their training manual now

[hot66]

Weds

Woke up to the sun shine through the curtains ( forgot there was shutters ) another nice day ahead although the temp was already 17deg and it wasn’t even 8am.





Was a bit concerned about the weather warning . Today we had 175 miles , approx 6 hrs driven which is one of our shorter days.

Now the previous night, 1 of the lads had said they were heading off early into Italy to a specialist he knows to drop the Ferrari off to address a couple of niggles attended to & to get it tuned. He would fly back to the UK and collect the car at a later date. With the boxster out of action we also said goodbye to another one of us who jumped in the ferrari to also get a flight . So start of day 3 and we were down 2 cars .. we also had both early cars having problems with points gaps closing up , but these were sorted last night and both were running really well now. Just a 996 running a bit hot to keep an eye on.

Also over some beers, the idea of cycling back up the timmelsjoch was mentioned and then driving a more direct route to meet us all at the next hotel !



One of the lads had brought his road bike in the back of his RS, so for some daft reason this morning decided to cycle from the hotel and back up the Timmelsjoch !!! Now this is a climb on a push bike !



For the rest of us normal people, it was breakfast as usual and then 10 cars back on the road … but not for long as we stopped for some of the cars to fuel up and tackle the issue that the 996 engine bay fan didnt seem to be coming on. A bit of hot wiring the fan and we were all good to go.




Although we were in Italy, this area north of Bolzano seems to identify as Germany so we did kind of loose track of which country we were actually in. We headed down the vally to Bolzano, but taking the old twisty road that tracked the hill side rather than the new motorway .


Finding a lovely little cafe for lunch we regrouped ready for some more passes.



These dolomites roads are stunning, and I personally prefer their tighter rough nature ( although this pic shows some of the quick flowing stuff )




We pressed on for the next few hours and did some stunning roads in a dolomites loop . Really enjoyed this leg as teh roads were quiet .





Fake speed cameras in Italy




The weather warning from this morning ultimately resulted in a pretty heavy hail storm but apart fro 30mins of wet roads ( and laughing at the fact our nomad driver was still sat in his shorts and t-shirt with no roof ) .. this pic is crap but shows the remnants of a hail stone




We cracked on … more fuel stops ,



more great roads & got papped by one of those biker photographers ,








then finally the sella pass …. this pass is spectacular and if you’re think of driving it , get there soon as it is being proposed to close it and limit the number of vehicles per day that can drive up ! In the mean time we made the most of it as not only today , but tomorrow we were driving back over it to continue our trip east. I think gary got some good pics of his car .. I didnt have time to stop







We dropped down into Ortisei , where the 2026 downhill ski championship is taking place this winter, and found our hotel. The hotel was family owned since the 50’s and just had a refurb.. great place and great undercover garage for the cars .







Luckily I had booked a pizza restaurant in town in advance as it was busy …. food was spot on

This was best vodka of the trip




The hotel boss





Today had been a good day with stunning roads

[sladey]

The days all blur into one after a while but I remember the 996 engine troubles


Luckily there were enough of us with the ability to stand around making smartarrse remarks to get it fixed for now

That evening the locals were building some sort of bill and Ben effigy


And later after an excellent pizza we saw this weird witch flying over the square


Whilst the drives have become blurred in my mind, several times in the week I’d see that we’d got another 2 hours to the hotel and think I’d never be able to make it without a rest.

We would then come across some sublime switchbacks, the adrenaline would kick in and after what seemed like another 10 minutes we only had 20 minutes left to the hotel. This happened a few times over the trip - it amazing how fantastic roads make you forget how tired you are

[Gary71]

Passo Sella was amazing

Honestly just draw dropping scenery.

[Gary71]

Typical routes

[sladey]

Another typical route - this was a bit of Thursday

[markm]

James
“then finally the sella pass …. this pass is spectacular and if you’re think of driving it , get there soon as it is being proposed to close it and limit the number of vehicles per day that can drive up”


When’s this coming into effect do you know?

[hot66]

Coming soon … looks like Gardena too. ( where I got pulled by the police a few years ago )

https://www.nssedicola.com/en/explore/4 ... rs-booking

[majordad]

Vodka with Pizza , whatever next. Enjoying the reports n

[hot66]

Thursday

Today was always going to be the highlight, multiple famous passes and heading directly east to a big pass in Slovenia . Miles was only about 180 but google had it at 7.5hrs.

Usual morning routine, although I nipped down to the car to top up oil .

Passo Sella ticked off again



up Passo Pordi - great road and nice stop for coffee at the top… although did have an Italian Job moment near the top with a large shovel driver :lol













Passo Gau - We love this pass this being our 3rd time up it , but for added interest we knew the Giro Italia was also heading up on it tomorrow so it was busy with cyclists . Camper vans and tents parked up already , barbecues and beer being drunk and it wasn’t even lunch time. Surprisingly we got plenty of waves and cheers.





Headed onto Cortina for more fuel

[hot66]

Then more passes and great quiet roads as we headed east. These routes are all planned well in advance to make sure we drive quick , technical and hopefully quiet roads



After a brief pizza / pasta lunch we continued east and headed to Slovenia .

















Interesting place Slovenia, as we got near it the Italian villages felt a bit more run down and the tarmac style changed. Our aim was the Vršič Pass (Vršičko sedlo) in the Julian Alps.



From Bovac , the river running alongside the narrow road up the valley was crystal clear and by the amount of people swimming / bouldering etc it is defiantly a destination . The downside of this area being so popular was quite a lot of VW transporters etc which a lot of the time seemed reluctant to let us pass. The valley road is a fair few miles though and once past Trenta myself & Pete got ourselves in a position of a full clear road by the time we hit the bottom of the climb. I can t remember if the rest of the lads had a clear run or not.









And what a climb it was, quite technical which became hairpin , straight, hairpin . 1st gear for right-handers and 2nd for left seemed the quickest way when your haven fun with a mate. It was intense and by halfway up my shoulders were aching and i was actually asking myself when will it end n. Have fond memories of hearing Petes tyres chirping into the braking area and hearing his laughter through our open windows … no pics I’m afraid though

After some slight confusion at the top with some traffic lights for roadworks ! , we hit the decent which was very different to had been before. This side was tarmac, then cobbled hairpins , then tarmac.



Fine in my car but some did scrape splitters. I enjoy a good downhill so this was fun with an added twist . Soon we arrived at our destination of Kranjska Gora , a Slovenian ski resort.

To a certain extent, Slovenia was as expected, slightly USSR style of customer service and 70’s hotels . But it was very scenic.

We had booked a barbecue style restaurant, knew the ski lifts, one of the top rated in the town ! , and ate lots of meat !. It was good, but not spectacular quality yet had enjoyable evening eating under the stars.







Today had been some of the best driving done for a long time.

[70sThrowback]

This trip is Epic, loving it. Shame to hear about the potential restrictions on the passes. I am in the Dolomites and Ortisei this summer, but in a hire car, which as we know is the fastest type of car