Travelling Light to Croatia

Next Sunday 22nd May, is the start of my first big Road trip of the year - its an 1800 mile ride to the 20th European HOG Rally in Biograd in Croatia.  I am going with my good friend Gary France, and we have planned the route as follows:

• Day 1 - UK to Beaune - the wine capital of Burgundy.
• Day 2 - Beaune to somewhere near Turin in Italy - we have left this open to see how it goes.
• Day 3  - Turin to Bolzano - this is up in the Tyrol and the way there takes in the famous Stelvio Pass, a challenge on our bikes.
• Day 4  - Bolzano to Trieste  - these last 2 nights are staying in very nice hotels - a bit of luxury on a trip is always appreciated.
• Day 5 - Trieste to Biograd - arrive at the HOG Rally and we have an apartment for the next 3 days.
• Day 6-8 - Hang out at the rally and in particular we have a Chelsea & Fulham party on the saturday night which will be fun to see some mates.
• Day 8 Fly home on wonderful Ryanair.

I am going to be riding my 1970 FLH No.7, and Gary will be riding his Road King "Leading Ladies" - you can tell Gary has the organisational skills, as his bike has two huge saddlebags and a large tour bag as well - he also tested it doing 20,000 odd miles in the US last year.  My bike has got 4 beautifully crafted  bolts which double up supporting the huge rear fender, and using this I have to strap on a weeks luggage!  So using my trusty Ortleib Waterproof holdall, a cargo net and a large bungee I have managed to get it all on, as a test before I go.  One other detail is the Nash Motorcycle Spare Fuel canister in a nice leather strap, as No.7's range is just about 100 miles.  Roll on Sunday.