Early to bed, early to rise they say. Hit the hay early last night & knew I had a long day in the saddle. Checked forecast last night and decided to head off early to avoid too much heat later in the day.

On the bike at 5.30am. lovely morning,dry and 13c. Got through Croatia/slovian border without any hiccups this time.

Could see I was riding into shit weather, but didn’t realise I would have to endure 9hrs of it. Half the 500k trip was through mountain passes. Lots of switchbacks. Rain soon started to trickle into my gloves from running down my sleeves. Wasn’t able to get jacket sleeves out side gloves. Had heated grips on to try and dry as I went. My hands were shriveled up like prunes.

Shame bout the weather as Slovenia & Italy country side are fabulous. Think I rode through the dolomites. Italian drivers are the worst I’ve met. Missed one car breaking a main junction by a second, me going 110kph. Not good for the kacks.

Was glad to get to digs & jump in shower and get a pint in me.

Best & worst day. Best for roads and views worst for weather. In saying that, I’d prefer the rain than baking heat. That’s paddies for you.