trans europe express part 2 - Montenegro to Scotland

Spotted near the Montenegrin border. A bit of an in-joke for my former colleagues...

The Tara canyon leads north to the Durmitor mountain region of Montenegro. The 80km canyon is the deepest river canyon in Europe and is 1300m at its deepest.

The Durmitor National Park is a popular area for hiking and skiing. This photograph shows the Black Lake near the town of Zabljak.

A shrine near Ostrog Monastery at sunset.

Ostrog Monastery is built into the high cliffs of a steep sided valley and can only be reached by a steep winding road. It is one of the most popular Orthodox religious sites in Montenegro.

The countryside north of the Montenegrin coast is a mountainous area of rocks, forest and tangled, scrubby undergrowth - real Maquis country - and was the scene of fierce fighting during WWII between the various competing factions of the Yugoslav resistance, the Germans and the Italians. This memorial commemorates Partisans killed during the war.

Lovcen is the "Black Mountain" that gives Montenegro its Italian name. The summit affords fantastic views of the Albanian mountains to the south and east, Kotor Fjord to the north, and the Adriatic sea to the west.

Wild camping near the summit of Lovcen.

Kotor Fjord is the deepest fjord in southern Europe. The fjord is actually 20km by road from the viewpoint where this photograph was taken, reached via a precipitous hairpinned descent.

The beautiful walled old town of Dubrovnik. The city was shelled by Serb and Montenegrin forces during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s, but has been carefully restored. If you look carefully you can see differently coloured roof tiles where war damage has been repaired.

A Dubrovnik street viewed from the city walls. The white limestone of the city's buildings and pavements glows under the summer sunshine, and contrasts strkingly with the blue of the surrounding sea.

The old town of Korcula (on the island of the same name) is a sort of mini-Dubrovnik, and a popular destination for holiday yachters. I island hopped to the mainland port of Split via Korcula and Hvar, avoiding the busy coast road.

Hvar island. The Adriatic islands that flank the Croatian coast are covered in quiet, rocky beaches that are ideal for a quick dip when it's too hot for cycling.

The route north from Split took me through Krajina, a region of Croatia that was originally home to a large population of ethnic Serbs. Croatian Serbs formed the Republic of Serb Krajina when Croatia began moves for independence in the early 1990s. The RSK (backed by the Serbian Yugoslav army) and Croatia fought over the region for several years, until Croatia regained control in 1995. Both the Serbs and the Croatians were implicated in widespread atrocities and ethnic cleansing, and several hundred thousand Serbs were ultimately expelled from Croatia. I cycled for 3 days through areas where the aftermath of the war was still clearly visible, and frequent mine warning signs were a reminder of the long term legacy of the conflict. I decided to avoid wild camping after observing mine clearance operations taking place only a few metres from the verge of the road.

A village destroyed during the Yugoslav war. In the south of Krajina I cycled for mile after mile through a desert of ghost villages that had been systematically gutted to make them uninhabitable.

Another great route choice. After deciding to investigate an alternative road over the coastal mountains, the tarmac ran out half way up, leaving me with a steep 10km climb on loose stones and rock to reach the summit of the pass at 1044m.

Plitvicka Lakes is a string of 16 lakes in a deep gorge that feed each other in a series of cascading waterfalls.

The Great Waterfall at Plitvicka Lakes

The view from Mt Risnjak, looking north towards Slovenia.

Stormy clouds over the Slovenian capital Ljubljana; a smart modern city that's not too big and has a nice relaxed atmosphere. No coincidence that it has a good cycle routes and lots of people cycling...

Public art in Ljubljana.

One of the four beasts that guard the entrance to the Dragon bridge in central Ljubljana.

A ridge top church in the hills between Ljubljana and Bled.

The Disney-esque Lake Bled, which has a dinky castle perched scenically on a rock above the lake, and an island church.

Cloud blows away from the summits of the Julian Alps, near the Italian border.

Another nice wild camp by the shore of Lake Predil, just inside Italy.

The mountain range behind Cortina. The sustained beauty of the scenery in the Dolomites really impressed me. For several days there hardly seemed to be kilometre where I was not cycling through a spectacular mountainscape.

A view from near the summit of the Stelvio pass, with a few of the 48 numbered hairpins on the climb visible below. The reward for slogging to the top of this monster was one of the best descents of the journey.

The road along the shore of Lake Lugano, heading into Switzerland.

The town of La Salle, with Mont Blanc visible in the background. The Petit St Bernard pass climbs the mountains to the left into France.

The Morteratsch glacier, on the descent from the Bernina pass towards St Moritz.

Edinburgh RC's Rob Waller waits to sign on for the Grand Raid Cristalp mountainbike marathon, quietly proud of the fact that he has managed to get seeded for the elite top 350 this year.

The last rider crosses the summit of the first pass (the Croix de Coeur) with the starting point of Verbier visible below. 2500 cyclists compete in the main race (130km and 4500m of ascent) with another 2500 riding a half distance event. Unfortunately, heavy rain turned to snow at the highest point of the course, forcing the 2005 race to be cut short. The early start and cold conditions didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the two guys on the left of the picture, who kept up a manic stream of alchohol-fuelled encouragement for all the riders.

Wet, cold and windy on the Grand St Bernard pass, and no friendly dogs with reviving drinks in sight. Only another 20km to the summit.

The approach to the Col du Galibier. There is 30km and 2100 vertical metres of ascent from the town of St-Michel-de-Maurienne via the Col du Telegraphe. This classic Tour de France climb is extremely popular with cyclists, and there was a steady stream of two wheeled traffic all the way up the mountain.

The summit of the Galibier gave some of the best mountain top views of the trip. This photograph is looking down towards the Col du Lautaret.

The Vercors region, west of Grenoble, is a fantastic area for cycling. It is a high limestone plateau, incised with dramatic gorges. The roads are quiet, scenic and often carved out of the cliff face.

One of the huge Vercors river gorges.

The Comb Laval road runs through a series of rock arches close to the summit of the Col de la Machine.

The ascent to Puy Mary and the Volcanoes of the Auvergne in the Cantal region. The Auvergne provided some of the best cycling on the trip, with blue skies, quiet back roads and sleepy French villages.

Argenton sur Creuse, in the central Loire valley.

French agricultural humour...

Sunday on the beach. A French couple watch the ferry arriving in Cherbourg.

Flan au Natural. My last French cake before swapping artisan boulangeries for Greggs the bakers.

Passing the chalk cliffs outside Poole Harbour on the ferry from Cherbourg.

Crossing the Severn Bridge to reach Wales.

I followed Sustrans route 24 through south Wales, which took in all sorts of interesting and obscure back roads. As a result of subsidence the crooked church of Cwmyoy doesn't appear to have any right angles left. Its wonky structure is supported by a series of ad-hoc buttresses.

It is a stiff climb to the top of Gospel Pass, but worth it for the beautiful views over the green Wye Valley.

U534 was sunk off the coast of Denmark by Liberator bombers based in Tain, in what was the last major engagement of the Battle of the Atlantic. It is now on display at Birkenhead harbour. All but 3 of the crew survived the sinking. U-boat crews had an appalling casualty rate, with 75% of the submariners killed in action. The 26 year old captain of U534 was the oldest person in the crew.

The Three Graces of Liverpool, viewed from the Mersey Ferry.

Take the long way round. Back on home territory, just south of Lochmaben.