FOREWORD
Leading to the creation of this adventure portal our Adriatic Circle Expedition was the most important endeavour - and greatest challenge - for our team. The Galloper, now Lone Galloper, brought us hope and willingness to pursue our aspirations and dreams. With all of its and our faults we certainly are not a creation made in heaven. Rather we base ourselves on mutual respect, constant communication and a passion for exploration. The Galloper, my first ever car, allows us to do all of these things in exchange for some caring love and fun. It instilled in me a deep passion for the outdoors life, exploring and the silence of the places safe from civilisation. We truly hope that our efforts will inspire your wanderlust, as it does ours.
Throughout our lives we’ve had the opportunity to experience joy, love, suffering and all sorts of luck. We all boast different skills and strong suits. We live different lives, work in different industries and have different, very different, opinions. However when it comes to this, what you are reading about, we are (almost) on the same page. We have the same burning passion, high expectations and will to pursue our shared dream.
This is the tale of our beginnings as Lone Galloper. This is where the road ends; where our adventure starts.
Throughout our lives we’ve had the opportunity to experience joy, love, suffering and all sorts of luck. We all boast different skills and strong suits. We live different lives, work in different industries and have different, very different, opinions. However when it comes to this, what you are reading about, we are (almost) on the same page. We have the same burning passion, high expectations and will to pursue our shared dream.
This is the tale of our beginnings as Lone Galloper. This is where the road ends; where our adventure starts.
PROLOGUE
"For years Pietro, Filippo and I had been talking about doing something cool during the summer. In ’14 we spent most of august camping on river beds and Hiking 3K+ m a.s.l (13,000 ft a.s.l) peaks in the Italian Alps. This time we were going to go for something bigger. Something new. Something that would let us experience travelling in a far more radical way. Overlanding.
We had been discussing the idea for a few days and eventually decided; “Lets do it!”. We fixed a departure date ad I totally screwed it up. I was overbooked on jobs and as per my usual luck this shoot was being postponed a lot. After a production meeting where I was told that the two day shoot was going to be postponed for another week I decided they could do without me. I packed up my stuff, said my goodbyes and wished them luck before I walked out of the door. I called Filippo and Pietro and told them I was going to drive up the next day.
I ran home and got started. I grabbed some of the gear I had used on a previous road trip (which failed miserably) and ran out he door once more to purchase more gear (a table). The following day I loaded up the Galloper and headed up to Piedmont to start prepping with the lads.
We had been discussing the idea for a few days and eventually decided; “Lets do it!”. We fixed a departure date ad I totally screwed it up. I was overbooked on jobs and as per my usual luck this shoot was being postponed a lot. After a production meeting where I was told that the two day shoot was going to be postponed for another week I decided they could do without me. I packed up my stuff, said my goodbyes and wished them luck before I walked out of the door. I called Filippo and Pietro and told them I was going to drive up the next day.
I ran home and got started. I grabbed some of the gear I had used on a previous road trip (which failed miserably) and ran out he door once more to purchase more gear (a table). The following day I loaded up the Galloper and headed up to Piedmont to start prepping with the lads.
Needless to say I had a couple of inconvenient events along the way (read about them here) and arrived late one night, a ticket and warning heavier. Police bollockings aside I could barely contain my excitement! So I showed my excitement by relentlessly reminding Filippo and Pietro that we were about to do a slightly more complicated trip than what I knew they were expecting. Deep inside I was worried too; for us, for the truck, for a series of things.
As it turned out it all went perfectly fine, kinda’."
Alberto
As it turned out it all went perfectly fine, kinda’."
Alberto
PREPARATION
Preparation. Vague. Imagine an out of focus frame. Yeah, there you go, that’s what it figuratively looked like. Well since Alberto had already done a similar trip a couple of years prior he already had a good idea about what we would need on our expedition. The list is short but essential and most of the kit we used is completely DIY. The awning, the camp table, advanced storage systems were made by us. We purchased food boxes and other cooking utensils we didn’t have or did not feel like removing from our home kitchens. Figured out how to “safely” secure the awning to the roof drip rails on the galloper.
Sat down at a table with a freshly brewed Moka of coffee we poured over maps and websites. Google maps and blogs proved to be very helpful. However we didn’t let that ruin our aspirations of travelling blind. We collected information on the best spots and places to visit and wrote them down on a notebook. Number crunching came next as we calculated [guesstimated] the amount of Klicks [Kilometers] we would have to / should drive per day to reach our ferry on time. That allowed us to budget in fuel consumption with a certain margin of human error.
During the day Alberto poured over maps trying to cover the Logistical Aspects of the trip. And worried about up keeping the health of the vehicle we would rely on.
Sat down at a table with a freshly brewed Moka of coffee we poured over maps and websites. Google maps and blogs proved to be very helpful. However we didn’t let that ruin our aspirations of travelling blind. We collected information on the best spots and places to visit and wrote them down on a notebook. Number crunching came next as we calculated [guesstimated] the amount of Klicks [Kilometers] we would have to / should drive per day to reach our ferry on time. That allowed us to budget in fuel consumption with a certain margin of human error.
During the day Alberto poured over maps trying to cover the Logistical Aspects of the trip. And worried about up keeping the health of the vehicle we would rely on.
Filippo discussed and researched the best beaches along the way and psychologically trained for military confrontation in Bosnia and kidnapping in Albania.
Pietro… Well we didn’t hear from pietro until late afternoon. He is a sociable animal and slept in, presumably storing energy looking forward to the traversing of seven countries all while feeding and navigating the other scoundrels.… oh yes, Filippo went on a supply mission to stock up on contact lenses, so many he didn’t pack any underpants or toiletries to make room for them in his suitcase.
All in all we had a shortlist of places we thought were worth routing to and other worth routing around. We had run over and over on what gear we would bring and what use it would have brought with us. Our documents scanned and photocopied and tanks fuelled up.
That night we treated ourselves to a few goodwill beers and a healthy dose of sleep. In the morning we embarked on our adventure and swiftly made our way to… the café (read more about this here!).
Seven brain numbing and sweaty hours we crossed the border into Slovenia and headed into the first roadside pub for a pint of ice cold beer. It worked wonders. We pushed through into Croatia filled will excitement and looked for a camping spot on the east cost of the Istria Peninsula. We eventually found a spot free of human turds and without hesitation jumped into the sea just in time for sunset.
Digesting ourselves to sleep we contemplated the trip ahead.
