To Croatia and back

[Northloop]

This started a few years ago with me owning an M2 Competition. I loved the car and my lad loved it even more more than I did. It was pretty much brand new when I bought it from a main dealer and I gave £44k for it. Try buying a 250 mile M car for that money now. You'll be lucky to get a 320i. I had it for just under 3 years and got out of it as used car prices peaked in and around Covid. I lost a surprisingly small amount of money on it, considering it was just coming up to big bill time. New tyres, main service, new brakes etc. I'd scratched the itch and felt like i'd won. In fact I think it only had two oil changes on it in my ownership and that was it.

Proud to own this. by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

A couple more of the M2 Comp by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Prior to the M2 I'd had a 435d (which I loved), a 330d touring and a 530d, so i'd been around BMWs for a good while. Dick Lovett in Hungerford had looked after my cars and also me so when looking for a replacement I was keen to stay with these guys, if possible.

I'd been looking at Minis for a while. The plan, with my lad getting towards his teens was to get something we could do road trips in. I'd read and watched other peoples trip reports and videos for ages and wanted to get involved. I looked at a couple but they didn't really fit the bill. Then the one I bought came up and I nipped over for a look. It was almost exactly what I wanted, but didn't have SatNav, which was almost a deal breaker. However I drove it, decided to ignore the omission and pulled the trigger. The deal was done and I move out of BMW and over the road to Mini.

I was looking to retire early from work, so the downgrade in expenses, while keeping something fun, which had to be a manual and also able to be tinkered with, was my criteria. I intended to keep it for a long time, so to keep it fresh for me, i'd modify it every now and then, just to keep my interest alive.

This is what it looked like when it arrived.

F56 LCI2 Mini Cooper S by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

F56 LCI2 Mini Cooper S by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

It looking like it was on stilts was not something I was going to be able to handle for long. So on went H&R lowering springs dropping it 35mm. And that was the start .....

A few more pictures of my F56 Mini Cooper S by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

I've not gone mad with it since then, just tinkered. GPF back exhaust, tuned to about 250bhp, a couple of styling bits and a few other bits and pieces. Then I started using it.

Wales first.

As an avid photographer I took it to the Elan Valley for a look see for a couple of days. Loved it around there so much, I went back. A few times.

F56 Mini by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Northloop]

F56 mini by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

And if I'm going to do Wales, I'd better take my lad to Scotland to do the NC500. So a couple of days before Christmas off we went. Meeting my wife and daughter at the bottom of Loch Ness (not literally) after, to spend a week enjoying the area.

Scotland was amazing.

Scotland 2023 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Scotland 2023 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Scotland 2023 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

The scenery pretty decent too

Scotland Christmas 2023 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Scotland Christmas 2023 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr


From there we got adventurous. I'd been enjoying some of the latest Joe Achillies trip videos (on his borrowed motorbike at the time) and thought that's what we need to do next. So I stole a lot of his route. Added some of our own and went down through the alps to Annecy, Monaco and back.

Mount Semnoz by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Annecy in France by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

AK and I went to France - and Italy by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Mini in the Alps by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Monte Carlo Casino by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Reims F1 circuit by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr


A fabulous trip and the one I knew meant we'd be doing similar again and again. My lad loved it and as we all know, we only get so many years where are kids are happy to be with us, so grab every moment and enjoy it while you can.

[Northloop]

Last year we went through the Pyrenees, across to the Alps, then back to the UK. I documented that trip here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Northloop]

So where were we going to go this year? Were we going to do similar stuff, or 'change it up', as the new saying goes.

That's where Croatia came in.....

[Northloop]

Being the bad dad I am and not wanting to arrive in Calais at 10pm after our 8.20pm tunnel crossing I elected to take my lad out of school 2 hours early and hopefully get ahead of schedule slightly. School had taken him away from lessons for sport related stuff, so I thought it was my turn. That's the trouble with being good at stuff. Even if you don't want to be a runner, preferring football and golf, you get press ganged into running for the school in district events. Still, it made me feel less guilty about taking him out. Now i've seen what the queues were like at Dover on the Friday of Half term, i'm glad I did. Madness.

The mini was our chosen steed. Well it was either that or our electric Audi which would need to stop for charge every 20 mins or so. Far from the ideal car to bang in big miles across Europe I knew it would be great when we got to the more interesting stuff. And having done a couple of other similar trips in it in the past I knew it's weak point and worked around them in advance. Comfort was the biggest issue. After a few hours I would get a numb leg. So our good friends at Amazon were pressed into service. Providing a couple of cough, memory foam seat pads for £15. These were about an inch thick and fitted perfectly onto the minis seats. They were also bloody comfy on our test run.

So I picked the lad up from school at 1pm, car fully loaded. Home, get changed and on our way. Oh and having had poor weather for the previous week, the sun came out. Beautiful.

A quick and easy 140 mile drive to the tunnel. The M25 played ball, no issues. And when we arrived the tunnel was quiet and we were brought forward be an hour or so.

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

There were a few others around and about obviously off away on their own adventures

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Northloop]

Going on Thursday evening meant our first stop was going to be close to Calais. When I was planning most check ins seemed to close by 10pm and initially this was going to be tight for us, So I booked us a room at the local Ibis. Best described as a ferry cabin hallway and room. Being the first of the trip it only needed to provide a bed as we'd be away early in the morning. We thought we'd try the food in the restaurant, but it had run out of Pizza, beef and pretty much everything else. So a lowly portion of chips it was. Don't tell his mum that was all he got....Oh and the bullet hole curtains were interesting too.

I wouldn't recommend it, but it was probably the cheapest hotel on the trip at around £70. Everything booked using bookings.com

Croatia road trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia road trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia road trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia road trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia road trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Edited by Northloop on Saturday 6th June 15:52

[Northloop]

Up and away at 6.30am after a pretty dreadful nights sleep. My lad loves coming away with me as he gets a good lie in. NOT. I was just happy to be away from Calais and on the open road. Rather than using the toll roads through France we had elected to nip into Belgium, then Luxembourg which we'd not been to before before our final destination for the day in Germany. Some 500 odd miles so a long slog. But before leaving Germany we had to make a fuel stop and most importantly a baked goods breakfast. Even service station pastries are 100% better than anything you get in the UK, at about half the price and twice the size too.

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

The days travel was pretty uneventful. Belgium roads were as usual. Indicators were used just after a move had been completed, rather than before. Luxembourg was just another country ticket off our list and driven straight through.

Finally we arrived weiry at our destination for the day a couple of miles out of Baden-Baden at the head of the 500 - supposedly the best driving road in the Black Forest. The mini had done it's bit and as always was frugal.

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr


In comparison to the Calais offering, this hotel was lovely. A gorgeous location, with it's own vineyard, wine making in a pretty little town. However I can't stand the stuff, so wasted on me. However, it had the best shower known to man. Turn all the taps on and be blasted from every direction until the skin starts peel off. Highly recommended.

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Northloop]

The hotel didn't however have a restaurant, so off we went to Baden - Baden. A town famous for its thermal springs. Also one difficult to find a parking space in and with very expensive shops. Still we found a burger and chips a walk through town and back to the car in an hour or so. Not one i'd rush back to, but it served a purpose.

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

I eventually found this space next to a long since abandoned Z4

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Back at the hotel we went for a walk in 30 degree heat to the top of the hill behind to look down over the vineyard and to check the view out.

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr


We have one of these on order, so it was good to see one out in the wild.

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Random image time

Croatia Trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr


After our trek up the hill we walked through the village and back to the only place open and serving drinks which was dead opposite our hotel. Sat down with the locals congregating there and spent 5 mins perusing the menu and deciding which of many beer options I was going to have. When the owner finally came over and took our order he hit us with the fatal words 'cash only'. Normally when we go away I take a lump of cash and end up struggling to get rid of it at the end of the trip. This time I had taken none, thinking everyone took card payment. Nope. So back to the room we went to drink the warm cans I had hidden under the floor in the boot of the mini. Lesson learnt? Probably not.

We did however have a brilliant nights sleep and were again up early in the morning to drive some nice roads while they were still quiet. Pattern emerging?


Hotel details £112 for the night
https://www.booking.com/hotel/de/schloss-neuweier....

Edited by Northloop on Saturday 6th June 16:44

[Northloop]

Leaving the hotel in the morning we drove through the village centre and as is the case everywhere in Europe, there was a bakery, open and serving. Several local cars outside so you know it's a good one. Order the pastries of choice, get them bagged up, go to use your Monzo card only to be told, nope, we only take EU cards. Perfect. What's the damage? Just under 5 euros for 4 pastries. Hold on a minute. Rush to the car and recover the 5 euro note in the passport bag that my lad brought back from skiing in February. Life saver. Drive to the start of the 500, find a bench and consume breakfast.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

At this time on a Saturday morning the 500 was dead quiet. It is a lovely road and the surface is like all roads in Germany. Perfect. However, I wouldn't say that in the main it has great views and it's a little too open. So to be really enjoying it, you'd be breaking the speed limit pretty badly. I'm more inclined towards the tighter stuff where the car can be on its toes without being in silly speed territory. That's not to say we didn't enjoy it though, because we did.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Northloop]

Back at home I'd plotted our route exactly as we wanted to take it. Sometimes on quicker roads, other on specific back roads that looked interesting. This particular section we were going to scout along Lake Constance, but making sure we stayed on the German side. We had Vignettes to drive in Austria and Slovenia, but not the more expensive one for Switzerland. As we drove along the lake so traffic increased, with Saturday afternoon camper vans being numerous. However, we'd made good time, so we could chill, go with the flow and make progress when traffic allowed

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Our target was Innsbruck which we rolled into just after lunch. Fortunately the hotel room was ready, so we dumped the bags and went out to explore.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Hotel room £122
https://www.booking.com/hotel/at/heimgartl-innsbru...

[Northloop]

Neither of us had been to Austria before and Innsbruck was a great introduction. As always i'd done a little research before booking our stops and Innsbruck look like a great addition. The scenery looked amazing and also they had the old Olympic ski slope there. What's not to like? And would you believe it. The random hotel on the outskirts had a view of both. Oh and the zoo was only a few yards away, although we didn't have enough time to go looking at animals. Although I would have liked to have seen their Lynx. I've not seen one in the flesh before.

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

We needed as long as it took to drag up bags up the stairs into the room and check the view out, before walking out the door into town. It was a 10minute stroll along the river bank which was lovely, although it was also 30 degrees, so we were well in need of refreshment by the time we go there.

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

There's an iconic spot on the bank where images are taken of the houses opposite, with the mountains in the background. As always it's hard to show scale with images, but they were pretty big with winter ski locations at the top.

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Northloop]

The town itself was stunning and had a really nice vibe about it. Busy, with a number of tourists about, but not too much so it was over whelming. There also seemed to be a local festival or something going on as loads of people were wearing traditional dress. What I can say is that this might be the city with the best view i've visited. Certainly true in recent years.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Oh and a couple of people in not so traditional dress were knocking about too.

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr


Being as adventurous as we are, we immediately found somewhere that served Pizza and beer. Bloody lovely it was too.

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Back at the room we watched sunset over the mountains, then got some sleep as once again we were due to be out early in the morning.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Northloop]

The reason for leaving Innsbruck early in the morning as two fold. We still had a long way to go to reach Croatia, but also we wanted to drive the Grossglockner Alpine Road on the way. An expensive piece of tarmac at about £40 to drive it, but one we hoped would live up to expectation. Again i'd plotted the route via Garmin and everything was going swimmingly until we rolled up to a toll, about half way to our destination. Not unusual as they seem to be dotted around for random roads, tunnels etc. This time after handing over our payment card my lad was handed a ticket and also a map and other info. It appeared without warning we had driven into a national park. We were about to see the 5th highest waterfall in the world and the largest in Europe and had absolutely no clue until we got there.

The roads in the park were stunning, so we slowed down a bit, took our time and had a short look about. The falls are around 300 metres in length over 3 tiers. We didn't get up close, but they looked pretty impressive from a distance.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr


At the other end there was no visible toll booth, so maybe it was just a local taking £12 off us and giving us a map ..... Very industrious of her I must say

[_Rodders_]

Looks great we're off for trip down the Adriatic this summer. Your pictures certainly whet the appetite.

[tozerman]

Great write up, sounds like a brilliant trip..
We are planning something similar for next year. Our destination will be Slovenia, we are allowing 3 weeks
..

[Northloop]

Stopping at the waterfall put us a little behind schedule. We wanted to get to Grossglockner early enough as to miss the mad rush of Campers and such like . Hindsight, I should have found us a hotel closer to the pass, but then we would have missed Innsbruck. You can't get it right all the time and our limited half term timeline meant everything was going to be a bit of a rush. That's just the way it is.

As it was we arrived at the Toll for the pass somewhere around 8.15am, so not too bad. I was pleased to see no queues for the booths, hoping that meant the road would be quiet.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

I'm no expert, but coming from the North it felt as if the altitude change was quick after the toll, with a more gentle decent when we go to the southern end. It meant things got dramatic pretty quickly.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Typing this my daughter just mentioned over my shoulder 'Got enough pictures of the Mini there dad?'. That's the problem with these trips and taking a teenage son. He has zero interest in being in my images. So for perspective, you get the mini instead.

The run up was brilliant. I thought I was going to drive it fairly hard, but instead found myself stopping every mile or so to admire the view and take images. There are something like 35 hairpin bends on the road, so plenty to enjoy. I did however get my lad to take a video snippet or two, which was good.

There are a number of places of interest on the road to stop and have a proper look at, but time was tight, so we couldn't stop at them all.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

XXX Video clip XXX
Grossglockner pass by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Northloop]

When you get the summit shop you think you are done. However, looking back there a small cobbled road which takes you higher still. It's pretty much single track, but you should go up it to the very top. There's another car park up there, mostly used by motorbikes, but there is room for cars too.

Pretty high and pretty cold too

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Northloop]

What an absolutely stunning car ...................... and a Porsche

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

From the top we started the decent. I wanted to walk to the glacier, but thought we had missed it. We hadn't, but we did miss it on the way down Dohhhhh.

The pass had only been open for a week or so, so the amount of snow pushed the sides by ploughs I assume was crazy. Time for yet more Mini on a mountain images.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Traffic level remained very low. Amazing for a Sunday at the end of May with what I think was the best weekend weather of the year to date.

At the end of the pass - or so I thought, was a roundabout. Satnav told us to go left, so that's the way we went. Had we gone straight across we would have arrived at the Glacier and the observation point. We didn't. Oh well, something for next time.

Just as we were about to settle in for the long run to Croatia we noticed a hige waterfall at the side of the road. Time for another pit stop and a couple of images. Waterfalls are very hard to photograph and show their scale without a person to show perspective. My lad gave a flat out 'no', so you will just have to trust me that this was a big one.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

Before leaving blighty I had made a run to home bargains for snacks and drinks. It's the one time of the year I visit that establishment. It did however mean the car was well equipped with bags of dried fruit, nuts, a slab of cherry pepsi max and 1KG of fizzy sweets each. I made sure the lids were marked to stop the boy eating mine too

Snacks consumed we were back on the road.

[Northloop]

The second half of the day was a trek across Austria, Italy and Slovenia and Croatia, before arriving at our destination. It sounds a lot in an afternoon doesn't it?

Observations on Austria. Lots and lots of trees and wood production plants. And I do mean lots. We were on the back roads mostly, but every village seemed to have a plant of some kind with literally 1000s of tree trunks waiting to be processed. Having said that all the structures were made of wood, so demand is high. It didn't look like they were shy with re-planting either, the place was awash with trees. Oh and sheds in fields. One field on the edge of each village seemed to have about 20 random shed type structure in it. Get to the next village, repeat.

Then we scouted through a bit of Italy. Not far from Venice, but not enough time to visit, so carried on past it. And finally into Slovenia prior to Croatia. Another country to tick off our list. Didn't see enough of it on the way to pass judgement as we were only in it for 20 mins or so, prior to hitting Croatia.

So to the last bit of part 1 of our trip. If that makes sense. About 50 miles into Croatia we came to Rovinj, which was to be our home for the next 4 nights. I'd booked us a decent standard hotel, which included breakfast and evening meal. Time would tell how that would go.

All tucked up after about 1250 miles of driving.

Croatia trip 2026 by Gary Kinghorn, on Flickr

[Ussrcossack]

Thanks for the write up, pictures and associated info.

One lucky lad. I take mine on an annual summer trip in the car, we both love it, but photos and write up are not really me, I love reading others though

This year is Lille, Stuttgart, Munich Austria ( Solden) Then Moderna, Milan Turin Monaco Clermont Ferrand and home.
Quite car themed once again!