Balkans_2018...You Only Live Once!

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Budeasa (Romania)-> Bucharest (Romania)


https://goo.gl/a5mi7x



map_33.jpg



With the bike-drop-off rescheduled to make a little room for a shopping- crawl around Bucharest's bike-and-accessory-shops, the remaining ~130k's
are just a transport run through the industrial flatlands north-west of Bucharest.... we're out of the hills, rivers and lakes.
Having memorized the route through Bucharest works flawlessly, aside from the half-dozen-bikes " being the center-of-obstruction for minute of main-intersection-chaos.
But it all works itself out in the end....

Within an hour of hitting-town we're walking back to the hotel from the Bike-Rental-Depot, ready for an afternoon of cruising the shops and packing up.



Bucharest is giving us a cheery farewell :chug:



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No hiccups on the return journey, it all runs like clockwork and 24hrs later
Qatar Air deposits us at a busy Melbourne Tullamarine.


And thus end 3 weeks of The Balkans....which, of course, were about 3 months too short. Cheerio :):)



Villa Tamara...back to Square One



:gday::gday:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
I didn't know that Motenegro looks so alpine definitely worth going there by looking at the pics.


It sure is worth a visit..or 3.
As small as the place looks on a map, even a month would barely scratch the surface. LOTS of great roads, and many of them in good condition.
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Lessons learnt and other random musings...
.... wiser in hindsight.





PLANNING an average 250km/ day throughout the 3 week trip was too much. 170-200 would have been about right.

FALLING over with a 650cc or 300cc bike on top doesn't make a difference to the pain of a busted rib.

ANY repeat ride would be based from a "starfish" location, rather than a peripheral spot like Bucharest, requiring huge commutes.

THE G310GS
is a damn capable bike for its size...but it's way too busy for a tourer. Getting squashed by one, I'd like to try a 130kg stripped version.

NEVER, EVER assume ANY national road designation in Albania counting for a ride-able road...you could well be in for an afternoon at the MX-track.

DON'T
flinch, don't buck...just keep the hammer down and the boots ready to kick when you see packs of strays...they are NOT cuddly!!

DISREGARD
speed-limits to stay alive, nobody gives a shit incl. the rare constabulary. 30-50kmh over is about normal, 10-30kmh in towns. Always go with the fastest local.


ALWAYS creep to the front of the vehicle queue at a border-post, you''ll get processed together with the Lycra-mob and pedestrians.


IF YOU ever see a cop in Bulgaria, stop them at the next cafe and shout 'em whatever they want...they deserve it! :thumbs:

MISS your booked net-discount car-rental pickup by a day and the re-arrangements cost more than an Avis-retail rate.

INDULGE in your overseas riding + driving freedom... coming home to VIC/ AUS is like going back to prison.

JOINING the local riders mandates thongs, shorts and a loud T-shirt....and a Gixxer Thou at full noise with the nose in the sky. Wave to the cops...

ALWAYS check the emergency lane of local freeways for the freshest fruit+ veg bargains.

ANY side road in Albania can explosively spit out hordes of old men on pushbikes at any time of day or night, going in any direction usually across the main road.

DON'T slow down for livestock, pigs, donkeys, geese, goats, whatever....if it's smaller than you, it'll be fine, just prepare for impact...and the farkin mess.

ALWAYS
carry Euros in small denominations, they'll pay for HWY-tolls, flattened chooks/ geese/ducks, coffee and most other incidentals...everywhere!

DO NOT
rely on credit cards across the Balkans...you could be sleeping rough and chew fingernails for dinner.

ENGLISH is the most common 2. language all around...but be fluent in "hand+feet" + practice charades in front of the mirror at home!! Works Magic, that!

STRAP on EVERY BLOODY set of rental panniers with your jox-elastics or whatever you have...or prepare for a week-long search for your prized possessions.

DON'T assume any intelligence by Customs officials...ONE passport, ONE set of vehicle papers, ONE Green Card at a time!! Got that??

DO YOUR
homework on SIM-card providers, our Tellink-Roaming worked damn well right across the Balkan countries visited. A rarity, apparently.





more "wisdom" and bullshit to come... :doh::whistle::bs
 

Hytram

<-- now went that way
wow, just wow...

I am going to have to read and look at all this again on biggest screen possible, the phone and even laptop do not do it justice
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Yo, some of those landscape shots really only show their sparkle when on a "big screen".
Even better are the full-res originals on a 60" TV :wot::thumbs:
 

nev

Super Térrarist
Yo, some of those landscape shots really only show their sparkle when on a "big screen".
Even better are the full-res originals on a 60" TV :wot::thumbs:

We'll expect an invitation to beer and pizza and slideshow night at Chez Glitch
 

asphalt

Tassie...where tyres are flat and nights are long
Thank You for show us one of the biggest bike rides through the most interesting part of east european countries.
Due to the longtime isolation and closed borders from Albania, ....the balkan war in the last century, there was not
really easy to visit such beautyful countries like Montenegro, the Kosovo and parts of Kroatia or the new born nation
of Republic "New Mazedonia" ( before a district of Serbia) wich renamed offical, one month before!
I love these yarns and would to know more impressions and experience of riders from all over the world.
I wish You happy ridings in the new season:gday:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Thank You for show us one of the biggest bike rides through the most interesting part of east european countries.
Due to the longtime isolation and closed borders from Albania, ....the balkan war in the last century, there was not
really easy to visit such beautyful countries like Montenegro, the Kosovo and parts of Kroatia or the new born nation
of Republic "New Mazedonia" ( before a district of Serbia) wich renamed offical, one month before!
I love these yarns and would to know more impressions and experience of riders from all over the world.
I wish You happy ridings in the new season:gday:



:thumbs:

Not really knowing what to expect (and with a good amount of trepidation), it certainly turned into one of the most memorable trips we've ever had.

And while the many border-crossings turned out pretty smooth, if often drawn out, it's amazing that the former enemies can deal with eachother in such a way.
I bet, that nothing has really changed underneath, though...nobody throws away centuries of historical friction just like that.
What I didn't count on was the natural beauty of the places, skilifts right on top of the first line of coastal mountains overlooking the Dalmatian islands and coast, the National Parks and Alpine landscapes and Australian-style bare, somewhat desolate and deserted High Plains, towered by massive peaks in the background.

Or those deep-green rivers, the huge amount of water cutting through the bare-rock and scraggly vegetation in deep, steep gorges.
It sure is one hell of a place! :drool::drool:

And then there's the people, the food, the historic buildings and infrastructure, the whole feel of the place.
And just a border-crossing and 2 hours later it's all different again.

:slobb
 

asphalt

Tassie...where tyres are flat and nights are long
:thumbs:

Not really knowing what to expect (and with a good amount of trepidation), it certainly turned into one of the most memorable trips we've ever had.

The same for us, when they opened the borders.
(Hungary, Ukraine, Romania and Albania)

:thumbs:

And while the many border-crossings turned out pretty smooth, if often drawn out, it's amazing that the former enemies can deal with eachother in such a way.
I bet, that nothing has really changed underneath, though...nobody throws away centuries of historical friction just like that.

Sure, You are right! In the backround can be fatal. Often, they will use knives (the status symbol of many Balkan peoples),
for any kind of perceptive differences like. Family.- Clan and Neighborhood wars.
Most of it is a question of Tradition and Religion,.... often more than political confrontations.
I think... it is like all multicultures in all Corners over the world.

And then there's the people, the food, the historic buildings and infrastructure, the whole feel of the place.
And just a border-crossing and 2 hours later it's all different again.
Yeah..... it´s really amazing and different:clap::clap::clap:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
The same for us, when they opened the borders.
(Hungary, Ukraine, Romania and Albania)


I can imagine...and living so close to those borders.
Just saw some news about the new wave of Refugees at the Bosnian-Croatian border, only 70km from Slovenia and 220k's from the Austrian border at Maribor.
It certainly is a "bubbling pot"
 
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