Surviving the Balkans on a KTM 890 R and 1290 Super Adventure R

That was the stupidest, scariest thing I've done in a long time. I do not want to be here. Let's go from here. The word

adventure

is thrown around a lot these days and I feel like its true meaning is being eroded by those. Go for a guided tour rather than creating your own unique experience, there's nothing wrong with us all operating within different comfort zones, but in motorcycle terms, if you've downloaded someone else's GPS routes they conveniently reconstruct a chain of pre-booked hotel rooms and I Hate to break it to you, you're not an

adventure

rider, you're an itinerary rider now, before you shoot me down in flames, let me present you with an example of pure adventure: a trip through five Balkan countries in five days, just me and my partner Efthymis two adventure bikes, tents and sleeping bags as backup, no routes, no set destinations and not a single hotel reservation between us, we will go wherever the wind takes us, the only preparation What I've done is plot some Google Earth landmarks that will take us to some of the most remote and rugged terrain these countries have to offer.

I have never been to Croatia, Montenegro, Albania or Macedonia before, so I have no idea what to expect. I just set my gps to track the shortest path between waypoints, I include all the unpaved roads and see where the heck we end up so our story starts in croatia and I'm continuing towards my first waypoint which is mount dinara, the highest mountain in the country. I'm favoring any route that heads south through the mountain range as we head towards the Montenegrin border, this is adventure bike heaven and we're covering a good distance even though the tracks turn to pure rock and debris, everything seems fine, but our pace through the rocks has caused a little problem, your issue is

1290

r, it's still faded, let's get your compressor. and we're going to pump it up because it ain't out yet, okay, oh, you guys got dents everywhere, everywhere, it's like the tire clearance is like a 50 cent piece, uh, destroyed motherfucker, We couldn't fit tubes on the

1290

r, so the tubeless wheel has been progressively losing air with each impact and is now at zero psi.

I go at this speed until we reach someone's house or garage or whatever. I see an open door in an automotive workshop. Okay, perfect, we're trying to find some tire levers. changing the tire is a big plus this lovely young lady speaks english okay um we just need the tools and we are in this friendly croatian family she has saved our asses my 890 doubles as a bead breaker a reliable flat head and half a broken tire changer from the workshop from an old guy is all I need to rip off the tire in situations like these, you have to recognize when it's time to step aside and let a master do his job, because this legend is an automotive craftsman, can we get a reference Quick, look how it looks? how fucked up he is before and after nailing it, he was just 35 amazing, he was once a motorcycle racer, no, but he loves cars and vehicles, he has all the skills of a professional enduro draft, not only did this legend restore the tire to a factory spec, but he's pulling strings in the town of Knin to make sure we get a hotel room and they keep the kitchen open until we get there.

Are you going to keep the kitchen open for us? Your father is a legend and a champion saint. Turns out this hotel is a makeshift hospice providing palliative care for those nearing the end of life's journey, whatever the case may be, the beer and food were amazing, Croatia, what an adventurous place. My next landmark is somewhere in the hills ahead, a small hidden village that is home to one of the most amazing geological landmarks in the eye of the earth - no one knows how deep it goes, but on closer inspection maybe a more appropriate name would be the birth canal of the earth its constant flow of icy water has been running for an eternity huge headache like ice cream, right, I feel reborn and ready for anything, imagine if you lived in a time when the one where you had to build a fortress to protect your family and your people from wandering invaders.

The people of the Balkans have been forged by centuries of war. We need to start tracking further south and get to the border before we lose much of the day. I have set my next waypoint which is an epic river system in Montenegro and my GPS tells me it is at least 350 kilometers away. We recharge the bikes, hit the road and head straight towards an unexpected border crossing. What country are we in? It turns out that we have entered hersegovina a slightly strange place that reminds me of Kazakhstan yes, yes, the same different country and the same feeling of regret after eating this crap, but sometimes you have to do it on the fly it's bosnia, it's bosnia What the hell and now we have entered directly into Bosnia.

I didn't expect to be torn apart again, road networks, creepy looking power plants and legends driving tractors down the road. I didn't expect to be in Bosnia again since I rode the KTM rally here in 2019, but even more so I didn't expect it to offer such stunning scenery. It's like we've suddenly arrived in a South American rainforest, so I love when the Roads twist and traffic has to tiptoe around Dirt bikes go straight to the top of the food chain Hello, this rickety structure is the bridge between Bosnia and Montenegro and this bridge has a huge crack in the middle It's been a great day , I've hit my planned waypoint and now it's time to think about camping for the night, but since there's a massive storm bearing down on us, we're eager to find the first decent shelter that comes our way.

There, the third day onwards towards Albania, last night's rain has cooled off. The place was cleaned and the roads are in perfect condition for motorcycling. We are on a random pass through an epic mountain range heading southeast through Montenegro. I don't know where we actually are, but we're on our way to my next waypoint, which is somewhere. On Albania's highest mountain range these roads are fantastic, you could sit and enjoy these things all day but a quick scan and recalculation in the navigator gives me exactly what we're looking for now, we're talking three days of tracking through a remote control. mountain trail   if the ms 1290 front wheel still holds 35 psi and we are living the adventure bike dream back on the trail and towards Albania are you ready for the albanians?

Where are you going from Italy? Italy Italian guys Italian guys I'm from Greece he's from Australia tentatively passing the local police. I think it's wise to follow the rules until a local legend shows us exactly how it's done in Albania. We are having a great time and laughing a lot watching Albanian culture, but it's time to start. serious and reach the mountain range to find my next landmark in life a fork in the road is an opportunity to achieve two different outcomes and the decision you make can direct you towards undesirable situations the deeper we go the later the time will show arrival on my GPS and we are running out of daylight.

One thing I haven't mentioned that has been on my mind the entire trip is the fact that this entire mountain range across the Balkans is home to bears and wolves by GPS when two tracks run. parallel after falling it can be difficult to know you are on the right path there is always one rule I follow when I travel around the world on a motorcycle I always have more fuel than confidence the fact that both of our bikes still show a range of 100 miles at this depth This means that we can afford to travel 60 kilometers if we have headed 30 km in the wrong direction.

Look at the pink line that is that hill. We are not going in that direction. We'll stay on this side road and I'll be able to keep an eye on where it is. taking us   and if it starts to come unstuck we are in business we're going to get to that   that's it, let's move on, let's do it, see what happens, let's do it 0:19:37.120,1193:02:47.295 call this, we're missing out now and when I find myself in these situations I block out distractions, I am very practical and I continue moving forward until the end of the road, we have to return to that curve where we turned.

Going up that hill we have to go back the blue line is where we have been we are going to go back and that zigzag where we turned around I am going to take the right and follow this path down, otherwise we are going to follow all the way back to that original point anyway let's move on we're running out of daylight you'll see I don't accept panic I don't make indecision and I don't waste time when there's no time to waste I don't care if you're tired, thirsty, hungry, in pain or scared, if you and your bike are not broken, then we will move, we will rest when we are safe.

Efthymis is out of her comfort zone now, but she is talking only about who I am. I'm here, here we are, we're really lost, now all the clues lead us nowhere and we're at least two hours in any direction from any kind of civilization. We need to find some kind of hunter's hut or shepherd's camp to try to lock us away from the bears and wolves I'll go there maybe we're sleeping with the Albanians at the ends of the earth we meet five Albanian shepherds at least that's what it looks like like we're really lost stuck in everything but uh like they say safety is in numbers so look how they put all their goats in these pens at night and then they have dogs on every corner that's for the bears and wolves , hello friend, are you good?

Are you happy? Wow, great day, something's not right. These Albanians speak Greek and once lived in Greece for work, but now they are apparently hiding in the mountains. Efthymis suspects that no one knows we are here. We can't contact the outside world and our bikes are worth a lot more to these guys. our lives would be: we have two options: spend the night locked in a cabin with five Albanians or ride into the darkness and try to find the way out of here through the forests of bears and wolves, the most important thing I have learned on My Journey It's just that it's safer to be on the move than to be an easy target.

We have 100 kilometers of fuel range left, so we will brave the bears and wolves and get off this mountain. I have told Efthymis that we are not going to stop. for nothing, so just focus and ride like swimming across the open ocean waiting for a shark to collapse your ribcage. Visions of a bear or a pack of wolves coming out of the bushes absolutely scare me. The stupidest, scariest thing I've done in a long time. I don't want to be here, let's get out of here if one of these bikes breaks down there. We're in big trouble trying to get out of here on a bike.

I was scared for quite a while, I don't know. Yeah, definitely not, I don't care at all, we're just going to have a beer and recruit, it's 10:45 p.m. m., we are safe, but we will continue until we find a beer and a bed for the night. We're ready to go. Outside of Albania Yes, one thing is for sure. I will never forget Albania. It's beautiful, it's wild, but I have the feeling that these are bad lands. Four days, two thousand five hundred kilometers later, we reached the border of Greece. We have survived the Balkans. We have conquered some of its mountains, we have almost perished on others, the 1290 still maintains a perfect 35 psi pressure and although we are boosted by our efforts, we are not out of the woods yet because this is an adventure that is launched into the unknown with little. or without a plan, whether you are traveling alone or with a friend, don't be afraid of falling because it will happen, get up, keep going and don't make a drama out of nothing because too often I see people not achieving their goals.

Fate falls short of their goals because they have wasted a lot of daylight worrying a situation into something much bigger than it really is. You're not in trouble until you're in trouble, so remember if you're planning a big trip, don't do it. make a bunch of tick boxes and turn it into an itinerary mark two or three out of ten and then continue, the adventure will take care of the rest thanks for watching my movies everyone, if you like this stuff, share it with your friends, hit subscribe . and the notification bell because I have all kinds of crazy adventures coming up