Off-road Touring, Beautiful Balkans

Great RR Gliga, very inspiring, thankyou.

I also hope to go there in May/June on my way round the Black Sea too, will be on a modified silver Versys with Uk plates.

Bon Voyage to you both.

Sounds like there's afair old bunch of folk going so lets hopeour paths cross

Phil

We just booked the night train from Düsseldorf to Villach yesterday, arriving in Slovenia on the 9th of June for 3 weeks allroad fun

We will be starting our Slovenia-Croatia-Bosnia_Montenegro trip in Villach too, coming from France, but we will return there on the 9th of June. However we will probably drive down to Villach in one go via the german Autobahn (700km). and stay there for the night as starting and end point. Maybe just enough time there to meet and have a together!

Thank you TwinMike! Very nice pic!
It can be different every year, we don't know yet how severe and how long the winter will be. I will put the Durmitor trails as an option on our trip planning and we will see if the trails are open once we get there.
2 of us will be riding KTM 950 SE, the 3rd rider is hesitating between taking his Yam 600TTR or his BMW GS800, the 4th one will suffer on the trails on his heavy Varadero 1000 on knobbies.

thanks to
we start end of May in Austria in direction Albania for three weeks on much gravel as possible.

I love your pictures and your narrative style - you really know how to tell a story both in pictures and words!

I stumbled across this RR in my search for information about the Balkans, as I plan to pass through the region on my way home from a ride to Turkey later this year.
My original plan was to (more or less) follow the Adriatic Coast from Albania to Italy, but after reading your RR I've decided to move the Balkans up on my priority list for the trip and spend some time exploring the inland mountain regions/national parks as well.

If I were to visit 2 or 3 areas/parks for some gravel road riding and wild camping which ones would you recommend?

I'll be riding my V-Strom with luggage on semi street tires (Anakee3) and as it's part of a longer ride, I'll have to be able to do around 500km a day - which means that I'm not looking for technical/demanding riding just some good gravel roads that will take me through beautiful scenery.

Thanks again for a RR out of the ordinary.

Tonny

Difficult question... :) Your daily millage and loaded bike are limiting factors as most of the really spectacular places require much slower riding pace (there are not so many fast gravel roads...)

Wherever you go in Montenegro it's simply impossible to make mistake, nature is just beautiful everywhere. Kotor bay, Moraca and Tara canyons, Durmitor National Park. Durmitor is full of small, narrow winding paved roads and there are only few gravel roads remaining...

Bosnia... Zelengora mountain is a must. Good gravel road between Cemerno and Kalinovik has much to offer. Lake Orlovacko is right on the half way between those two towns/villages and it's a perfect camping spot. Then from Kalinovik toward Nevesinje, over Morine plateau is another great gravel road. From there you can either go to Mostar (40-50km pavement) or cross several more mountains to reach Sarajevo mostly on gravel roads (Google Earth is your friend here: Nevesinje, Pridvorci, Zijemlje, Borci (lake Boracko), Glavaticevo, Odzaci, Luka, Tusila, Umoljani, Lukomir... From there it shouldn't be to difficult to figure out the rest :) ) Main road between Nevesinje and Glavaticevo which is shown on Google maps and Google Earth doesn't exist! Following those routes expect to cover less kilometers than planned, 300 km of gravel is a lot, especially when you stop to take photos all the time.

Jajce town, abandoned underground military base Zeljava near Bihac town... Just so much to see :)

Thanks for the info Gliga - I'll use it when I plan my route.
I know that 300 km a day can be a lot when riding gravel/dirt/off road, as I've participated in EnduRomania on my Yamaha every year since 2009 - if you want some good routes/tracks for your GPS from that area just let me know.

Still in love with the Balkan area.

Gliga> Hi man,
I looking for one track, which i know from offroad video from Bosna. This road would be near Konjic, under lake Boracko. But on Google eart i don´t know, which is it. Can you help me? Thanks a lot
These are some photos from this road:

Can you post that video? From this picture I can't really tell anything...

yes, this is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la9IRvpNVBw

in time 5.25

It might be this one but I'm not sure

http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/496184/02-gpx.html


I took this road last summer but id didn't look so attractive in person. It might be that camera makes it look more interesting or that it's not the same road.


EDIT:
Looking at the map from beginning of that video I'd say that this is actual route. At least that's the mountain they have climbed.

http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/496186/03-gpx.html

Hi Gliga,
thanks a lot. I look to your GPX file in home

Let's bump this up!

Subscribing for more...

Couldn't agree more

More you say??? Well, alright then

Two new trips from 2013. riding season. More or less same routes as already seen in this thread with some amazing additions. And one big difference: not riding alone this time. Rather than starting new thread I'll continue with this one.


PART ONE:
Last winter several people contacted me here on ADV Rider with plans of riding trough Balkans and doing some parts of the route together. Honestly, I never expected to see those people. Who'd come and ride here anyway...

So you can imagine my surprise when, few months later, my phone rang one night. LethPhaos (AKA PJ) from Belgium was in Croatia, on his six weeks trip trough Balkans. His plan was to ride trough Bosnia for couple of days and then move to Montenegro. Since I was itching for a ride it wasn't to difficult to persuade me to join him Few messages were sent back and forth and we agreed to meet in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in couple of days time.


Day 0, Riding down to Sarajevo.
Since I live in Novi Sad, Serbia, I first had to ride to Sarajevo. Normally it is a 300 km pavement ride, second half being on great twisty mountain roads trough Bosnia. I know that route well and was eager to change it at least a little bit. That means I "replaced" last 80 kilometers of pavement with 60-70 kilometers of completely unknown forest roads. Route planning was done in Google Earth so I had no actual info about road conditions.

Along the way I visited a friend in Han Pjesak and from there to Sarajevo I would ride off road. Now, to start making things interesting... It was around 6PM by the time I got back on the road. 60 km of unknown off road with only three hours of daylight. Oh, and I like to stop very often to take photos... What could possibly go wrong?

Scenery is nice, roads in good shape and I'm making good progress. There are several sections where road goes trough areas demolished during the war in the '90s. All homes are destroyed, meadows are overgrown with grass as there's nobody to look after. Oh yeah, fact that everything is heavily mined is surely not helping...










I'm on a narrow forest road, there is a broken truck, overloaded with logs sitting there. Driver, his wife and their baby... No mobile phone reception here so they can't call for help. Nearest village is some 6-7 kilometers away, they explain me where to find their relatives who would be able to help. "Just tell them to bring chainsaw..." Luckily there was enough room for me to pass the truck. I've done my good deed for today, loosing some half hour of daylight before I was able to find right house.




Soon after, my track log takes me into someones front yard. I can see the road going further but it's clear that it is in very bad shape and that I won't be able to pass. Owner advises me on another route and says that I should have no problems what so ever. Since I actually had alternative route I paid little attention to his words. Mistake No. 1...

This might be a good time to tell you about my navigation equipement. It's old, old handheld Garmin Geko 201 GPS. It supports no maps, no automatic routing or anything. All it can do is give me coordinates (useless for me since I don't have any proper maps) and show me a line on the screen, representing tracklog I made back home. So, basically I have no idea where I am and how far 'till I reach "other side".

It's sunset...

Soon I leave the main road (gravel). Right from the start it's obvious that this "new" road is not being used at all. It is however on my planned route so I decide to press on. Have I took a better look at my GPS at that point I could also see that there was another planned alternative, just a few hundred meters further down the main road. But, in that case this post would end quickly and it would be boring...

So, road is overgrown in tall grass, streams are running at the surface, using the road as riverbed. Going is slow but easy. At least there are no hidden obstacles in that grass... After few minutes I reach a landslide, most of the road is gone but there is a path going over. "Ah, that's why they don't use it. Surely it gets better from now on..." Yeah, right...




It's quite dark among the trees and headlights are already doing their job. As soon as I get past the landslide road gets worse. Grass gets taller and there is more standing water, also some mud. By now I can't see road surface at all.




Short hill, road is now damaged by ruts but at least grass isn't that tall. I reach a cross road, place where my original route (one that ended in that front yard) joins with this alternative. There is an abandoned hut there, one normal forest road leading in unknown direction with some vehicle tracks and a track that I have to take.

It's bad from the start... Surface is loose and rutted, it's uphill. There are no signs of any traffic. I can already guess how this is going to end but I'm stubborn and quitting is not an option at this point. And sure enough, after few minutes I come across huge pile of rubble, dumped right across the road. It would be possible to go around but it's dark and I can't see what lies behind and I don't have intention to find out. There is surely a good reason to put that road block there. A bit of logical thinking at that point might be a good idea but it escaped my mind back then (for the last 30 or so minutes I was riding on closed of road, that block was actually on the BEGINNING...).

So, to put it simply: at that time I was less than 100 meters away from proper, normal and well used forest road which would take me to civilization in 5 or so kilometers... I found that out once I got home, after the trip was over. If I knew that back than remainder of this post would be short and boring...




Now, I have two options. Backtrack all the way to that last village and ask for directions from there (maybe a 30 minutes of riding trough well known tall grass and water) or to go and explore that unknown road with tracks on it. Fu@$#% it, I don't like backtracking. Besides, the truck that made those tracks had to come from somewhere. I should have no trouble following tracks back to civilization, even if there are some crossroads... Silly me...

I have some idea where this road should go (actually I know where I want it to go ) and everything is still fun. Road is in good condition, riding is easy and relaxing.




Fork in the road. Main road continues straight on. Other, minor, road goes left. That's general direction where I need to go in order to rejoin with my original route and I still hope that will happen eventually. Gravel road climbs up gradually, it is narrowed by the vegetation on both sides. By this time it's pitch black. Shadows produced by headlights are already playing with my mind... Gravel stops after some 10 minutes of riding. Road enters small clearing in the forest and disappears. It's a place where logging trucks are (actually were, once) loaded. There is some track going further into forest but it's steep and rutted. I'm on a heavy bike (Kawasaki KLE 500) and have no intention to hurt my self here.




Going back toward the main road my windshield mount breaks. It was cracked for some time now so it was just matter of time before it breaks completely... Now, those few moments between hearing something breaking under front wheel and realizing what it is were unpleasant to say it mildly... Fu%#$%! It was a great windscreen... At that point this game stopped being fun...

I don't have sleeping bag with me so idea of spending the night there is not appealing. Good thing is that there is plenty of fuel in the tank so I can ride for hours if need be. One less thing to worry about. By that time I was so happy with my decision to upgrade stock headlights to two bi-xenon projectors. At least I can see where I'm riding.




There are couple intersections where it's easy to decide where to go. And then shit hits the fan... Few kilometers down the main/only road forks again. Trouble is I can't decide which one to take, both look equally used. I go left but after few minutes decide it's not a good choice. So, back to intersection and I go right. Road soon becomes muddy and after few minutes I'm greeted by logs lying across the road, completely blocking it... So, yeah. It looks like i'll have to start liking that "left" road.




No photos from now on, for no reason whatsoever I didn't feel like stopping and shooting anymore :huh BTW camera I'm using is Canon 450d (xSI) with several lenses. It sits in its bag on back seat so every photo means stopping for at least a minute or so, taking of the gloves, taking the camera out, shooting and that packing everything back up...

Next few forks in the road I don't even stop to think about proper route. Just choose randomly and ride. At one point I realized that I made a full 180 turn from my "original" direction so that I was now riding back toward that last village. At the same time I was so pissed of with myself for not noticing that happening but then again, idea of reaching civilization sounded good by that time.

Then road exits the forest. I was ready to backtrack to the last fork as road itself looked pretty minor. But then there was light!!! A house right by the road! The lights were on and somebody even opened the door when I knocked When I said to owner how I got there he didn't think it was possible. He tells me that there is a pavement only a kilometer (and few intersections) away, going to that last village I was at. I'm as happy as ever. It's been some two hours since I left that village...

I take a look at my phone (stays turned off in pocket while I ride) and there are several messages from PJ. "I'll be in Sarajevo in few hours." "I'm in Sarajevo and waiting instructions how to find your place." "I'm in Sarajevo, in a campsite..." Ups... My bike takes the opportunity to tip over from side stand and hand guard breaks...

By the time I finished talking with home owner his guests were ready to leave. Now I had escort to the pavement I get detailed instructions on how to reach main road and it suddenly doesn't sound like fun. I hear words like "gravel", "intersections without road signs, in forest", "30-40 kilometers before you reach main road..." Shit...

In reality it wasn't bad at all. Road is well used and there is no dilemma which one to take when it forks so it's just matter of time before I'm "free".

By the time I reached main road I was completely beaten. Only then I allowed myself to take a break, eat powerbar and relax for few minutes. All that is left now is a 40 minute ride 'till I reach my destination...

Day 0.5 (riding around Sarajevo)

Met up with PJ sometimes in the morning. This day I had to deal with some bureaucracy in downtown Sarajevo. By the time I finished it was already to late for proper ride. So, instead we rode to a nearby Jahorina ski resort. Gravel leading up from the ski resort up to the ridge is nice to ride and takes us to few peaks. After only few hundred meters of gravel it became obvious that riding pace will be much slower than I anticipated. PJ's Africa is heavily loaded with luggage racks which are stressed close to breaking point.




If you find yourself in this area be aware of DANGER, MINES signs. This area is heavily mined so your safest option is to stay ON ROAD. There is a destroyed military base on one of those peaks. Three words were enough to decide that thorough exploration of underground tunnels is necessary.














After we finished exploration of the base it was time to head back toward Sarajevo. On the way back we visited Trebevic mountain. There is an old, now destroyed, restaurant which served as turning point for cable car running from the city below. Restaurant has a terrace with a great view. For a while we debated if it was safe to ride our bikes onto the terrace as it looked pretty dodgy. In the end we decided that it would be worth it, as long as camera keeps on filming








Nearby there is another cool place, starting point of bob-sleigh track (which is demolished, just like most things here...). Well, this also deserves time for exploration... Walking down the track I could only think about riding it with a MTB. Some time later I found out that track actually runs all the way down (there are no destroyed spots in concrete) and that people have ridden down...




Afterwards it was time to slowly head back home. In the evening we had great barbecue with my niece and her friends. Tomorrow real trip begins.

I like your determination .. heading off into the forest as the sun sets!

As always, excellent photos and an ineresting story. Riding season '14 is soon upon us, any riding plans you care to share with us?

cheers,
stu