Off-road Touring, Beautiful Balkans

[svestenik]

Vidio sam vec na BJB-u, ali postavljeno na ovom forumu ima svoju magiju :).

Jos jednom, svaka cast :).

Great writing, beautiful pics :). Subscribed.

Since I am living in the place where this report unfolds, if anyone needs a direct update to mine situation, feel free to contact me.

Cheers :) .

[scottyaustria]

I´m in.....

[Gliga]

Short intermezzo no.1

After "repairing" front tube during morning everything was ready for afternoon ride with my sister. Perfect weather and tank full of gas.

Pale, Jahorina mountain (ski center for 1984 winter olympics). Short offroad section at the top of the mountain, few more abandoned military locations.










Moment when you realize that you're on a track, surrounded by minefields... Priceless. Especially when You have to turn around






If You look carefully there are "Danger, MINES" signs in both photos above.







After Jahorina it's time to return home. New road over Trebevic mountain is perfect for riding. Turn after turn after turn. Just flowing...





Control tower gave us permission to land :P


On the way home we bought supplies for evening barbecue, farewell dinner. Since I was supposed to leave in the morning I finished all mandatory preparations:



And it got even uglier later on

[Gliga]

Intermezzo No.2

One look trough the window in the morning is all it takes to convince me to postpone departure. Rain, cold, very low clouds. Since most of planned ride would be in beautiful high mountains there was no sense to leave and ride in a cloud all day long.

By early afternoon weather improved and we decided to go for another short ride. This time, as advised by my sister, destination is vodopad Skakavac (waterfall) on Bukovik mountain. Another place I haven't seen before. Waterfall is some 15km away from Sarajevo city center, road is not marked that well. As we got closer a bell begin to ring in my head. Few years ago I was planning some rides around Sarajevo and I remember that there was one large waterfall. All the pictures that I saw then came back to my mind and soon I had that giant smile across my face. In few moments You'll see why










Waterfall is around 100 m high, they don't get much higher than that around here. You're following small picturesque stream trough the forest and than bam...You find yourself at the edge of a cliff... Pictures don't do this place justice, not even close...





Am I pretty or what? I told you it gets uglier




There is also a long path to the base of the falls but we didn't have time to explore it.











Deja vu... Okolina mi se cini poznata. Tu ranije nisam bio ali uz malo crtanja karte u glavi zakljucujem da postoji mogucnost da se pojavim na mestu gde sam u jednoj od svojih prvih voznji okrenuo nazad. Pet krivina dalje: Voila, tu smo. Zatvoren krug iz nekih srecnijih vremena:

Deja vu... Surrounding looks familiar. I was never here before but... With some mental map drawing I realize that there is a possibility we will soon get to a place where I once turned around. This is same area where I made my first biking steps three years before (third ride ever was here, second ride was more or less same as in previous post). Back then I was coming from opposite direction but I still wasn't sure it was the same path. Five turns later we arrive at that spot. Circle completed. Another emotional moment for me. This bike belonged to my father who died in traffic accident few days after I was here three years ago. This whole ride was full of such moment and that's why it will have special place in my heart...










This whole area was once (before the war...) very popular picnic site for people from Sarajevo. Now it's just ruins and beautiful nature.

Short ride back to Sarajevo and another evening barbecue. This was bad day to start "proper" ride but it proved to be perfect for short trip. We didn't see a single drop of rain which was great considering the fact that rain suit remained safe back home :)


I didn't bring GPS for this ride so track is drawn in GE, it is completely accurate. If you ever find yourself in Sarajevo don't miss opportunity to visit Skakavac waterfall. It's close and it's accessible by a car (15 min of walking required). Google Earth is your friend :)

Track log:
http://www.megafileupload.com/en/fil...kavac-gpx.html

[Spalato]

Bravo Gliga

Great pictures great roads ride on

[Mt. Versuvius]

Fascinating trip Gliga. Thanks for sharing it,

Doug

[tradex56]

Originally Posted by svestenik

Vidio sam vec na BJB-u, ali postavljeno na ovom forumu ima svoju magiju :).

Jos jednom, svaka cast :).

Great writing, beautiful pics :). Subscribed.

Since I am living in the place where this report unfolds, if anyone needs a direct update to mine situation, feel free to contact me.

Cheers :) .

ello, I want to return this summer to shoot in Bosnia. I love the mountain roads and dirt roads. Where do you advise me to do a ride? Thank you from Italy

[KTM 950S]

very nice trip and photos..thank u !!!!
i was in beautiful Novi Sad in Octomber with my motorbike and 2 more friends..we had a great time and probably come again after summer!!!!!

[Humunn]

GREAT PICS!!!

[moto rrad]

excellent excellent!

I'm taking careful notes, this looks like it will be the destination for my trip this summer/fall. Anyone else want to ride along?

Thanks for sharing !

[Gliga]

Day three

Today is D day, time to start actual adventure. Weather is almost perfect, blue sky with no clouds. Start of the first offroad section is almost 2 km away from start point. Good gravel road leads me over Igman mountain. First break is at Hrasnicki Stan mountain hut.












Road gets better and better so naturally speed goes up. One deceptive corner almost managed to end the trip early on. After another short pavement section I arrive at Babin Do, ski resort at Bjelasnica mountain.






Next stop: peak of Bjelasnica. There are two roads leading to the top. Normal one at the south western slope, almost suitable for passenger cars, and another one at eastern slope. Second road goes over ski slopes and it's poorly maintained. I choose second road as it's closer and because it allows me to make full circle, by going down on "normal" road.








Road is easy to ride until you reach final "plateau", few hundred meters bellow the top. You can see weather observatory at the top, almost straight above. Even from bellow it's obvious that this next section which will lead me to the top is very steep. Regular maintenance is done by snow and ice every winter and by wind and rain during other seasons :)








First part, until you reach first hairpin, is steep. "Roadbed" is made of large, loose and sharp rocks. Second section is even steeper. Luckily there is less loose stones so it's easier to find a good line. There are few places with rocks that act like steps. Only one thing on my mind "Don't stop!" Oh, and another one: "Don't go over the edge" :) Slope is so steep that it's very difficult to walk straight up or down... At next hairpin I met a group of climbers, they looked soooo surprised to see me there By that time I was riding on pure adrenalin. That's what it is all about. It was short, it was challenging. It was, without any doubt, my most intense riding experience. After that road becomes normal again and I'm soon at the top.



Usual disclaimer applies: It's steeper and more difficult than it looks









Following the ridge I got to another ex military communication center. It's completely destroyed and abandoned now. I take a long lunch break and spend time photographing the place. Remember my freshly shaved head? You also know that sun shines stronger 2000 m up? Well, I forgot... After that my head was red as a lobster for next few days. :)













You can see weather observatory in the background




High res panorama:
http://www.dodaj.rs/f/2S/YQ/3bUqBe57/panorama2.jpg


Going back from the top I counted seventeen hairpins before reaching base of the hill... Loose gravel made descent a slow one.





Monument to the founder of weather observatory back in 1900. This area was extremely remote back then. Even 30 years ago (before olympic games) there were no roads. Only way in or out was on a horseback, or 12 hour walk to nearest civilization. And there are several villages even further away, my next destination.






Next destination is Lukomir village. It's now being advertised as medieval village to promote tourism to this area. And indeed, only 20-30 years ago this was as remote as you could get. No roads, winters lasting more than six months. People had to be completely self-sufficient. Life is much easier today. There is a good gravel road leading to the village and most inhabitants leave during winters. Village is located in perfect spot, on a plateau at the edge of a deep canyon (canyon of Rakitnica river, one of the deepest in Europe). I'll let the pictures do the talking.





Life was a bitch. Can you imagine removing all those stones from the ground to try and create some agricultural land???


























Couple hours later I was ready to move on. I had to backtrack few kilometers to reach shortcut that will lead me to Umoljani village.





Damn traffic jams. I hate when everybody in traffic is behaving like sheeps... :P








After Umoljani I'm back on pavement until Sinanovici village, some 10 km away. Close to Umoljani there is another medieval graveyard.








Pavement ends in Sinanovici and that marks the point where I venture into the unknown.





To be continued.

[AtlantaViking]

Lovin' your trip - great pics of some beautiful country!

[RestlessRider]

Nice report. Great pictures. You are good tourism ambassador for your country. If you can shed some light on how you create your routes in GE and convert them to .gpx that will be helpful for those of us trying to explore off road.

Cheers,

[Gliga]

First I'dd like to say Thank you to everyone. I'm glad that you're enjoying this thread

Originally Posted by moto rrad

excellent excellent!

I'm taking careful notes, this looks like it will be the destination for my trip this summer/fall. Anyone else want to ride along?

Thanks for sharing !

Well, if you're looking for a guide I know a guy who had ridden this tour and who can take some great pictures. And he's willing to do it again, I believe...

Originally Posted by RestlessRider

Nice report. Great pictures. You are good tourism ambassador for your country. If you can shed some light on how you create your routes in GE and convert them to .gpx that will be helpful for those of us trying to explore off road.

Cheers,

Making tracks in GE...First you have to find a road or a track that looks interesting to you (zoom in on an area). From satellite pictures alone it's usually impossible to know if a road is good gravel or barely an old track (see post No.4 in this tread for one example :) ). Panoramio pictures can help with that, if available. Then you create a path in GE and draw your intended route. Between finding and drawing a track it can be really slow process. As I said, it took me several weeks to route these two trips, some 4000 km. You can also add Placemarks for every POI and they will be helpful once you're out there.

Once when you're done making a path you right-click on its name (left side of the GE window) and click COPY. Go to

http://earthnc.com/ge2gps.html

click OPTIONS and choose LINE CONVERSION OPTIONS TO TRACK (turn off TO ROUTE). Paste your path into window and click CONVERT TRIP TO GPX and after that DOWNLOAD GPX and save file to your computer.

Then open the file with Map Source or Basecamp or a free GPS Track Maker (my old GPS comunicates only with GPS Track Maker so that's what I use. I use Map Source for some manipulations with tracks. I don't have any experience with Base Camp or any other software or GPS manufacturer. Connect your GPS to computer, turn it on and click GPS--- GARMIN INTERFACE----SEND. Be careful to disable SEND TRACKLOG AS ACTIVE LOG option in GPS Track Maker.

Same procedure applies to placemarks.

***ONE NOTE*** Track logs are only supported by Garmin outdoor GPS units. If you have automobile unit, like Nuvi, than you can't use tracks and I can't offer any additional info :)


I hope this is helpful to you. Have fun exploring

[Twinmike]

Hey Gliga

Thank you for the RR and the great pic from the Balkan Countrys.

This year i will come the fifth time to the Balkans, a few of your tracks i rode the last year other are new and i will say thanks for the gpx file.

see you maybe