written by Joël Hafner
DEPARTURE
Our journey begins in Aachen. The day of departure is characteristically disorganised. After a much too short night due to a party on the preceding evening, we meet at a fuel station near the Autobahn. However, the first few kilometers on the ‘Bahn already reveal a major problem with the Tiger: there’s an undeniable shimmy whenever I stray too far over 100 km/h. I definitely overpacked, and the fresh set of Anakee Wilds (mounted the day before) isn’t coping well. Furthermore, my ABS and odometer are failing. We find out the front ABS sensor has been rubbing on the ring – a failure caused by accidentally omitting the shim during the tyre change. We attempt to fix it by restoring the proper air gap, and by now it’s time for lunch. After dropping some weight back home, and filling up our human fuel tanks, we finally depart towards Austria. On the first day, we make camp near Nürnberg. The ABS is still broken.
Our route takes us south in the quickest fashion. That includes the Austrian toll roads, which end up being quite a bit more costly than initial estimations had suggested. Especially the tunnels are quite pricey (mind you, it’s nothing against some of the French/Italian tunnels, as I’ve had to find out this year). Finally, we reach Slovenia well past the fall of darkness on the 17th. Right behind the border we get off the highway – not feeling like paying any more tolls – and find an empty parking lot to cook some dinner in. The plan is to find a nice and quiet spot for a wild camp. Unfortunately we’re both idiots without any wildcamping experience, so after dinner we meander around in the darkness, not really sure what to look for. In hindsight I know exactly where we should have pitched our tents. In the end, we camp on an empty field near a highway bridge, much too late.
DANGERS
Slovenia is quickly disposed of – no doubt this is a pretty country, it’s just not on our itinerary this time around. We cross into Croatia and then continue on-road towards the Bosnian-Herzegovinian border. The final stop in Croatia is Zeljava Air Base. A defunct air base with several partially collapsed hangars built right into the mountainside – once the largest underground base in Europe built by the former regime of Yugoslavia. It’s a fascinating place with rideable landing strips and deep cavernous hangars to explore. There is caution to be applied though – it’s very easy to accidentally cross the border into Bosnia here. Police may be present and checking. On the day we arrive, it’s already late and dark. We want to wild camp, but get bogged down checking out the old C-47 outside the air base. While we’re taking pictures and hanging around the disused airframe, a police car drives past us and onto the road to the airbase. After about a half hour, it returns and stops near us. The officers approach us and ask what we are doing – presumably they don’t want us to wild camp here. They then go on to lecture us about the dangers of illegal immigrants in the area. This, combined with the clear sound of gunshots we had heard earlier, leads us to dismiss the wild camping plan anyway. Here’s a “fun” anecdote: the police officers comment when we told him about the gunshots? “I hope it was one of my guys [shooting the gun]”. So do I, sir. So do I.
After visiting Željava air base one more time the next morning, we make our way towards the entry point of the Bosnian TET, staying on the Croatian side for now. The Croatian hills and valleys are beautiful, but there’s no time for much photography. We already spent hours doing that at the airbase.
I can still recall the smell of the conifers… just lovely. A little bit of light rainfall before sunset produces a downright mystical atmosphere. We arrive at the border rather late. Before we left, the lovely lady from the ADAC back home told us to avoid only one thing in Bosnia: driving at night. Immediately disregarding this advice, we decide to push on in order to reach a “hut” (not very well/accurately labeled on OSM) on a lake. Shortly after our border crossing it starts raining, and at this point it’s already completely dark. Not long after that, the road breaks up in to pieces of tarmac, and eventually turns to gravel altogether. Through rain and darkness we make our way up the mountain, and not long after arrival thunder sets in. The hut is honestly a disaster (you’ll find out more in the videos…) but it’s better than nothing. A solid roof over our heads is what matters most now. From the outside you really couldn’t guess how desolate the inside is. It’s very dirty, the bathrooms are all broken and absolutely disgusting, and there’s no electricity (=no light) at all. The cables in the breaker box have been cut. We cook a slightly extravagant pasta dinner under my headlamp’s light and then head into our sleeping bags. I’m a bit worried about bed bugs but also too tired to really care.
The next morning’s light reveals a gorgeous mountain lake and a few more abandoned buildings and ruins in the vicinity. We pack up again and explore the area on foot a little bit. It turns out some others have also spent the night here – some of them in tents. It must have been a rough night for them.
BEARS
After spending the night in the horror hotel we continue on our way following the BiH TET. Bosnia certainly has a lot to offer when it comes to adventure riding. In the morning, the track leads us for kilometer upon kilometer through the Bosnian forest. For some reason in my infinite wisdom, (…) I seem to have managed not to take a single picture of that bit 🤦♂️. These snapshots from my GoPro should give you a good idea of the scenery, though. I drop the bike once, stupidly, as I’m trying to turn around after making a wrong turn.
After lunch in a small town – Burek, what else – the landscape changes a bit, and we find ourselves in vast plains littered with gravel roads. The landscape really is breathtaking – it feels like we’re millions of miles away from civilisation. There’s some light fog setting in, and it once again ups the ante in terms of mysticism. As we once again roam deeper into another forest, the track becomes quite damp, and eventually we are battling some reasonably deep mud. Our tyres are coping quite well luckily, but nonetheless it’s not the easiest job keeping the bike upright. Through the deep muddy bits I shout at myself in my helmet: “stehen lassen!” – keep the throttle open. The only way through this stuff is with speed!
The foggy forest landscape has a beautifully quiet and peaceful quality. Our quiet state of bliss is shattered though, when we encounter what we can only assume to be bear droppings. There are around 2800 brown bears in Bosnia, and an encounter with one of them is not on our to-do list. Perhaps we shouldn’t pitch our tents in this particular forest. We keep going, sun beginning to set, and eventually reach another open plained area, with many sheep herds grazing on the hills lining the tracks.
With darkness approaching, we search for shelter and come across a few abandoned buildings including an old cow shed. Taking into account the chance of bear encounters, a solid roof over our heads seems like a good idea. A little bit of cleanup later, the “bear fortress” is as good as new, and Johannes can sleep soundly (he really doesn’t like bears). The following day, after a short breakfast, we make our way towards mountains in the south, where we encounter our greatest challenge yet: Plocno.
PLOCNO
From the bottom, it doesn’t look particularly daunting. Even though it is already late afternoon, we decide a quick trip up and down Plocno is something we don’t want to miss. We are confident that we will reach our night rest in Mostar in time. But the ascent of Plocno drags on longer than expected. The loose gravel is a decent challenge with the heavy bikes. Johannes is struggling especially hard to keep the GS on the track. The telelever front end is skipping from stone to stone. But the scenery almost lets us forget the toughness; the more we near the top, the redder the sunlight becomes – great for some snapshots but a bad omen for our descent.
We’ve already booked a Hostel in Mostar, so we need to get back down again. About ten minutes after we begin our descent, darkness falls. With only a very mediocre headlight on the GS, the descent is fast becoming rather perilous – only one of us is still having fun at this point. Despite the circumstances, we make it down unscathed. The decision to skip the rest of the TET to Mostar is a no-brainer. After a quick breather, we make our way to Mostar on the roads and reach it safely well after nightfall.
We park the bikes and after a shower explore the city on foot searching for dinner. Even at night the old town is gorgeous. The lack of tourists bustling about makes it very peaceful, with only muffled music from a nearby bar disturbing the silence.
In the morning, we visit a nearby Burek baker on the recommendation, where we proceed to brunch lavishly. While I wait for Johannes outside the bakery, a little boy and his mother exit. He seems very interested in our bikes, and is eyeing them with great curiosity. I offer for him to sit on mine, but he declines. The mother is appreciative, we say a greeting in our respective languages and they depart. Encounters like these are always joyful.
DURMITOR
From Mostar we take the (mostly) paved roads to Montenegro, through the southern BiH heights where there’s surprisingly great riding to be had. The crossing of the Drina river on the Montenegrin border is made somewhat annoying by the fact we have to ride tens of kilometers in the wrong direction just to get to a bridge, and then all the way back on the other side. It’s so beautiful here though, as always, so it really doesn’t matter. The local driving standard is shocking though. I see myself faced head on with a car overtaking around a blind corner. In this case, all ends well, but it’s a reminder to always expect the unexpected.
Arriving in Montenegro late (staying on-brand as usual) we continue along the TET as darkness falls. Through the Montenegrin forests we make our way over the hills and down into Piva Canyon. In Pluzine, we struggle to find a camping site at first, but eventually make camp on the meadow of a bungalow hostel. We’re quickly joined by a very curious and demanding little cat. Having been denied entry into my tent, he proceeded to leave claw marks all over it later in the night… The next morning, we make our way back up the serpentine roads of the Canyon and onto the high planes of the Durmitor National Park.
After crossing the beautiful hills and valleys of Durmitor, we descend into the small village of Savnik. There, we make the decision to wild camp that night and look for a spot somewhere on the hills to the east. The TET route follows the road to Boan, and then sharply turns south up a hill. This gravel track is a tough cookie after a reasonably full day of riding; I know that if I stop I might not get going again with all this weight. Foregoing a stop for a picture, I conquer the hill with much satisfaction, only to see an absolutely destroyed Johannes trundle up behind me. And thus we make camp shortly afterwards on a nicely secluded field lined by gentle slopes. As the temperatures are already quickly dropping at this altitude, we collect some firewood and build a little stone-lined fireplace. A solid wild camping experience, only slightly overshadowed for me personally by the next morning’s gastric issues. You may not want to hear about that, but it’s part of travel – it’ll get you eventually.
MISERY AND BEAUTY
In the morning, the mood in the wild camp has a somber yet urgent quality. It seems some sort of stomach bug has befallen me – a circumstance worsened by the lack of civilized bathroom facilities in such a locality. The shovel sees its first two uses – both for me. This development, and our wish to travel to the Albanian Theth valley together before having to part ways, leads us to make the decision of foregoing the remaining Montenegrin TET, and returning to the nearby village for lunch (and bathroom facilities, you get it). Afterwards, we make our way east and then descend to Podgorica through the Morava Canyon. Apparently this road is renowned as being particularly dangerous – a fact that eluded us at the time. Nevertheless, it’s an enjoyable ride despite the traffic. After a short wait and a pleasantly uncomplicated border crossing, we reach the village of Theth after nightfall. The mountain pass that leads here is certainly a memorable experience – even if you don’t make the questionable decision to ride it in darkness. Just about every single guard rail along the many switchbacks has been crushed or completely obliterated. The valley holds one more surprise for us, as we have to cross a small stream to get to our hostel – in darkness, mind you.
The next morning, we use that very same river crossing for a bit of cooling down and a little photo opportunity, before heading out southeast into the wild Theth valley. The first part of the route is still recognisably a road – not just due to its reasonable state of upkeep, but also thanks to the many minibuses and 4x4s that come barelling up the other way. The local driving technique heavily favors the use of “momentum”. Lewis Hamilton would be proud. My right side pannier bag wasn’t quite as happy about it, when a Sprinter van made contact. It’s very narrow in parts. Having reached the river, we take a break to replenish our already dwindling water resources and cool down a bit. It’s warm.
STRUGGLE
The track continues along the river, and after crossing it one last time on a small bridge, it immediately begins ascending and deteriorating quickly. There had been a few tricky parts in the morning, namely a few rather steep descents on loose gravel, on one of which I made the mistake of grabbing the front brake too abruptly, but this is a new level of technicality. The GS really isn’t coping well here, and we’re stopping every 10-15 minutes for a quick rest. I’m not struggling too much with the Tiger, but I can tell Johannes is burning out fast. Eventually, after many breaks and a few outbursts, we make rest for a late lunch picnic. It’s here that Johannes decides to admit defeat, and turn back around towards Theth. We would have parted ways the next day anyway, and it just doesn’t make sense to keep going like this.
END OF BLOG 1. Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for Blog 2.
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