Balkan remix, day 36, Budva in Montenegro

Day 35 started very well, we could sleep very well in our tents and the weather was ideal, minimum temperature was around 16 degrees celsius and there was a slightly wind, so in the Morning everything was almost dry. We had a breakfast together and then we started the ride to Theth, the road was around 100 km of tough unpaved roads. The first part was around the river and it reaches height up to 50 meters over the river, so a mistake is fatal. The road is very old, so it is half digged into the mountain and half supported by stone walls. The ground is a mix of pure stone and small rocks. Then the road starts climbing and in some points it is clearly visible the old pavment made by blocks (irregular, but around 20x20 cm^2), some parts are still digged into the stone and here I did a ride mistake, I took a big hit on some sharp stones, immediately I heard the sound of the flatting tyre: pffffffffff.

I parked the bike in the shadow, removed the the front tyre, the e07 front is really soft so I was able to break the beads just by hand. I changed the inner tube and I started pumping it, I used a CO tank but it didn't work...the hebo pump broke. Filippo gave me his ktm pump, we started pumping but the tyre didn't pump up....fucking hell the spare one had a hole on it (not where I had used the lever). I used the inner tube of Filippo and the tyre was ready to be mounted. Meanwhile a Ktm 640 from Austria arrived, the rider, Hans, stopped to see if we were able to manage the problem (of course were we...) and to talk a little bit. Very nice and kind man, more than the bikers that passed nearby our camp yesterday Evening and didn't stop or waved hello. He left and we mounted the front tyre. After some kilometers we meet him at an intersection: he had a Zumo but no maps, so he didn't know where to go.

The lovely road to Theth

 We started riding together the 40 kms to the Theth. Amazing places and landscapes, it is incredible that so many people ride to Theth without passing here and just by taking the almost till the end asphalted road. We need more people like Hans! We had a lunch with him in Theth and he payed it all, he said he was really thankful to us because we rode the bad road with him. Thank you very much again!

Theth, after lunch at Bar Lek Gurra

Leaving Theth on the SH21. This is not a 125 version of the XRV.

SH21

We climbed the last road till the top of the pass, where the paved road began: I rode very fast with Filippo, the e07 is really a badass tyre, also after around 13k kilometers! Near Koplik we divided from Hans and we headed to the south of Shkodër lake, then to west and then north to Budva.

Hanging (out) with friends.

 We rode on the costal road as pirates, then in Budva we stopped for waiting for Flurin. When he arrived I went on in order to lead them to the appartment, when at a X intersection, the left lane was full of cars that were turning left, after having passed them I went again on the left lane but a car on the right lane (the right lane was marked as just go straight or right) turned left suddenly. The car hit my right leg and my side right luggage was literally broken and threw away from the impact. The bike started shaking meanwhile I was screaming "Porcodioooooo" (Flurin told me he could even hear me screaming it). Luckily I was able to stop 20 meters after the impact without falling or hitting something else. The guys immediately came to see if I was allright (Pravo?)): yeah I was, but I was shaking full of adrenaline. I thought he called the police but actually he call some friends which arrived after 10 mins and started to say that I had to pay since it was my error. I said no fucking way, then they called the police (some cars already passed by, none did stop..), a police car with just one man came, they shaked hands as old friends and the policeman didn't care about anything (documents, insurance). The other driver started filling the insurance accident report, with all my datas but without filling the dynamic part. He asked me to to sign it. Fucking idiot. Then after more than an hour in which he was saying thar the car damage was just 50 € and that my insurance wouldn't have been involved even if I had said it was my fault (idiot^2). Then the policeman said that I moved the bike and this was a fine for sure (He said a lot of other things, which weren't true). I was really pissed off by all this nosense thing and discussing with stupid people is very annoying, so I told him I would have given him 50€ and now he said the damages were 100€. After some Porcodio, coglione and figlio di puttana I gave him 100€ and they disappeared with the speed of light. This is really bad, it's a "lot" of money of my trip, but I didn't want to lose any more time nor going to the police, etc (It was Friday, so I was afraid to have to wait till Monday). I'm really happy that I'm still here, moreover with no scratches or injuries, it is very sad how some people do mistakes and don't accept the consequences of them even if these consequences are nothing and could have been really worse. No worries, I didn't see any rainbow bridge, so the Gods didn't open the Gates of Valhalla for me today, so let smash Budva!

Today I've been looking for a new front inner tube, I was able to repair mine, but Filippo was needing one. I found a shop and they ordered one from Podgorica, ETA around 18.00. Tailor shops were closed from 12.00 till 16.00, so I did the maintenance during this time. I have also changed the fuel pump back to the original one: I want to see if the motorbike runs better. A woman took my luggage and she understood how it was built together. After an hour I had my luggage back: I thought she would have sewed all parts, but she did just some points and used a glue...let's hope it will hold till Switzerland. Duct tape is ready for for action, just in case the glue fails. Budva is an amazing and strange place, on the beach there are some dancing caffe (Trocadero is the most famous one), you can dance and have fun there under the moon with loud music till 1 o'clock in the Morning, then you have to go to some clubs, as the Top Hills, which is huge and has view on the bay. Average quality of things in the city is poor and prices are pimped, but it is a funny place for having Movida holidays!
Tomorrow we should hit Žabljak, the weather should be nice! The ride will go on!

Balkan remix, day 34, around 12500 km, near the Theth in Albania

We left the mafia like hotel around 0830, we reached Kukës very easily and then we headed to Valbone, all on paved roads. Actually all these road are in a very good shape, that's why we met a gs1200 Adventure.

SH23, Valbone on sight!

Almost on the top of Valbone.

Valbone.

 Valbone was very nice, the color of the river could even impress some swiss guys! Then we went to Fierze, I didn't remember that the Ferry for Koman was leaving only at 13.00....we arrived at 13.30 and the next one was the day after. BUT, the man called someone and told me to follow his friend's car. So I thought there were more than one ferry on the Komani lake. We followed the car for 5 kilometers down the lake, the road was on a cliff, so it was very nice to ride there, at some point the man on the car told us to go down a very bad dirt road: he couldn't go down by car. We went down till the lake and...there was nothing, just a an old small row boat wreck. So I thought they just fucked us since going back to the top would have been really difficult. Then I realized that during the ride we overtook the ferry, which was now coming toward us in order to let us in. 

Telaj, on the Komani lake.

On the ferry, the fee was 25 fucking euros per motorcycle (bike is 10€, car is 5€ per square meter), the captain and the crew were all young guys and I told them we should have paid less, since we did some of the trip by bike...at least we got a free bier and the boat trip was 2 and a half hours long. The landscapes were amazing and really something different from what I'm used to see. Out of the ferry, we rode to Shkoder, we bought some food ad we took the road to the national park od Theth, we stopped somewhere for wild camping. We could even bath into the river, very very grateful for that after this beatiful day, the first one without raining since a long time.

Camping near Logje Prekal.

Balkan remix, day 32, Podgarec in Albania

Yesterday I had to wait for my friends quite a lot since the ferry had some delay, so instead of 9 o'clock in the Morning, they arrived at 2 o'clock in the Afternoon.
We ate a Gyro and we had some talks. We left Igoumenitsa around 15 o'clock and we headed to Albania, by passing on the coast of Greece, were we rode almost on some beaches. Very beatiful places and landscapes. Filippo tried a special on the sand...it ended up with him kissing some sand. In Albania we also rode on the coast and we took the rope ferry in Butrut. 

Kalaja Trekendore Veneciane - Venecian Triangle Castle.

Then in Borsh we had the first unpaved road together and for Flurin was the first ever. He realized soon that he wanted to kiss stones and dirt too. Very nice road, till it started raining hard and the light was turned off very fast, so we rode in a storm in the night, this is very dangerous on a motorbike. We reached Vlorë and we managed to find a good and cheap hotel.

COFFE SOLVES EVERYTHING!

Today started easy and peasy, on the road to Leskovik we passed through an oilfield: I've never seen one in my life and was quite impressive. Then to Ersekë, were we had lunch in a local restaurant. The meal was good and very cheap. We rode on the albanian region of the lake Prespa.

SH100 near Peshkëpi.

SH75 near Kanikol.

 This was a tough unpaved road full of mud puddles or pools, since some where really huge and deep. This is a place where you don't want to fall from the motorbike, but Flurin the newbie decided that it was the right time to leave the Limbo and get baptized. Very nice ride and the abused e07 tyres proved to be ok also in this tough situation! Out of the mud the KLE decided to not work anymore: same issue as mine had in Bosnia, the side sand switch blocks and doesn't allow the bike to run. Removed it and the ride went on till Pogradec where we are right now. Albania is really a paradise for dirt riding and is also super cheap!

Somewhere near Rakickë. A new son of the Ignoranza Enduristica has been baptized!

Byzantine Empire, day 30, around 11500 km, Igoumenitsa in Greece

Here I am after 1 month alone with my motorcycle.
The Last 3 days have been easy day that I've spent in Skopje and Pristina, yes the capital of Kosovo, the country that I thought someone didn't want me to visit. Skopje is a city that really worth a visit. It is really like a Las Vegas and all the colossal buildings seem just fake.
The road to Pristina was very nice near the Border, but then everything turn into flat and it is just a road full of traffic. So I took a road more east that passes near Badovcit lake and I cut straight through Gomnishtë were I had some no mud-no fun under the heavy rain. Actually the road was good with some mud on it, so there was enough traction with an abused mitas e07 aswell. I don't think there is much to say about Pristina, it didn't shock me. After having been in the might and colossal Skopje, all city look poor. I passed the border in Glloboçicë: better road and with no waiting line at border. It wasn't raining so it was a nice ride despite the road was still wet.
I went directly to Ohrid without passing by Bigorski Monastery because it seemed to be raining in this direction. Ohrid is a very nice city, a big fortess on the top of a hill and a huge lake. In Sommer is a common holidays place for Macedonians. I've eaten a Sopska Salad near the lake and then I left for the border with Greece near Bitola.

P504 near Трпејца.

The road P504 between the two lakes on the national park of Galichica is paved but it is an amazing road climbing up the whole mountain with views on the lakes.
 For this part of Greece I had some track of specia stages, but it was late and I wanted to reach Igoumenitsa so that I would have had the whole Sunday for preparing the bike for the next two weeks, so I rode on paved roads. I took the E86 to Kastoria, then Nestorio and to Konitsa where it started to rain hard. Before Ioannina I took the E92 to Igoumenitsa, very nice road. The Mitas e07 proved to be a very good tyre on wet/flooded pavement aswell, I had read a lot of negative comments about them on the web, but as almost always, they they were wrong. I'm really convinced that most of the people that write on forums don't have any idea about riding a motorbike. Rain stopped and I was able to ride on the sunset after a storm, which is always amazing, but the best will always be the one I saw on the Monte Lema with the Gas Gas.

E92.

Sunsets are awesome, the only bad part about them is that they are red...better dead than red! With this sentence I'm able to go back to the fake Freedom of capitalism! I arrived in Igoumenitsa with the dark. The city is so small, I though it was much bigger, finding a T63 here will be impossible... I think I will test the abused e07 on the next two weeks through Balkans, a lot offroad awaits us!

Today maintenance and relax, tomorrow morning Filippo and Flurin will arrive with the ferry and we will head to Albania for some no mud-no fun!

I've changed the chain slider, the repaired one has done around 7000 km...impressive engineering work I've done!

The repaired chain slider after almost 7000 km...Engineering at its finest!