Hi everyone, my name is Bas and I'm from the Netherlands.
I think I have some interesting stories worth sharing, but first a little background:

Last year I set myself a goal. I want to document Europe through the eyes of an adventure rider. Exploring unpaved roads and discover the most beautiful places in Europe. In doing so, I not only hope to inspire other adventure riders, I want to help them to experience Europe in the way I did.

That’s why I created the GLR network. It’s an adventure route network where adventure riders can select and combine different GLRs to create their personal adventure route.

In expanding the GLR network I want to adventurise Europe for every motorcycle rider. But I cannot do this alone. I need adventurisers to ride out on their own adventures, enjoying the GLRs and spreading the word.

So please have a look at www.goinglimbo.com and let me know what you think. Do you like it? Consider to become an adventuriser yourself, it’s completely free!

Having said that, I think it's time to share some stories about how I explored different sections of the GLR.



THE FIRST DAY
Every adventure starts with the same rituals. Check the bike, pack the bike, go to bed early and leave as early in the morning as possible. This time was a little out of the ordinary. I would leave relatively late because of the temperature in the morning. I'm not planning to freeze off the bike, so leaving around 9 am sounds a bit more comfortable than the usual 5 am.

The ride to the start of what has become GLR 1, would take me around 15 hours. For the night, I would stop halfway at a campsite. Doing so enables me to start the second day fresh and early. After all, it's an adventure and I expect nothing to go as planned.

THE SECOND DAY
The sound of raindrops hitting the tent prelude a new day. Today is the first day I'm forced to eat my breakfast inside. I hope this is just bad luck on the first night and not a forecast for the upcoming adventure.


Nevertheless, my mood drops after packing the tent wet. It keeps raining the whole day, but the slightest glimpse of the sun turns a smile on my face. I motivate myself that I'm back on my bike again and that I'm probably going to experience a lot of amazing things in the upcoming weeks.

After a whole day of riding, I arrive at my destination. It turns out that most campsites close after September, leaving me stranded at the gate.

After asking around, I meet the owner at the local tennis court. It's okay to pitch up my tent, but I don't need to expect any breakfast service. I except his offer!


More about this story in the upcoming posts!

Wow, the amount of feedback I've got amazes me!
Thank you, everybody!

So let's continue the story!

THE FIRST DAY OFF-ROAD

The second morning of endless rain and again I'm forced the pack the tent wet. It feels like one of the greatest sins to pack my tent this wet, but I have no other option.

I left this region three weeks ago, feeling overwhelmed by the 30-degree heat. Not the rain and cold transform the region unrecognizably.

I arrive at the trailhead of GLR 1. It's nice to ride offroad again, and the feeling of adventure starts to lighten my mood.

It stops raining and I call it a day a little early to dry out all the wet gear inside the tent. I end up at a campsite with a hot shower.

The shower building is no more than a simple shack. I welcome the warmth of the water, nonetheless. Regretting my decision the moment when the water stops flowing. The comfortable outside temperature hits me, and I'm glad to fiddle myself into the sleeping bag afterward.

It's only half past 8 in the evening, but it's already pitch black. Daylight becomes scarce when you're late in the season.

DAY NUMBER FOUR

Waking up next to the clothesline, I could smell the moist air inside the tent. I'd to know better by expecting that any of my wet clothes were dry in the morning. The nights are cold and moist, how did I expect that it would dry overnight? The most important thing for me is having dry socks. Everything else can dry on your body, but sock won't.

I boil some water to pour it inside a stainless steel bottle. Nothing fancy, just a plain bottle. After putting the socks over the bottle, the moist came steaming out in seconds! It’s working, nice!

It finally stopped raining and I get somewhat emotional when the sunlight warms my face. Finally a day without rain. I'm able to pack my tent dry, so the day starts out well. It turned out to be a wonderful day. Not too many roadsigns who demanded me to seek an alternative route, just a simple good day.

I set up camp with sunset view. The weather forecast warns me about wind gusts for the upcoming night, so I secure the pegs once more before I go to bed.



I want to share my story with all of you and I'm trying to do that with a few pictures as well, but if you are interested in more pictures, I post them on my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/goinglimboroutes/

Do you want to download the route for yourself? check out https://www.goinglimbo.com

It's time for day five of my story!

OH IT IS THAT KIND OF DAY NUMBER 5

Windy it turn-out to be. The tent shook violently in the morning. At first light, I get up to inspect the pegs. Four are torn out of the hard soil. The forecast tells rain again and I want to pack my tent dry, so breakfast comes later.

I was to be right. Just after I packed the last pieces and finished my breakfast, it started to rain again.

It starts to be a bit ironic. Just three weeks ago I was so hot that I wished for a little bit of rain. Now I need to plan my whole day around never-ending downpour of raindrops. Nevertheless, it's called an adventure.

The soil has turned from rocky limestone trails into muddy forest roads. Just after 10 minutes of leaving, I find myself holding the bike with all my strength, preventing it falling into a ditch. The roads have turned into a 30 cm deep mudslide because of the sustained rainfall of last week. Some parts are doable, others are quite treacherous.

I lost the front in a muddy section and skidded sidewards for another 4 meters. This time I was lucky, no injuries and the bike didn't fall into the ditch.

The route leads me from the muddy forest roads onto a dried riverbed. Can you imagine, so much rain, but the river is not flowing. Down the more technical section of the riverbed, a stone shoots up and hits the brake caliper. Immediately I've lost my front-brake pressure.

Ah, man common I thought to myself. After inspection, it turns out to be that the rock has hit the banjo-bolt.

By torquing it, I regain brake pressure, but the sense that something's wrong stays. I keep switching between telling myself that there's nothing wrong, and the inner voice that screams that there is.

It turns out to be a whole day of rain, and around midday, I find some shelter for lunch. On the brighter side of the day, no prohibition signs! The road turns out to be as planned and I'm sensing progress.



The landscape remembers me more of Scotland than France. Rolling grassy hills, rain, fog, and the wind.

After riding again for about two hours, I cross rut my bike and in the reflex to save me from falling over, I put my right foot down. Bad choice it turns out to be. My boot gets snatched by the pannier and gets pulled underneath it.

Falling off was now imminent. I find myself stuck between the ruts' sharp edge and the motorcycle. My foot is stuck and twisted sideways underneath.

By kicking the bike away with my remaining foot, I'm able to free myself out of this painful position. I feel nauseous and need to spend some time recovering myself. While I'm sitting there, in pain, muddy and wet again, I notice that someone has seen it all happen. While I was busy trying to free myself from the bike laying on top of me, word had spoken around and now about fifteen cows are coming over to check on me.

Supported by the herd of cows I get going again. I know by now that my knee needs some rest, so a campsite is much appreciated. A local campsite turns out to be still open, so that's the little luck I needed for today.

Do you want to see more pictures? visit me on my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/goinglimboroutes/

Are you interested in the adventure routes I've built?
Download them on https://www.goinglimbo.com

All very interesting, GLR8 in particular as it goes near the area of the French Alps where we have a base and where I've been exploring for many years.

How are you researching the routes as I've found it difficult to find the legal status of some of the 'tracks' round our way.

Great question!
So at first, I start with a "potential" route I want to explore. This route is a derivative of the research from the internet, paper maps and everything I have at hand.

When I'm actually on the route I encounter multiple setbacks like legality issues, road conditions (especially off-road), vegetation or any other issue.

So when I'm actually in the area I use locals at campsites, cafes or restaurants to guide me to better-suited roads.

So the fact is, it's a more like boots on the ground to find the best routes.

Might this Facebook group be of interest? https://www.facebook.com/groups/Transeurotrail.org/

The matching website: https://www.transeurotrail.org

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

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