Projekt Balkan
 

Hello,
this is me having a go at an ADVRider style ride report, meaning a lot of pics and a little text. This first post is meant to be somewhat of test, so if you care to get more updates, please let me know. You can also follow the journey on my own blog (link in my Signature).

So, where and how long am I going? It's meant to be a six weeks trip around south eastern Europe, or 'the balkans'. The idea was and still is to do the Enduromania in Romania, ride around Romania for a bit, then do a quick blast down along the Black Sea coast until I hit Istanbul, where I want to hang out for a couple of days.

After that I'll turn back west, go through Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania until I hit the Adriatic coast where I turn north.

I have a reservation for the so called Autozug (a Train I can put my motorbike and my lazy butt on) on the 5th of September in Trieste, Italy. Until then I'll try to keep on drifting :)

The Enduromania would deserve an entire thread for itself. I'll skip that part and just say it was great fun and I would recommend this to everybody who's into offroad riding and looks to spend some time in Romania.

This is the only pic I have from me at the Enduromania (a guy from Sweden took that):

http://img193.imageshack.us/i/001enduromania.jpg/http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/7...nduromania.jpg

After a Week of fun with a great team it was time to get going again and especially getting used to handling the fully loaded bike on loose gravel.

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/747...nduromania.jpg

While taking some twisties and admiring the sceenerie I stumbled upon this:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/731...arbagedump.jpg

I think it was the local garbage dump. It was right next to the street and there was also one guy waking around there and doing whatever. The stench was quite bad and I moved on as fast as the KTM and the Gods of Acceleration would led me.

Soon the Scenery got quite better again:

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/5...untainlake.jpg

As you can see Romania can be quite beautiful, if she wants to :)

The scenery stayed quite montainous and riding was great fun. It looked a bit like the alps to me:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/8...ikethealps.jpg

This is something that you will see quite often in Romania:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/136...ulcanizare.jpg

The 'Vulcanizare' Workshop is where they fix flat tires of trucks and cars. You will find these workshops in almost every small village. Apparently the reason for all these flat tires and hence all the workshops are these guys:

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/5...7horsecart.jpghttp://img504.imageshack.us/img504/0...jpg/1/w900.png

The horseshoe get's attached to the hooves by hammering in a nail and once in a while the horse will loose one of these nails. Since there's quite a few of these around (you'll see them everywhere, especially in blind corners, right in front of you, going SLOW) there's quite a few nails lying around on the streets.

I tried to make it up to the Urdele Pass this day, but the weather was getting quite bad and at some point it began not only to rain but to hail as well. I decided to turn back and get the first Pensiunea I could find.

20€ got me this room:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7573/008room.jpg

And while the weather outside was looking like this:
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4299/009weather.jpg

I decided to get out the gear and fix me some dinner:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/3325/010cooking.jpg

Apparently there's too many images in my post, so I'll just split it in two halves.

Next Morning I got up early, had a coffee Balkan Style (black, lots of sugar and drunken very hasty) and had a go at the pass again. This time the weather looked great:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/2...oodweather.jpg

At first the road was very smooth and nice. It appeared to be just newly build and I was a little ambigous about it. After all I was in Romania on a dirt bike. On the other hand I didn't fancy crashing up in the mountains with no one around.

Anyways the gravel started soon enough:

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/815...velturnoff.jpg

I came to a small village which apparently was just in the process of development into a major tourist attraction. I don't think the shepperd minded that anyway:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/3...pbaustelle.jpg

Soon the road got quite rocky:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2194/014rockyroad.jpg

I took it very easy at first, since I was a bit afraid of crashing or damaging the bike (remember: the KTM 690 has no subframe). After a while I just let it roll and had a lot of fun.

They seem to be in the process of reconstructing the road and putting a tarmac cover on it. I passed a couple of new construction sites where it always got quite muddy.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/176...nstruction.jpg

Back down from the pass the road continued through the forrest. It was still gravel but very smooth and quite enjoyable. The bike ran great and I think it's the perfect bike for fast dirt roads like this, even if you're not going that fast. :)

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/7705/016dirtroad.jpg

A short while later I went around this lake. I think it was called Lacul Oasa, which I found quite a fitting name.

http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/6158/017lake.jpg

After a while I got quite hungry (no breakfast today) and decided to look out for a good place to have some lunch. Since I didn't see anything and I happend upon an old fire place next to the road I decided to try out my new hobo oven:

http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/0...pg/1/w2256.pnghttp://img25.imageshack.us/img25/491...obocooking.jpg

I quite like the attitude towards camping in Romania. Wild Camping seems to be allowed almost everywhere. Lots of locals seem to be out there as well. My cooking developed quite a bit of smoke but nobody seemed to mind.

I decided to take a shortcut (which was on my map) but it ended somewhere in the forrest, and the dreaded reserve light lit up as well. I barely made it back to the next gas station.

I think I should have bought the Safari Tank. Loaded up with the lugage I get about 200km before reserve and while this is generally fine I'd like to travel whithout worrying about the gas as much as I seemingly do. Then again 500€ buy a lot of beer...

After a short while I was back in civilisation:

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/9...trafficjam.jpghttp://img339.imageshack.us/img339/0...jpg/1/w900.png

I got quite hot there and the truck on the right kept blowing fumes directly into my face. The bike was a bit too wide (or my balls where to small) to filter through traffic so in the end I just took either the pedestrian walk or the grass next to the road. After all, why does one ride an enduro bike? :)

Last stop for two days was here:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/9...kanaldecke.jpg

So anybody wants more, or shall I just shut up and post my stuff somewhere else?

See ya on the road!

MORE MORE!
love the pics

Have not posted in a while, since I was busy chilling out at the beach and doing I don't know what. So now I'm just catching up a bit. I decided the weather in Transilvania might not be for me, so I headed down to the black sea coast.

Unfortunatly the riding was nothing much to talk about, busy traffic to Bucharest, straight Highway from there to Constanta and then busy traffic on overcrowded roads down the coast again.

So these are more or less just some random shots I took...

Stayed at a Hostel in Brasov and had to depart early after a night where everybody partied. After messing about with my Zega cases (of course with padlocks), walking in and out of the room with my squeching motocross boots and muttering curses in german I though. Screw this, I might just as well take a photo now:

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5760/033allewach.jpghttp://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5760/033allewach.jpg

Yeah, one of those beds was mine...

Later that day I had my usual gas station breakfast. The choice at the Romanian gas station seem to be quite limited so I always end up with stuff like this. Not that I mind that much... :innocent:

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/616...enfrhstcka.jpg

The Cops in Bucharest seem to have quite nice rides. I wonder what they have for motorbikes, Ducatis?

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/980...ibucharest.jpg

Somewhere between Constanta and Varma Veche, nice to know that you're on the right way:

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/859...chtigerweg.jpg

As you can see the local safety standards are a bit higher than one might expect. Only there always seem to be one piece missing:

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/795/038localsafety.jpghttp://img39.imageshack.us/img39/795/038localsafety.jpg

In Vama Veche you can camp on the beach for free and it seems that on the weekends half of Bucharest comes out there to party. I had quite a hard time finding a room and there weren't exactly many trees to tie my hennessy hammock to.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/231...hvamaveche.jpg

This Guy was doing BBQ the Balkan style: Hot and Fast!

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1...alkanstyle.jpg

The Romanians quite like to set their drinks on fire. Why they need to waste that all that precious alkohol is beyond me but it does look nice:

http://img39.imageshack.us/i/041burningdrinks.jpg/http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/648...ningdrinks.jpg

(more to follow)

The Bolgarian border is almost within walking distance from Vama Veche (it might even be for somebody less lazy than me), so it takes me just minutes to enter Bulgaria and now I'm in Kyrillistan and the Bulgaria sign is one of the very few latin signs I've seen so far.

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5509/042bulgarien.jpg
(Sings on the highway at least are translated)

Met up with another German rider in Varna and we had a quick look around the port before heading to dinner:
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5918/045werftvarna.jpg

After dinner we happend upon a mixture of junkyard and museum or themepark directly behind the seaside promenade. They had an old helicopter and some other stuff standing around there. I quite liked this statue:

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/5851/046statue.jpg

Russian Fashion seems to be still going strong in Bulgaria:

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/614...ianfashion.jpg

If you ever wonder how to get kids interessted in motorbiking even at a small age, do it the bulgarian style with the new mini tenere:

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/2...minitenere.jpg

Sozopol is probably the most nicest of the black beach resort town and while most of it is nice, clean and tidy I also stumbled upon a kind of derelict aquapark:

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/238...ntertainme.jpg

Sozopol has quite a nice beach, but you have to come at nighttime to catch it empty like this:

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3246/050beach.jpg

Did you know that Cyrillic was actually invented in Bulgaria? The Bulgarians seem to be pretty proud about it, they just translate everything:

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/362...eisenbankh.jpg

This is actually the Austrian bank "Raifeisenbank".

When somebody dies often there's a rememberence posted for him. You see them hanging at trees, doors, by the roadside, more or less everywhere. Apparently there's also some kind of period before they also post the picture of the dead. I'm not sure if I find it interesting, creepy or strange but you sure do realise that a lot of people die...

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/1898/051necrolog.jpg

Tomorrow I'll start in the direction of Veliko Tarnovo and cross the Balkan Mountains for the first time. Should make for some good riding and better stories.

I'll keep you posted, if you want it or not!
:scooter:

well done, sir! you've taken some really quality photos - especially the pictures at night.... keep on with the posting!

I've been a bit lazy in the last couple of days, so I'm just trying to catch up right now.

I got going again from Sozopol to Veliko Tarnovo and had my first taste of the Balkan Mountains. I just have some kind of tourist map of Bulgaria, so I was not too sure what to expect. Of course my Zumo wasn't too much help as well:

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/7263/055navileer.jpg

This is the point where I asked myself how high the pass is actually gonna be:

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/765...ratnikpass.jpg

The road up there was pretty nice with lots of fun turns but it's a pretty small road and once you get stuck behind a truck it can take a while. For me this was a good opportunity to practise shooting while riding:

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/2853/058passlkw.jpg

Eastern European traffic is always good for suprises, but I haven't seen something like this before. What do you do when you need to move house and your vicious dog won't fit into the car?

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/67/...ufhaengert.jpg

The street signs in Bulgaria are supposed to be both in the latin alphabet and in cyrillic at least for the major routes. Either I ended up on a secondary road this day or somebody didn't tell these signs:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/219...kyrillisch.jpg

I ended up in Veliko Tarnovo that day. It's a beautiful city. In fact it's so beautiful that even the dogs admire the view from the old castle:

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/8...deaussicht.jpg

I can quite understand that:

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4306/063aussicht.jpg

Veliko Tarnovo used to be the capital of Bulgaria in the middle ages and there's still some of the old fortress walls and town fortifications around to explore. I had a quite fun time wandering around on the hill where the fortress used to be.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/318...arnovoburg.jpg

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/780...novoburgii.jpg

More to follow soon!

:scooter:

Hi Felix,

Still waiting to hear from you!Hope everythig with you OK?!Today is tuesday,so what about your stay here in Sofia?:welcome:

Regards,