So, when I joined a few months back I mentioned I was going to be doing a trip. Well now I've done it and I have made my safe return its time for a little show and tell. I left on Friday 18th of April and came back on 4/5th April. The bike is a 2009 ABS Blade. I used a Kreiga R35 rucksack, a US30 on the tank and two US20's on the rear. More than enough space for all my bits and bobs. It all worked very well accept it grew a little tiresome putting it on and off the bike. A brief day by day break down goes like this. Day one left London midday ferry to Calais. Through France to Belgium then a bit of Holland and onto Germany. Stopping for rest in Cologne in a hotel. The next day off to Passau a town at the boarder of Austria. Took the main roads to get there as I had a lot of ground to cover. Stayed in a hostel inside a castle on top of the big hill over looking the river. Day three off to Vienna. Stayed in a hostel in the centre. Had to get a vingette for the roads. Day four off to Budapest in Hungary. Amazing city!! Again another vingette at the boarder. Stayed in another hostel but more like a hotel. Garage for the bike free of charge. Day five I headed to Timisoara in Romania. The second biggest city. Stayed two nights with friends. Paid a neighbour to let me use his garden to park the bike. Day seven I rode to Belgrade in Serbia. Stayed with a friend of a friend. Very bike friendly border, they asked me to rev the engine. Bike parked on street with Oxford cable lock and cheap cover. Day eight off to Bosnia and Herzogovina, though lots and lots of mountain roads for 9 hours in the dark. Lots of rain and fog. Went to Sarajevo and stayed in a hostel in the centre. Parked the bike in an underground car park linked to a hotel. Day nine, lots more mountains, fog and rain. Had to get a green card for the bike here. Went to Dubrovnik Croatia (where they filmed game of thrones). Stayed in a lovely hotel in Lapad on the sea front. Parked the bike in the hotel carpark. Next morning day ten, borrowed a bucket and washed the bike and lubed the chain. Then set of on the coast road. Unbelievable!! Passed through a little bit of Bosnia then back into Croatia. Stayed in Split Croatia for two nights. Stayed in the old city centre. Parked the bike on the street. Day eleven road about to some beaches and went for a swim. Day twelve rode to Ljubljana the capital of Slovenia. Spent the night in a hostel. Parked in their garage. Day thirteen I rode to Bled in Slovenia and the neibouring lake and waterfall. Stunning scenery. Day fourteen spent another night here. In a hostel. Parked in their garage. Day fifteen, rode to Salzburg Austria. No luck with hotels so went I the Munich in Germany. Stayed in a hostel and parked in their back lock up. Day Sixteen I rode the Cologne. Stayed in a hotel and parked in a public multi-storey car park. Final day I rode to Brussels and then on the Calais and then back to London. Journey complete! No plans were made on this trip everything was booked on the day other than the ferry tickets. Just dropped a pin on my google maps and off I went. It's great not having to be tied down with plans and timelines. I was free to spend extra time where I wanted or skip places I wasn't interested in. Highlights were: Budapest - Best City Croatia - Best overall roads Bosnia - Best mountain Roads Slovenia - Best scenery Got loads if pics and footage, ask away with any question. Hope you all make the most of your summer, what ever he weather.
Sounds as good trip - quite early in the year - did you see much snow on your travels ? Bled is fantastic - spent a week there staying at the campsite at the far side of the lake a few years back - and would love to return on the bike one summer.
The only snow was on the mountain tops and the high ones at that. It's absolutely stunning there and Lake Bohinj down the road is not only a nice ride but is really hard to leave. It's just so clear makes me want to take a dingy with me and just float about on if for a few hours watching the fish. I think I'm gonna go back in the summer with 3 others if things work out. Probably rent a van and split the drive and get there in two days then sped a few days then on to Croatia and then back. Have to wait and see though.
Looks like you had a fantastic time.......as you say must be nice just to go where the mood takes you, thanks for sharing
Thanks Colin. Brad it could be anywhere. This was kind of like speed dating for countries. 24 hours in most places to see if I want to spend more time there. If things work out with my mates I will rent a can and take a couple of bikes to Croatia around the end of August or September. If not maybe ill try Sweden or Portugal. Generally I take a 2 week trip and see how much I can cram in. Then in a few years time I can explore the bits I like in more detail.
Looks like a fantastic trip. And judging by some of the pics you even managed to visit Australia! Really want to do the countries east of Italy/Austria. They look amazing in your pics. Time is a killer unless you're willing to do some big-mile days, though. Going to look at flybikefly.com and get over to Brno first and start from there.
Impressive I was considering a long trip to Croatia for the last 2 years; heard lots of amazing stories about the roads/landscape there. You used US-30 as a tankbag? Wasn't it obscuring the clocks/satnav view? I thought that US-20 would be too large...
Looks like a fantastic trip! What an adventure. Were you alone or did you have company? Not sure I could tackle something like that on my own, especially in countries I'd not visited before. Me and the missus went to Austria for a couple of weeks many years ago (before we married) and we always vowed to return - such a beautiful country during the summer. We've promised ourselves to do a bike tour there once the kids have grown up. Got my eyes on a Triumph Tiger to do that on Some great pics too. Although some of them made my neck hurt...
Hi Moily, Yes the long days are a bit if a drag. Getting past Germany in two days definitely left my back side a bit tender. It paid off though as it let me visit all the other amazing places within the time I had. A few days I just didn't even want to get up but once you get back on the bike again it's all good. There were also two very long days from Belgrade to Sarajevo and then Sarajevo to Dubrovnik. Both days were 6 hours plus on the bike in the mountains mostly. What made it tiring though was the weather. Switching between rain and fog and late in the evening foggy dark mountain roads are very draining. But I was caught by surprise in Bosnia on the way to Dubrovnik. There were some freshly laid Tarmac roads that were so perfect, winding through the mountains cambers just right. All of this with views to die for of the huge lakes and snow capped mountains. The rain even held up during this time which made it even more special. Bosnia looked like it had a lot more to offer. If I had more time I would have spent at least another two days there. As for Australia, not sure how to flip the pictures round so just hoped people would hold their monitors upside down. Thanks for the comment and I'm glad you like pictures. Let me know how the bike on the plane goes.
Hi Peter, I packed it, so the end nearest the clocks were flatter. Was a bit of a stretch on the first day to the bars but after a bit of reconfiguration I got my gear sorted just right in each bag. It didnt obscure the view of anything particularly however it did really make me wish I had a double bubble screen. On the autobahn my neck got about two inches shorted with all the wind blast. Definitely a mod that needs doing before the next trip. As for Croatia I would say the coast road is to date my favourite road I've ever ridden. Some have been more challenging some have been faster but over all the journey from north to south with no silly T-junctions or traffic lights or traffic for that matter was fantastic. Sea on you left mountains on your right and sweet black Tarmac under your tires. Plus the views of all the off shore islands are breathtaking. Get on your bike and get over there is all I can say. You don't need to plan all I took was an I phone and a USB charger that connected to my batter from eBay that cost around £25 and it's water proof and cuts off it the battery drops below 12.4 volts. Good luck
I have a double bubble screen fitted So, I'll try to fit a US-20 as a tankbag for my trip to Pyrenees via Grande Alpes route. Combined with US30 + 2x US10, on the back, should give me 70l capacity, for myself and my pillion I see you have also used a GoPro camera. How many batteries you actually need per day? I found that one battery lasts no more than 3 hours, so you need at least 2 spare and a 'multi-UBS-charger' to charge it all over the night (plus your phone, satnav)...
I have the extra battery pack wich clips on the back. It doubles the battery life but this trip I only really used it for the really good roads and times photo mode when site seeing in the cities on the bike. I also got a cheap £10 spare battery which works really well. I charged it each night but I could have charged it from the bike if needed. With the double battery pack you only need to charge the camera but it charges the extra battery as well with no extra cables. It also comes with the extra housing. I bought it in Amsterdam actually because I found the batter was so poor. It cost €70 but I'm sure you could get it cheaper if looked about. The Pyrenees is beautiful I did two weeks in Spain with a speed triple and a tent also went over to morroco for the day. I went with one other rider that trip otherwise I wouldn't have stayed in a tent alone in the mountains and the bike would be too vulnerable. I only have the mobile and no sat-nav so no need for any other chargers. Where are you startin your trip from, Calais?
I know these 'blades are quick but I think time travel is still just a little bit beyond them. Seriously tho;Totally impressed mate. What a trip. Wish I had the bottle to do it.
Yes, from Calais. To Luxembourg - BadenBaden - B500 - Thonon-les-Bains - Grande Alpes - Menton - Cannes - Millau - Perpignan - N116 - Andorra - N260 - Pamplona - Santander - ferry home I'm trying to figure out if it is actually feasible with the pillion... and how many days I would need
I like the idea of speed dating a continent. I did it with Italy once, not on the bike though, 17 towns in 15 days so not much more than a snapshot of anywhere but enough to tell me where I wanted to go back to for a better 'browse' and where I wouldn't. In fact, I'm back off there tomorrow.
Peter the trip sounds amazing with some great roads. I recon you need a good 2 weeks maybe a few days extra on top. Looked at google maps and did a few "street views". Very beautiful sound some of the south of France bordering Spain. In Andorra try to climb the mountain. When I say climb I obviously mean ride. The view are unreal from the top and the road is epic. You start at the bottom in the middle of the town and work your way past some shops in the high street and then past the houses and small farms. Then you head off to the wilderness, big evergreen trees and waterfalls right at the road side. The waters so fresh you can walk right over to it and fill up your water bottle. I miss traveling already and I am itching to get back on the road. Good luck with your trip Pete and make sure you put up some pictures.
kpone, have fun in Italy. Yes I think that's the way I will have to do things for the next 4 or 5 trips. Then ill do some more trips based around a central base. Probably north or Spain or Croatia.
