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3rd January 2016 by Johannes
Motorcycle Travel Logbook, Roads to Persia

The Last Rainfall

The Last Rainfall
3rd January 2016 by Johannes
Motorcycle Travel Logbook, Roads to Persia

Because ist was too hot close to the sea, I decided to go back to the mountains, to the Durmitor national park to be more precise. This meant I had to go back almost the same direction I came from. Comparing this and last episodes route, one might think I dont’ have a single clue what to do and where to go, meandering from the mountains to the coast and back. And it’s genuinely true, I had no idea what I was doing. Remember that first post or the grand introduction as I called it? All those lies told in the first paragraph? The part about not having a plan is actually true.

Anyways, I was crossing the mountains again on some of the narrowest roads I could find until I reached Žabljak in the national park. The scenery changed again, this time from the mediterranean to an alpine landscape, combined with the forests, the dark clouds and the architecture in the villages, I felt reminded of the Carpathian Forests in Romania.

The Bay of Kotor
Typical construction site.
Dark clouds and rain on the campsite near Žabljak.
But in the next morning the sun was shining again.
Žabljak
The Tara River Canyon is one of the main attractions in the Durmitor National Park. They advertise it as the second largest canyon worldwide after the Grand Canyon. This rank seems to be contested though, the german Wikipedia just calls ist one of the largest canyons, next to some others.
Regardless of the rankings, it's pretty damn deep and pretty damn impressive.
The difference in altitude from the panoramic viewpoint down to the river is almost 1000m.
(Where I almost got stuck in the gravel bank)
Afterwards I had to get on one of the highest mountains in the area.
And climb the mobile phone tower on it's top. Fences or safety regulations? Not on the Balkans!
But the view is amazing.
Rain while camping? Doesn't matter as long as there's a roof and some funny polish guys with a guitar and a bottle of vodka.
The rainy weather stayed until about noon the next day.
But it has its advantages, bad weather equals no tourists and I had the lakes all for myself.

 

Next National Park stop on the route was Biogradska Gora, didn’t stayed there very long (and took no pictures). Instead I first went around, then up the mountain and camped in front of a mountaineers hut. Soon after clouds were approaching and it started to rain. The next morning was rather bleak, thick fog and rain awaited me outside the tent and it was cold enough for me to wear thick gloves and thermo underwear. What a difference to the 30° and sunshine I had the days before. I had no idea that those were the last drops of rain for the next two months. Descending from the mountains in these conditions was a tricky business because the wet clay-like earth on the paths was slippery as hell and cold wet hands don’t really help with concentration and throttle control. I dropped the bike twice before I reached a paved road.

I followed the Tara Canyon.
Đurđevića Tara Bridge

 

It wasn’t long until I crossed the albanian border, but I won’t lose too many words on the two days while I was crossing Albania. Oncoming traffic in your lane in a blind corner is pretty much normal driving on the Balkans and nothing new at that point, although I’ll never get used to that. Sleeping next to a swimming pool which became a party venue for albanian pupils who passed the last exams before summer vacation (including deafening balkan-techno for the best part of the night) isn’t much more than a sidenote. Only the roadside café owner who offered his daughter for marriage should be mentioned. The girl was nice but she spoke only albanian, so no deal for me. Honestly, I couldn’t make up all that stuff, no matter how hard I tried.

The albanian border was guarded by the most vicious borderguards I've ever seen.
Grocery shopping
Mangled brale lever after a stupid beginner's mistake (too much frontbrake on loose gravel). That piece of metal has taken some beating, and was bent back into shape quite a few times.
My attempt to take a shortcut over some steep and narrow sheep tracks failed because those tracks were just too steep and narrow.
Those sheep are just a lot more offroad capable than me on a motorcycle.
That's not how a chain is supposed to look like.
I made camp in an abandoned check-point just a few meters behind the albanian-macedonian border.
The watchtower offered a great view over Lake Ohrid.
And it served as a prime seat to enjoy the lightshow performed by the clouds.

Route (Fullscreen):

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