BALKAN Part 2/4 - Bosnia and Herzegovina & Montenegro on KTM 1290 Super Adventure R

I mean, you see a lot of this still here. So guys, this is the moment where I'm switching to my heated gear. Whoa! That was a nice rear wheel slip. I was saying, winter wonderland. Do you need a passport? I thought just getting here was beautiful, but this is even better. So this is day six of my tour. It is about 930 in the morning. I'm still in Mostar and I'm heading to Montenegro today. It's a bit windy, but it's a blue sky. Beautiful weather, as you can see. It's gonna get a bit colder, I think, in Montenegro. Right now, it's about 12 degrees. So it's nice, especially after the days of rain that I had. This is the place I was staying at, by the way. Beautiful place. Bikes packed. So I'm ready to go. Just hand in the keys and off we go. I am really excited about today. Such a beautiful day out. If you come here, you have to know that it's a pretty steep ramp up to get to the place. I mean, not a big deal for us adventure riders, but an old motorcycle wouldn't be an issue. I don't know. So, the old town is to our left. And I think we just have to kind of make our way out of Mostar now. I mean, the city is much bigger than its old town area, as it usually is. But the pictures that you usually see are from the old town, so you think this is all it is. I mean, you see a lot of this still here. From the war in the 90s, I suppose that still is. A lot of buildings. Oh, God, I was supposed to go up there. So not all of it has been restored. I mean, the tourist area, the old town they have, kind of makes sense. That's where the money comes in and where people go. But the rest, there's still buildings that are in pretty bad shape. It's definitely taken me to some really small back roads here. But I've been stuck in traffic. Then again, it's Sunday, so there probably isn't much going on with regards to traffic this early in the morning. Here we go. So today, I'll still be riding through a good part of Bosnia-Herzegovina. And then I'll make my way into Montenegro. And the next accommodation will be in the Dumatur National Park. All an area that I have never seen before. I've seen pictures and videos of others that have been there. And everyone loved it. So I'm curious to see it. And I'm so happy to have such a beautiful day this late in the season. That's not a given. It's actually 15 degrees out, but it will be colder once I get to Montenegro. Check the weather up front. And it's somewhere between 8 and 12 degrees. And that's probably at lower elevation. I don't know how high I'm going to be. Anyway, time to get out of the city and back on the open road. Yes. So I left Mostar a few minutes ago. And I'm back on the open road. This is quite nice for a start in the morning. Now a while back, I did a review on this visor here. On the orange visor. And it's been really good. Especially in overcast conditions. But when it's sunny like this and the sun is still low in the sky. It's really not tinted. I'm squinting. It's still not tinted enough for me. I mean it's fine for the trip. And I'm going to use it all the way throughout the trip. Just to kind of see how it works. But I was afraid that that would be the case. But on the upside. If it gets rainy. If it gets darker. This visor still works. Where my really dark visor doesn't. It gets really dark. So this is the right choice for this trip. Because weather is changing all the time. I've had a lot of rain. I've had a lot of cloud cover. And this is for the exception and the rule. This kind of weather. So I'm really curious about today's roads. I assume it's going to be very much like this for most of it. It could be a day of riding just like this for the next 300 kilometers. So I'm really psyched about it. Wow, look at this. This was the mountain range I was looking at I think yesterday. And look how beautiful it looks. It's got the mountains up there. And the clouds are just sitting on top of the mountains. On the ridge. And then the beautiful fall colors that we see here. The cow in the transporter. So temperatures have dropped down to 12 degrees. And despite the sunshine. Which usually warms you up quite well. It gets a bit chilly right now on the bike. I have to be careful about shaded areas. Because you can't really see if there's any dirt. And there's sometimes still dirt on those roads. And especially changing light is really hard to see. So this is where they take the top coat of the tarmac off. To resurface the road. And it's kind of like riding on raw eggs. It's completely wobbly. Wow, that was a nice rear wheel slip. I hit one of these squigglies there. Damn. That almost was a wipeout. Holy shit. Okay, I gotta take it a bit easier. I don't need to crash the bike here. And traction control didn't kick in. It was just... It's hard to see. It's hard to read the road right now. With the change of light and shade. And it was just a crack in the road. I think that was fixed up. And those spots are usually very slippery. But they usually don't do that to you. And I guess it's cold too. So we're down to 8 degrees. I hope it's gonna warm up a little bit. Otherwise I'll be switching to heated gear. Because that is too cold for me. So guys, this is the moment where I'm switching to my heated gear. I'm already cold. And if I'm riding all day like this. It's doable. If it gets colder than this. I have heated gear for that. For anything between 0 to 10 degrees. Heated gear is actually perfect. So now that I've come through all the effort. It's probably gonna get warmer. Ready to go. Yeah, that's how you adjust the heated jacket on a bike. This is for the jacket. The white one is for the gloves. When I use gloves with it. Pretty cool, huh? Just now I was pulled over by a policeman. I wasn't really necessarily speeding. And I was passing another car. But it was not in a no passing zone. I usually pass in a no passing zone. If I have a chance to pass. I'll do that. And he told me I was in a no passing zone. Obviously a sign like this one here to the right. Indicates a no passing zone. But it was actually a passing zone. It wasn't a passing zone where he was standing. But that's for traffic going the other way. The communication was interesting. Because he didn't speak any German. I didn't speak any English. And of course I didn't understand a word he was saying. He was just gesturing. Then he's like scribbling down 150 euros. I'm like. Okay, dude. No, no, no, no. I was arguing with him. And he let it go. Luckily I had his papers. I was trying to be friendly. And smile a lot. That's all you can do. But then I was like. No, come on. I certainly wasn't speeding. I was passing where I was allowed to pass. Like I said. These solid lines. I usually don't care. The motorcycle. That's a different thing in the car. It takes much longer to pass with a motorcycle. If you have a clear pass. You can pass. And I usually don't care about that. But of course. Someone pulls you over. Writes you a ticket. Got to pay the ticket. But in this case. It was a passing zone. Too bad I didn't have the camera rolling. That would have been an interesting conversation. I guess. But it was pretty calm. Pretty peaceful. I think he was just standing there. Saw a motorcycle. He's complimenting on the bike. He's like. Nice motorcycle. Just a thumbs up. Pointing at it. It seems anyway. That any place I go. There are not a lot of motorcycle riders around. This time of year. I haven't seen a single one today. Also. I haven't seen many other license plates. Usually you go anywhere. And you'll find at least a few Germans somewhere. And this is all locals here. There's no one with a license plate. From outside this country at the moment. Anyway. He was asking where I was going. I showed him Montenegro. He's like. You're going the wrong direction. I showed him on the GPS. Where I was going. Things were getting friendly. I think he just tried to pull the fast one on me. But he didn't really push it. He probably could have. But you know. What are you going to do. It's a pub. Looks half legit at least. Anyway. That was my little incident. Half way through the tour. So guys. I've been riding for quite a while now. And I'm in the middle of this beautiful mountain range here. I'm at about 1100 meters. I had to look it up just to get an idea. How high I am. And yeah. Look at this landscape. It's beautiful here. So I'm curious if I'm going to gain some more elevation. If I'm going higher up today or not. But for now this is nice. I can feel it. The temperature is 8 degrees. I'm really happy to have my heated gear on. I'm entering a very scenic area here. It's like perfect tarmac here. Just getting here was beautiful. But this is even better. The backdrop of those high mountains. Check it out. One more more. What else can it be. Oh. Wow. This is the border to Montenegro. Holy cow. So. Is there anyone here? Oh there is. Hi. Hello. Do you need a passport? Yeah. Okay. I was so surprised to see it. I was like wow here is the border. Yeah this one is. Okay. Thank you. Wow. That was the Montenegro border crossing in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't expecting that. Very cool. So that was pretty easy. I just had to show my ID card and he just let me in. This doesn't seem to be the major border crossing to Montenegro. But I am in Montenegro now officially. This is the country where I will stay tonight. It will be very close to our national park. And the forecast was colder temperatures. 8 degrees I was reading for my destination. And it's 6 now. And it's cold. It definitely is cold. Okay I guess I have not entered the country yet. This is the part I suppose. Okay. Hello. Do you need a passport? German? English? Okay. Do you need to take the... Oh yeah for the... Yeah. Do you need to take the... Oh yeah yeah. Yeah yeah. Hold on. This is the electronic test. Okay. Yeah? Okay. The paper? So I guess I was leaving while they had the governor. This is the actual border to get into Montenegro. And this is the vaccination, the ID card and papers for the bike. And he's inside checking it. It's okay? Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, okay. Hi. Okay. So here in Montenegro it's the coldest it's been so far on this tour. It's day number 6 out of 14. And I have 4 degrees Celsius at the moment. I'm already getting an ice warning on the dash of the KTM. There's no ice here, no worries. But the air, it smells very similar to when you're in winter sport in the mountains. When you're skiing and so that cold air smell when it gets ever cooler. That's kind of the smell I'm getting up here. So it really reminds me of winter sports skiing when I'm up here. But yeah, check it out. I mean it's beautiful. It looks like a postcard here. Beautiful, beautiful scenery. Look at this. Sheep running around. So yeah, I'm 90 kilometers away from my destination tonight. Which will be close to the Dubitor National Park. And before I get there, one of the highlights you're going to see is the Tara Bridge. It's a pretty long, tall bridge. I've only seen it in the pictures, but we'll be crossing that. And then we'll get to our final destination. I assume it's going to be pretty deserted there. As you see, it's over here as well. But we'll see. Yeah, my jacket is cooking me right now. So I gotta turn it down a bit. Nice and toasty. So as with the other countries, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and now Montenegro. This is the first time I'm in this country, anywhere in this area. In general, but especially with the motorcycle. I'm curious if I get to see some more of this weather. The next few days will be great, because we're going to higher altitudes tomorrow. It's pretty cold. It's 5 degrees at 1000 meters. We'll see how cold it gets when I'm getting close to 2000. Because that's all the plan for tomorrow. But as long as it's not freezing or there's any ice up there, I'm okay. I don't mind if it's that cold. But I don't want any ice or snow on the road. But it doesn't look like it's been snowing here. It's certainly not this altitude. So, yeah, we'll see. Enjoy this here for a little bit. Oh, look at this. Beautiful. So we're about to enter. It's the zip line taking you through the bridge. I have to say hello to the only motorcyclist I've seen today. I met these two guys. Two motorcycle riders from Frankfurt. The guy is actually Croatian. And we're going to tour together the next 45 minutes. And it's the only motorcycle rider that I saw today. And of course it's a German. A German bike. So, yeah, very cool. So, it's 3.30. We have about a 45-minute detour. We're going to actually pass through the place I'm going to stay at. And then go up a mountain. And it's supposed to be very scenic. Boys with toys. Exactly. So we're kind of heading up this small path here. And chances are it's going to be unpaved further down the road. So we'll see. Street tires. And sheep. They're scared of enough. So. It's a chilly 2 degrees at 1750 meters. So that's going to be a good indication of what we can expect at 2000 tomorrow. Especially early in the day. Chances are around zero or less. And around this road, that's what I was looking for. Anyway, it's beautiful up here. I was saying, winter wonderland. So it is. Minus 1 degree freezing. Properly freezing. And, yeah, we have to make our way down again. Of course Daniela has to ride with two people sitting down. It's a bit harder. So I'm going to turn this off. So it's so worth it to come up here. Enjoy the view. Setting sun. It's going to get dark very quickly now. The sun sets in about half an hour. And it's probably going to get darker before that. Because it's going to disappear behind the mountains. I mean that frost looks so cool. So yeah, we're going to go get something to eat. Let's do it. Yeah, I thought so. Where did you get your stuff? What? Where did you get your stuff? Luggage? Somewhere we can sleep. Oh, that's what I was about to say. Okay, I was going to say. Damn, I've got all this and you have this. Empty box.