{"id":29858,"date":"2021-09-28T15:50:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T15:50:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hopcycling.pl\/?p=29858"},"modified":"2024-12-06T11:12:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T11:12:28","slug":"balkanski-bikepacking-bez-sensu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hopcycling.pl\/en\/balkanski-bikepacking-bez-sensu\/","title":{"rendered":"Balkan bikepacking without any deeper sense"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are too many jokes, good advice in this text, and besides the suggestion that the Balkans are worth a visit, you are unlikely to learn anything new from it.<\/em> I would only be him scrolled<\/em>to see the photos and read something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have never gone on such a disorganized trip before. This is what happens when you take more than a week of vacation and a week before it starts, you have no idea where and with whom to go. Basically, there is some kind of cut-off point in life, after which the organization of anything becomes somehow more difficult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then BOOM! You are sitting at work you scroll<\/em> mindlessly internet and you see an article on some foreign website about a visitor who bought the cheapest airline ticket and decided to return from there by bike. Sounds like an idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I go to Wizzka, and Podgorica there for PLN 49 (of course, before I bought it a few days later, it already cost PLN 149) + less than PLN 200 for a bike. That Podgorica is terrible, but the area is great, everyone who has read our entry knows a slightly longer stay in Montenegro<\/a>. I put a question on Instagram if someone is going with me - Marek volunteered. He volunteered so perfectly because he only asked what he had to do to go. One 10-minute meeting and a dozen or so messages later, we were already enrolled in an adventure towards a little known and a little unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That the route would be roughly hopeless was certain. This is actually one of the first sentences I said to Mark: I invite you, but it will be so-so, because we avoid everything cool<\/em>. I am increasingly considering starting a cycling club called We Ride Without Ambition<\/em>. There were several variants, but the optimal plan assumed that we would visit a few points on the map with slightly random roads and end up in Vienna, from where we could return by train directly to Warsaw. This is a great option, because nothing worries me more than the vision of looking for a cardboard box and unscrewing seized screws a few hours before departure. There was one goal: to visit countries where I was not with my bike and see if it is worth going back there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For people who don't like reading, a summary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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TL; DR;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First of all, it is worth noting that this route avoids one hundred million beautiful places. So if you have a week or two of vacation and want to repeat it, I DON'T RECOMMEND. Fly to Podgorica, see the vicinity of Skadar Lake, Cursed Mountains, Dur<\/em><\/strong>mitoru and see a bit of Bosnia or Albania. I was just lazy and wanted to go back by train. If I wasn't, the photos in this post would be better.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1,600 km. Leaving the house on Thursday morning, returning the following Thursday, late in the evening.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Costs:
<\/strong>The cost of the trip is about PLN 1,500, including airline tickets. Accommodations searched for on a regular basis cost PLN 50 \/ head in cheap countries, PLN 100 \/ head in the expensive ones (with 1 person more expensive, with 4 people cheaper). Food roughly as much as ours. There are no other costs, so it's easy to calculate. We eat during the day randomy<\/em> from shops, in the evenings we try to visit a pub (if kebab and pizza are pubs, it can be considered that we almost always succeed - including a bakery - we always do).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusions:
<\/strong>Stable in Montenegro - bad drivers on the main roads, but the country is beautiful
In Croatia, there is a lot of traffic at the seaside in tourist areas and no traffic on the rump.
There is a lot in Bosnia, but maybe we are just very lucky, because opinions are mixed.
In north-eastern Croatia and Serbia it is like on Gassy, and sometimes like on the embankment between Bia\u0142o\u0142\u0119ka and Nowy Dw\u00f3r Mazowiecki
Hungary is the worst place in the world for a man with a bicycle.
Slovakia along the Danube is a family idyll.
In Austria, shops are open, while in the aforementioned Slovakia, they are closed on a national holiday.
The Czech Republic is the Czech Republic - it is known, although I have the impression that we are driving the most boring part of this country.
There are the worst drivers in the world in Poland (because they are the fastest and the most frustrated).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organization:<\/strong>
We start every day at 8, we finish when it starts to get dark. We could cover the route super-hyper lightly, because nothing was useful from the clothes except the "short" set. From money, all you need is a credit card + euro. Internet in Bosnia is at gas stations, in Montenegro you can buy at the airport upon arrival, we flew Serbia quickly, and in other places it is European<\/em>.
Generally, I do not recommend the route - you can spend your vacation in a more interesting way ... but you need to have time to plan it. It is good to the Bosnia \/ Croatia border - then you can go to sleep because Mazovia begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The route from Podgorica to Rybnik is about 1600 km and I would describe it as "rather easy". Coming with two liter water bottles and a few emergency bars, a rather slim chance of dying for any reason other than melting in the sun (or under the wheels of a Hungarian TIR<\/em><\/strong>and). On the entire route we meet only one man waving a rifle at us (probably friendly), somewhere in a Bosnian village.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day I: Podgorica -> Kotor<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

the only certainty of the route - link to Stravy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We already have our first adventure at the airport in Warsaw, because we meet Eliza there, who also flies to Montenegro and also for bikepacking (only by bike weighing more than our two in total) ... and a moment later we also meet the policemen on segwey. I try to follow the recommendations, but still taking advantage of the fact that we were the only people on the terminal, I thought that you could indulge yourself a bit. We are saved from trouble by the fact that we all keep food, and thanks to writing down I know that Marek is actually Marek, whether he was punished and how many penalty points he has. Then the adventure is provided by Eliza, who, while folding her bicycle at the airport in Podgorica, sticks a rack in her leg and with a hole in her leg goes to search for first aid. Here I suggest: at airports they provide one free of charge.

The airport in Podgorica is great, because there are garbage cans in front of it, and the disposal of cardboard boxes is always a bit problematic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first day is a route I know by heart. A bit of the main road (and the main roads in Montenegro are a good chance of death), and then the stump. First a bit of climbing and somewhere in the distance Skadar Lake, Albanian mountains and most of all Pavlova Strana Viewpoint, which reminds me how perfect this area was for a bike and how much I want to rent an apartment there for a while:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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