Solo Ride to Istanbul Day 8 - 7 Countries and 12 Borders in 13 Hours.

Morning!

What a day today was, oh my goshhhh. 

I woke up in Dubrovnik, jumped straight up out of bed at 7am and flew my drone on the terrace over the bay. 

I quickly packed all my things and rushed out to get started on my bike. My original plan for today was to get half way through Albania via Montenegro. But when my Garmin gave me the option to go through 6 other countries on route - I had to detour. 6 new countries in one day, not including Croatia - the one I’ll be riding through first. So that’s a total of SEVEN countries in one day! How exciting!

I started by taking my first border crossing in Bosnia, I was expecting hours of waiting as many people told me it would be. But it took no more than 3 minutes to get though. I was the only one at the gate. I got my passport stamped and headed on through.

My first thoughts “where is everyone”, “the roads are so smooth”, “the scenery is beautiful”. Shortly after arriving in Bosnia, I needed petrol, so I pulled over in a small town to top up. As soon as I did, a biker approached - “you are from England? Alone?” I replied yes, but that I’m meeting my boyfriend. He grabbed my hand, strong and firm shaking it - looked me in the eyes and said “welcome to my country”. It was the warmest welcome I’ve received in any country so far, he truly meant those words. He left smiling and waving goodbye. All through the town I received waves, beeps and smiles from the locals. Bosnia was a fantastic country and I really wish I had longer there.

After Bosnia was Montenegro.

Montenegro was again, beautiful - this whole region of Europe is rich with mountains and panoramic views. Montenegro is on par with Croatia in terms of dangerous driving, I took it slow and enjoyed the views of both the mountains and the ridiculous overtakes I was witnessing. There was a lot of roadworks in Montenegro, but they don’t use a traffic lights system to guide you through, they use people and cards that are red and green. When the guy holding the green card seen my bike he waved me through the roadworks whilst making the cars go the other route. I was really confused by this, I don’t have knobbly tyres for this kind of riding but I’d already went through without thinking. Not only was I now technically off roading, but the cars from the other side were also all coming towards me in a one way road. When I’m doing, get out! So I bumped up onto the pedestrian pavement and rode there instead. Riding between people, nobody batted an eyelid and the construction workers couldn’t care less. I loved it 😂 I was laughing the whole time, thinking this can’t be real. 

Next up is Albania, where I spent most of my day and it was by far the most visually stunning. I have a lot of footage on my GoPro, so you’ll have to take my word for it right now until I edit the videos for my channel. But seriously, the term “motorway” in Albania needs to be changed to “track day”. The roads were set at about 30mph due to some serious bends - but all of the locals including the police were doing at least 60. In these cases, you really do have to follow the locals - if I stuck to the limit, I’d have ended up being rear ended. When I got deeper into Albania, the roads got more and more empty and it felt more and more like an adventure. Upon entering Bosnia, I had no data on my phone until I got to Greece - so I truly did feel alone. I stopped in Albania for some food and to get out of the 30 degree heat. The roads were my favourite of the trip so far, but the food was not to my taste. I have a phobia of overly milky products, and most of their food is just that.

For dessert I was given a free taster of their local food, im pretty sure it was curdled milk, I licked the tip of the spoon and it tasted kind of like sour cream. It was not for me, I mixed it in with my other food in the hope they wouldn’t notice incase I offended them. 🥹😂

I think I spent about 4 hours riding through Albania, and I seen some of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen on a bike. It was Albania that made me feel like I was truly out there, and very far away from home. I’m determined to visit Albania again, to fully explore the region and ride those roads once more! It was like a private track day.. 

When I arrived at the Albanian border into Kosovo, there was a man chasing 5 cows away from the border point so he could get his car through to the police who were stood waiting 5 metres away. When I was waiting in the queue, there were two very casual construction workers, smashing some plastic roofing with a plank of wood. Which I was pretty much waiting underneath, I did what everyone else did and just chose to ignore the levels of zero safety. Putting my visor down to protect me from those sweet little shards of plastic that were flaking down on me. 😂💪

I got through the border at Kosovo, the border guard was straight up flirting with me, which I chose to accept - because I knew some of these borders can be quite difficult, and a more times than not will try and take money from you. “Pretty bike, but not as pretty as the girl riding it”. In my head: “Stamp my damn passport so I can go”. What came out “Aw thanks, my friend from Kosovo made it this colour for me”. Which he did btw, big up to Leo @ERAlloyWheels in Watford who powder coated my bike for me! The border guard let me pass and I pulled over to take a selfie at the gate.

At first thought, you think of all these borders crossing as just one point. But it’s not, each country has two borders you need to cross through on either side. You need to be stamped in by the country, stamped out by the country - then about 500 metres ahead, you get stamped in to the new country and then stamped out again. So by this point, I’d already done 7 border crossings by my 4th country. 

When I stopped after the crossing, I noticed there were so many dogs around. All very skinny and frail, laying around in the sun and under cars. These were the first dogs I’d seen on the trip, it was all cats prior. It was a sad sight and I know my friend @jade_rides rode solo to Kosovo also, and she helped a bunch of dogs while she was here, rescuing two of them and taking care of them back in the UK. Sadly Kosovo was short lived, I only stuck to the motorway here which was more like any ordinary motorway. The cities seemed really well built up and it felt more like the usual places I’m used to. 

North Macedonia was next, entering from Kosovo. You could see how much neglect there had been of the border here, but especially after crossing through. Once more the border was quick and easy, but I did notice on the street signs coming through - I don’t know if I’m exaggerating here, but there were almost definitely bullet holes in them! 😂

Due to this, I spent the rest of my time in Macedonia on the motorway, racing a guy on a Tenere. I decided I wanted to stay close to him, because bikers can trust bikers right? It was getting late, and very dark very quickly. So I thought it would be safer for people to assume we’re travelling together, rather than me being on my own. My number one rule of solo travel, is to have a hotel ready by 6pm, and entering Macedonia, it was already 6.30. By this point I was aiming for Greece. Sticking with the Tenere was fun, and I’m sure he found it fun too because he kept paying for my toll charges! He was very quick, so I didn’t get a chance to say hi or thank you. But if you ever come across this blog one day, thank you! 

This happened a few times throughout this region, people in cars paying for my toll charges. I’d get to the gate and the guards would say “Gratitude” in broken English, which I assumed meant free as they opened the gates for me smiling. They each handed me receipts to show that someone had already paid for me. But I never knew who paid, so I couldn’t thank anyone. I’m just glad that I probably put a smile on someone’s face, enough for them to pay the toll charges for me. 🙏🏻😊

I finally made it to the Greek border and felt such a relief, I could finally book a hotel. I sat with my first Gyros and scanned Booking.com.

Due to my data not working in any of the previous countries - I couldn’t book anything, and I didn’t want to pay EE the ridiculous fees for internet usage. I found a hotel close to the border, with the hopes of travelling down to Thessaloniki tomorrow to see Mt. Olympus.

Today was absolutely incredible and definitely up there with one of my favourite days. Albania, you will be missed! 

Until next time!

Rides safe,

Waifu x