Monday
24th July
The final northern section of the
Montenegro TET was a fitting end to the whole thing.
From where you join the tarmac after the Savnic
section, it winds through an upland pasture area rich with farms and views. It’s
mostly tarmac, but what a road... Perfect for any bike, it winds through some
fabulous scenery on the edge of the Dermitor National Park, with huge folded
layers of limestone rising up to jagged peaks which dominate the skyline, the
rolling upland farmland laid out below. The TET leaves the tarmac on a left
turn across the fields on a vague track, it then winds through the farmland to
rejoin the tarmac for another 5km.
Once the tarmac ends again, the trail is
ace, through some gentle forest, open pasture and along the edge of the
plateau, giving great views of both the lake below and the panoramic peaks
across the valley. After the small cluster of houses that could have been a
village, the track becomes very vague for a short time, it’s rough, loose and
ace fun. We got waves, whoops and shouts of ‘hey ya’ from a couple fo the guys
cutting hay which just added to the ambience of the place.
The end comes as you drop back to tarmac,
which then winds down to the Bosnian border. For us, we turned around to
retrace our steps, with a little detour on some other tracks to get more views.
Once back at the van, we packed up, had
lunch, then drove back to Podgoric to get the van sorted again as the ‘fix’ had
bent again. A great little Mercedes garage in a back street had got the correct
part and fitted it for 10 euros, so we were back on the road again.
We found a new KTM shop in Podgoric too, it
was actually closed though so we headed back to Magnus Moto to get a rear tyre
for Lucy, then to a cafe to make plans. After much deliberation we have decided
to go back to Serbia, ride the western sections of the that part of the TET,
then head into Croatia to ride that bit! After that who knows...
Montenegro = Fabulous place, great riding.
Ivan the TET Linesman for here is a lovely helpful guy as are all the
Montenegrans we’ve met.
Useful Info;
- Fuel is available in all the towns, but not on many of the main roads in between
- Cash is Euros - but it's not in Europe I now gather!
- Green Card is needed for vehicles
- Terrain is rough stone on all the trails, make sure you have tools to re-tighten all your bolts on your bikes regularly.
- Water sources can be wells or sources, (Izvor) but the sources aren't as available here as in other countries, so fill up when you see one.
- It can rain a lot in the afternoons with thunder & lightning storms, watch the clouds or get very wet!
- You can camp almost anywhere.
- Fires in the hillsides are a really big issue here.
- Podgoric is the best place for spares/tyres etc but not guaranteed - Magnus Moto are very good, Ivan very good.
- Driving standards are a step up from Albania/Romania but they still like to overtake on blind bends and drive up your arse all the time!
We will be back at some point, meanwhile it's Serbia time!
