Come regalo anticipato di Natale mi sono concesso una immersione nelle tracce negli appunti e nei ricordi della “edizione zero” del BalkansTT di questa estate -sperimentale, folle, intensissima, davvero balcanica!-; oddio sembrano già passati millemila anni, è proprio tempo di manovrare per tornarci! 🙂

Era dal momento dello sbarco a Bari, con tutta l’Italia da risalire, il morale alle stelle e ogni muscolo dolorante per le tante ore di guida in piedi, che mi chiedevo come dipanare quella ricchissima matassa di carraie, carrarecce, mulattiere che si aggroviglia fra Trieste e Tirana, ed apparecchiarla per renderla perfettamente godibile con le nostre endurone.

All’opposto dell’Italia -dove gridiamo al miracolo quando riusciamo a viaggiare per 10 consecutive minutes in offroad- here in the Balkans, the problem is to manage an extraordinary abundance of gravel roads; and even if they are all low or medium difficulty, having indigestion during the first two or three days you're so cooked that barely can get out of the parking lot of the hotel!

After many headaches and some maps torn in a fit of frustration, applying the golden rule “If you are unsure please open” finally came the inspiration for a solution as simple as it is ingenious: the BalkansTT 2017 will double, with a version “soft” for those who want to enjoy some glimpse of the most spectacular routes on asphalt and offroad punctuated by-why not?!- by sunning on the beach or in the restaurant, and a version “hard” for those who have a fucking want to stay in the saddle and eat dust from morning to night!

What do you say?!

For “soft” meeting in Trieste on Saturday 24 June with a stop in the evening in Istria, then cut the Croatia from the sea to the mountains with some long stretch on gravel roads are wide and extraordinarily scenic Plitvice Park; then we get a nice diagonalone that we will cross the entire Bosnian hinterland with a nice alternation of blacktop and trails through woods and hills up to fabulous Mostar Bridge.

From here back to the beautiful Dalmatian coast with essential stop in Dubrovnik, and then South to embroider the enchanting Bay of Kotor; still we're turning inward and the fabulous parks of Montenegro, del Kosovo e della Valbona in Albania, arriving in Tirana the following Saturday 1 July.

Here the link to the event “BalkansTT soft edition” on FB.

The version “hard” will start instead on Sunday morning 2 July from Tirana, and takes off for the desire of dirt road with a stop of more than one hundred kilometres off nice tough up to Kukes. Then a couple of days of total immersion in nature in the sublime mountains of Kosovo and Montenegro up to the Valley of the Tara and the alleys of Sarajevo, legendary capital of Bosnia. For the next day's stage reserve a place of honor in the album of your travel memories: We will climb the Trebevic and from here we will go down to about 2000 meters above sea level in the “Throat of death” until you cross the Neretva, then an equal vertical drop everything to switchbacks carved into the rock; After a stop at the ancient mysterious stone sarcophagi landed exhausted at the foot of the fabulous Mostar Bridge – Uauuuuuu! From here it will seem all “downhill”, a long ride through the Highlands semi deserts until the Park Plitvice Lakes and then to wide roads with the horizon already the blue sea.

Here the link to the event “BalkansTT hard edition” on FB.

A short-freshly our WebMaster will be returned from Thailand!- the site dedicated BalkansTT.org you will find all the info in detail, in the meantime, please refer to dedicated page on Facebook and then I always gladly available to make a nice chat via the usual contacts.

Meanwhile best wishes of Sretan Bozic the sretna nova godina / Familja Krishtlindjet dhe Vitin e Ri!