Britain to Balkans

The big 3 - 0 celebratory trip.

back in January of 2023 I turned 30 and my girlfriend suggested I did a big trip to celebrate this. Having spent the last several months reading and watching others do round the world trips and myself contemplating the realities of doing one, a 3 week trip would be an eye opener of a gran tour around the world.

The conception of this trip started on new years day of 2023 when myself and a friend called Tony were at down having a coffee talking about the year ahead. we'd been on a trip i the past to Ukraine back in 2017 and had often talked about another trip. Out came the map and a route was roughly planned to Istanbul. the word was put out to our friend group and a group of 4 including myself signed up for the trip. it was planned to be 3 weeks to Istanbul and back going through "Yugoslavia".

I have always had a fond interest in Yugoslavian history. i think this stems back from being a child of the 90's and catching news reports about it when my step dad watched the news. as i entered my 20's and discovered backpacking i ventured around the Balkans on 1 to 2 week trips, hopping from city to city and taking in the Balkan countryside through the window of buses.

fast forward a few years when i got into motorcycling i joined the dots and realised i could travel these countries by motorcycle. over the years i did 3 significant trips by motorcycle, Ukraine 2017, Spain 2017 and Romania 2019. The next trip i wanted to do was to Russia, first covid put a stop to this. once that period had blown over i started to learn Russian in anticipation of the dream trip i had in mind. then Feb 2022 arrived and put a stop to those plans. yes, i could probably still go but from a moral point of view i think i will wait till better times.

as 2023 progressed routes were worked out, points of interest pinned on the map and excitement gained. As excitement build, time dwindled away and the deadline of departure loomed for others planned on the trip. with 1 month to go before departure the first person dropped out due to work, followed shortly by another leaving myself and another mate. sensing a sinking ship I jumped ship and reassessed the whole trip and put a stop to it.
a week went by and i felt like i had nothing to look forward to anymore and this big event that i had put a lot fo time and effort into and prepped the bike for had come to an end. after a deep thought i decided to go it alone.

the next decision was what motorcycle to go on. i had a choice of 3, all of which had their pros and cons.
bike 1) 1993 Yamaha XT600 - lightweight, easy to handle but not great on motorways
bike 2) 2001 BMW GS1150 - heavy thing, lack of character but would get the job done
bike 3) 1977 BMW R100/7 - the favourite of the flock, character, can hande motorway and simple to fix

after riding the R100 in the run up to the trip i felt that it was very draining to ride this bike. high virbation from the handle bars, clunky gearbox, stiff brakes and lots of wind. my big dilemma was character vs ease of use.
in the end the BMW GS1150 won the competition mainly due to the 1200 miles from home to Slovenia that i wanted to blitz in 2 days.

all preperations were made and the time had come,;
7pm Thursday 18th May 2023 - Wigan to Dover 300mile