TET Montenegro
Listen to the linesman ;-)
30th April | 2022
We got up around 8am and whilst we packed our things together, Wesko came already with his famous pancakes - hmmm, lecker! About 10am we finally hit the track of the TET between Medurijecje and Savnik. It started nice with a lovely winding road, with a fantastic view over a gorge and snowy mountains. Like Ivan, the linesman of TET Montenegro said to us, the TET will be closed for another 2 weeks due to snow. So we checked if this part is under 1500m altitude... Due to this, we decided to start TET only there, and not already close to Podgorica.
Later up the mountain, the tarmac turned into offroad, still nice and winding up through hamlets. It even went down to a lovely wide valley with a widespread hamlet. After that, it started to go uphill, over some parts of really gnarly offroad - poor, good old Schimmelchen and Yamaha Super Tenere! Here you would benefit from a lightweight bike! However, Steffi is really happy with the new rear TFX rear suspension; it really paid off the difference here on the gnarly offroad, as well as it did in Albania!
Not only that there were some gnarly parts and it also got some switchbacks, so lots of momentums for Steffi and her fully loaded Schimmelchen! Ah yes, and she would benefit from some extra leg lengths ;-) Turning her bike and one big stone brought the BMW to the ground ... Once back on track, Steffi had to take twice the Joker card as really gnarly. One gnarly bit, she parked Schimmelchen perfectly on a big rock ...
Finally, up to 1500m was a small hamlet where we had a break to take pictures, fill up our water bladders, and share our last 6 biscuits. It was such a lovely spot, so tranquil and with such a beautiful panoramic view! We did another 500m and there was the first obstacle: a snow patch. We checked the line and James tried it, but halfway he got stuck. Once we got the bike back out, we took out the shovel to dig our track through the snowfield.
Both bikes we got through and then we followed the 4x4 tracks on the grass as they went around the other snowfield. And the remaining 2km were a mixture of finding a way around snowfields, James getting Schimmelchen, scouting alternative routes, etc. until we have reached a proper offroad track. James celebrated it with a Raki!
We could see in the distance the houses of Mala Lukavica. Once more scouting a track around a snowfield until we have reached the "main road". Once we had our bikes on the main road, we saw a massive snowfield that was impossible to pass, and another one after that! Nooooooo - please do not tell us we have to turn around! We have seen earlier some hikers, they must come from somewhere! We scouted around for alternatives, but no way to get our bikes around it as everywhere were rocks, and the snow was too much to even use our little shovel! That means turning around!!
We met the hikers and they told us they left their car about 2km away, in the direction of Niksic. Even worth, being so close to a free road!!! But there is no way of getting our bikes through this. It is now 16h00, so we better make our way down, also as the weather forecasts rain for the next days; and we do not want to be stuck up in the mountains in bad weather conditions!
At least we did not need to do the scouting as we had our line, so we should not lose too much time with this. James still had to take Schimmelchen though the really tough bits - sometimes 5cm longer legs could make a difference ;-) Steffi had already a migraine, but knowing the gnarly bit is now going DOWNHILL she got a headache over that! As some of you readers might remember, downhill is not her strongest skill, especially if it is stoney one! However, James only had to take the BMW 2 more times over some gnarly bits! Steffi was super proud of her achievement!
At about 19h00 we were again in the camping field of Wesko ;-) Steffi was doing really bad with her migraine that she crashed into her sleeping bag as soon as the tent was up. James benefits from her part at dinner, the national dish Kacamak, and some red wine and to help the digestion with a good Raki.
As the weather forecast is full of rain for the next few days, we decided to look for accommodation in Niksic until Wednesday. When Steffi was awake later in the night, she booked a little apartment at one of the lakes next to Niksic. We can chill, hopefully, James a haircut, some laundry, maybe Steffi's motorcycle jeans stitched up again ... and some shopping. Also, Steffi wants to visit the famous monastery Ostrog close by...
We hope you enjoyed our "lesson" about listening to the TET linesman, and we hope you will enjoy us in the next few days within Montenegro, even though it will be a bit calmer than today ;-) See you soon...
Places | Cities:
Medurijecje, Mala Lukavica
Driven km | Trip:
Total: 9640 km
Maintenance | Breakdown:
. / .
Health issues:
Steffi with another heavy headache/migraine
Special thanks to:
TET linesman Ivan (FB: Ivan Drobnjak) for warning us ;-) - we should have listened to you!