Motorcycle tour of Albania & the Adriatic Coast
3 week tour: 2-23 June 2012
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| Ferry | More local transport |
This is the tour I am most excited about this year. It was the country that really made us feel like we were doing something different. It’s fair to say Albania isn’t high on many people’s list of places to see, but it should be. The country and people are simply amazing, and it is a journey you will always remember. It could be done in 2 weeks, but you’ll go home feeling seriously rushed! So this is the only 3 week tour I am running this year.
Leaving from Dover we will spend 5 days reaching Ancona for the ferry to Greece, stopping for en route in France 2 nights, riding the Route Napoleon to the south coast before our first 2 night break in the most amazing town of San Gimignano in the Tuscany region of Italy. These are long days but worth the mile munching!.
Overnight on the ferry you will wake up to see the stunning Albanian coast line before the boat puts in to Igoumenitsa, and we head north to the Albanian border stopping for 2 nights in Gjirokaster. This gives us the chance to see this wonderful town and visit some local sights like the UNESCO world heritage site at Butrint containing ruins from the Hellenistic period right through to Venetian. Next we head inland along some spectacular if somewhat degraded roads into some of the most spectacular scenery. These two days feel like a serious adventure, on my last visit they even had bike sized holes in one bridge we crossed over a river. We will stay in a small village of Erseke and eat in the best pizza place you will ever go (you’ll never go to pizza hut again!).
Our next stop will be on the shores of Lake Orhit - which is shared with Macedonia. We then head to the coast again for our last night in Albania before heading into Montenegro and a stunning little coastal enclave of Kotor. Then we head inland into Bosina, and have a 2 day stop in Sarajevo-simply the most amazing city (and I hate cities so it must be good) it will remind you what can go wrong with human nature - and what resolve really means.
We then head back for the coast heading north east, stopping along the route 3 times over night, so you can have plenty of stops and enjoy the majestic coastline. Then it’s Slovenia and our final 2 day stop at the lovely town of Bled where you will have more choices of activity than you can wish for (from a horse and cart ride around the lake to paragliding in the Juilen Alps!) Then there is just time to slip one more scenic wonder for you on our next stop in Fussen - the Neuschwanstein castle.
Then it is get north quick time and using the auto ban all day we will stop in Nurburg - not just a petrol heads paradise but a wonderful place to stay. Then we head for Blighty and back on the ferry and the white cliffs of Dover.
20 days of riding, 10 countries visited and smiles all the way!
Prices
£3000 per bike/rider (based on sharing)
£2200 for pillion
What you will need:
You need to have European breakdown and insurance cover, these documents need to be brought with you, insurance for riding in Albania will be got at the border, and most companies will not insure for Montenegro or Bosnia, this can also be bought on the border to cover both countries. Wilderness tours will provide recovery to get your bike back to the EU, if breakdown happens outside of an area you are covered for. I will help everyone at the border to get their paperwork in order and the information sheet provided with the booking form will give you the details of required paperwork and advice for travel on this trip.
£3000pp based on 2 sharing (pillion £2200)
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