A month has passed since the end of the journey. I spent this month settling down, readjusting to France (that is to say enjoying good stinky cheese and wine not comparable to Indian Sula), seeing family and friends. Titine is staying still in the back of my mom’s building – she deserved some rest after this 9 000 km journey through Dubai, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and France. I am now going to order an entirely new top engine from India, find a good mechanic, and register Titine in France as a Vintage Vehicle – yes she is more than 25-years old!

The trip and its preparation in India has been a great experience overall, something I am happy to have accomplished. It started with a dream, and ended even better than expected. Apart from the landscapes we went through, the people from different cultures and habits we have met on the road and in the cities were the highlights of this journey.

While writing this, I remember that someone said: ‘What is important in a journey is not the final destination but what you go through during your trip’. I definitely agree and would add that the success of a journey depends on how you can manage to open yourself to what is surrounding you, to seize the day, the opportunities and misfortunes the way they come. I am not always perfect in adopting that attitude but am trying my best. So yes, the Long Way Back is over but no reason to be sad because there are plenty of other Long Ways to prepare and experience…

Special Thanks to: Master Zendebeu for all your drawings: they have made the blog (and my bike box) more lively and cooler; all the people who followed the blog and wrote commentaries to support us; my parents who didn’t freak out when I told them I was riding back to France through Iran; Iranian people who taught us all over again the notion of hospitality; Natacha who knew how important this journey was for me and never held me back; Mr. Dossa from the Western Indian Automotive Association who nicely delivered us all the needed documents for the bikes to travel; all the mechanics and biker lovers who helped us keep the bikes rolling and alive; all the people on the road who opened their homes and hearts for us. Last but not least, to my friend and riding partner...Adrien: I could not have found a better travelling partner than you. We were the perfect match for this type of adventure and I would do this trip all over again with you without hesitation. I learned a lot from your optimism that never failed even in the worst situations. I wish you the best for your coming adventures in life and cannot wait to ride again with you in some corners of the Earth.

We left Duboka and our new friends Martin and Gunni (see previous post) with a little pinch in the heart after their great welcome and hospitality. We were happy the bike was working again - but for how long? Would it hold to Montpellier? I was indeed quite anxious as the noise made by the valves coupled with the mysterious noise inside the engine was very strong. I couldn’t ride above 60-65 km/h because of it. Our decision was to ride again and ride non-stop to Franceor as far as my engine would let us go… The good thing about these last repairs is that we finally understood more all the previous problems Titine went through – thanks to all the explanations of Gunni the Maestro who has clearly a gift for thinking system wise! The cool thing about the repairs that Gunni undertook was that the bike gained a lot of torque : I finally was going much faster Adrien uphill and this sensation of extra-power that Titine never gave me before was delightful.

It took 4 full days to reach France from Duboka sleeping in the wild and riding during the day. We had one breathtaking wild camping in the mountains of Slovenia 2 kilometers from the Italian border overlooking Trieste and the Adriatic. Despite some oil leaking from the gasket we reached Menton in Southern France the night of the 26^th of July (for the story, we went back to Italy that night not finding any good camping site to sleep in France). On the 27^th, we reached Nice. For Adrien and I it was time to part away after one month and 3 weeks living and travelling together: Adrien had called his grandparents and was expected in Cannesbefore going to spend his holidays in Corsica. I was expected in Marseilles the same evening. The goodbyes took place in a parking lot in Cagnes-sur-Mer. We then both went our separate way full of good memories of the journey and still very excited about what we had achieved and the idea of seeing our families and friends soon!

After a one-night stop in Marseilles at some friends I reached Montpellier - my Final Destination - the 28^th of July. The closer I was getting to Montpellier the more excited I was. I was congratulating Titine, telling her she had to hold only a few kilometres. I was also having flashbacks of all the strong (good and bad) moments of the journey – our Long Way Back. I couldn’t keep repeating to myself: ‘We did it; I can’t believe it…thank you lord!’ My dad was waiting for me on the Esplanade of Montpellier with some flowers and a Champagne bottle for the occasion! He sat on the bike , and since I hadn’t seen him over a year we chatted a lot while drinking the precious Wine which had a taste of victory and satisfaction!

The Long Way Back is Over….

It is grand time to tell you the end of our journey. I have reached France by the end of July as planned but haven’t written anything consistent since our stop in Montenegro, so let’s go back in time a little…

After the 2-day stop in Budva (The ‘French Riviera of Montenegro’) we spent a night in what seemed to be the garden of an abandoned mansion by the unique Fjord of Montenegro. Waking up surrounded by mountains and taking a swim in the warm waters of the Adriatic sea was a nice way to start the day that was going to take us to Dubrovnik in the southern part of Croatia. That riding day went without any problem whatsoever: no caprice of Titine and no disturbance at the border (once in Europethe customs officers didn’t even bother ask for the bike papers and the insurance papers!). I knew Dubrovnik from 4 years earlier and decided to stay for one night there as the city is well restorated and fun to explore (it is a fortress by the sea – one of the jewel of the Adriatic). Thanks to its airport, this city is invaded by many tourists - mainly Brits and Australians. We jumped and back-flipped in crystal-clear water from the 10m-cliffs below the walls of the city and made some nice pics out of it.

We were planning to slowly move towards Sloveniaand Italy enjoying the sea as much as possible but a few kilometres after the Bosnian border, Titine broke down again: hell and damnation! This time the engine gasket was wasted and once again it really felt like it was the end of the trip for me…The bike had stopped by a little village by the sea named Duboka. Looking for a room to stay for the night I came across 2 young couples (Martin and Gunni and their lovely wifes) living in Germany (3 of them are Czechs) and spending regularly their summer vacations in Duboka for the past decade. It happened that Martin is somenone with a big heart and did everything for us to feel at home in Duboka by finding us some lodging, inviting us for dinners and BBQs, etc. As for Gunni – which I call now the Maestro – he was from far the best mechanic we came across in our entire trip. I want to precise that he was not mechanic by profession (he was an electronic engineer building electrical systems on board of private yachts) but by passion. The Maestro, who knew bikes well (especially 2-stroke engine models), spent 4 days working of Titine and right from the start was able to explain to us every details of the engine mechanism and why the engine gasket didn’t hold. One of the many diagnostics was that the previous grinding of the top part of the engine made in Bulgaria was not proper and leaded to the overheating of the combustion chamber and burnt the valves. With a few tools, some beer cans (MacGyver is back!) and a lot of precision work and patience Gunni, Adrien and I worked on the making of a new gasket and reassembled the bike. After 4 days and a few failures in restarting the bike it worked again…A few things were worrying us: the valves were a little damaged but could hold according to Gunni. But most of all there was a noise deep down the engine that was not reassuring and some aluminium in my engine oil. That meant that most probably a part – and we still didn’t figure out which one – was dismantling itself somewhere in the engine.

   

These 4 days in Duboka bring me some of the best memories of the trip : the people we met and spent some time with were again friendly, generous and very helpful. We had great dinners and BBQs, cruising on a tiny motor-boat in the middle of the night between the islands of that part of Croatia. We met also Italians, Frenchs (for Lille) spending their summer vacations in Duboka (because most of them were originally from ex-Yousgoslavia). We learned a lot about the different populations and conflicts of this part of the world…

So, again, THANK YOU MARTIN AND GUNNI for all you did. You are truly good persons!

We are still alive and the bikes as well... Titine broke its engine gasket in south Croatia and it took more than 3 days to repair it thanks to a fisrt class german engineer...I will tell all about it soon...

Titine has been repaired to reach France and then die...it has not given up yet and we visited Venetia for a couple of hours yesterday...

We are after Genes in Italy 150 km before the border with France...I should reach Montpellier in 2 days (we are not taking the main highways and the coastal roads are very slow as we go through every tiny village and cities on the coast).Adrien will probably go to Corsica from Nice or Toulon ...so after almost 2 months of living together it will betime to say goodbye...snifff....

Soon all the stories and pictures of the last 2 weeks...

Allez Titine cest presque la fin, après je ne t'embête plus, promis...

After Velingrad our plan was to reach the Adriatic going through Macedonia and Albania. Reaching the Macedonian border, we decided to take another route (through Greece and then Albania) because the customs officers declared to us that the insurance cost was going to be 50 EUR per bike!!! Too much for less than 24 hours we thought...sniff! Macedonia will be for next time! It took us 3 days (and 3 nights of wild camping) to cross the north of Greece and Albania in order to reach Montenegro...

Albanian mountains are amazing and the people are very friendly... it seems they come from another dimension...a medieval time I would say. Some attitudes and atmospheres reminded me of India. Once by the coast it is different and the magic of it is gone... The only thing that is missing the most in Albania are good roads...and even sometimes roads!! Let me explain : we bought a map of Europe only...so the scale is not precise and you only see main roads on it. There was a white road trace on the map that seemed to go down a valley towards the Adriatic for 100 km...we decided to take this one thinking it would be a lovely ride in the mountains without the inconvenience of the main road...indeed it was lovely but for more than 50 kms there was no road at all...barely a track with bigs stones and potholes - a track similar to the ones you take when you want to hike in the mountains...The Enfileds did a good job (they are almost like trial bikes) and that part was fun (the mountains were only to ourselves!!)....

Cheers

Germain

PS: we are now in a Fjord  (who knew there were Fjords in the Mediterranean sea??) in Montenegro not far from Croatia. We will stay in Dubrovnik tomorrow afternoon having spent 2 days in the Saint Tropez of Montenegro - Budva. Our impressions on the Adriatic coast will be related later on...

Dear all, as told in the previous post we have been going through a few adventures since our stay in Istanbul...who would have guessed that after reaching Europe so many exciting things would have happened to us?

We left quietly Istanbul to enter the lovely country of Bulgaria in which I already stopped for a couple of days in 2004 and had a very good memory of its landscapes and people! The country was cheap, especially beer and greassy food (what can supertramp bikers like us expect more that these 2 basic ingredients leading to immediate full content of our stomachs!?). The cities are lovely (we stopped 2 days in Plovdiv).

On the way to the Macedonian border my bike got big problems. We were in the mountains and had stopped for lunch in the lovely town of Velingrad (filled with spas and resorts) when after the lunch, going uphill my engine shut off completely. We took a cool attitude (we are getting used to the capricious ways of Titine!) and took off the top engine covers to discover that one of the main pieces was broken along with some screws that had badly broken......) arghhhhh.... that was more work forseen than what even a good mechanic would have been able to do! We went back downhill towards Velingrad thinking - I have to admit - that the Long Way Back was going to stop for us in Bulgaria - at least for me. Once downhill and pushing the bike to enter the town, Providence came at the most opportuned moment in the form of a tall and strong man in a car stopping at us and saying in English : 'Oh this is Enfields! I am a biker, and my house is very near; do you want my help?' Of course we don't mind for help but warned him that the problems with the bike was this time everything but minor. He took us to his home where he had set up a neat garage for his bike with all the tools you can dream of when you want to repair your bike. He saw us from his home struggling with the bike and wanted to help! Thanks the Lord for this!!!...His name was Martin, was a biker since 22 years and loved to work on bikes. As a profession he was a massage man in one the many spas in the city. And ALLELUIA, he understood the problem and we removed the cylinder head entirely and took it to some of his friends who had machine tools to make new screws, and repair one of the valves that was burnt (that meant a lot of grinding on the cylinder head - not a little job...). We ate at his home and he found us a room in the city for 2 nights. We worked with him (or rather watched the master) working for hours on the bike...We met his best friend who was an orthodox priest ... and a biker : he had a 1900 cc Yamaha and a 1959 model BMW...After less than 48 hours the bike was repaired and ready to roll! I told you a thousand time Martin and I know it will never be enough ...but THANK YOU! It is more than luck that we found you...I put in on the account of Providence! Moreover we had a fun time in Velingrad visiting Anton's church where he performed a very well sung prayer for us to have a good journey back to France. He also showed us his house and his collection of of guns and riffles (Germans, Russians, Belgiums....). Please find some pictures bellow so you can see all that with your own eyes...it is definitly quite funny....

 

When it was time to leave for us they made us promise to come back to Velingrad and ride with them for a couple of days...but this time not with Enfields - 'this bloody Indian bikes!'

Just a few lines to apologize on the lack of updates on the blog. Parents, friends, we are well and alive... be reassured! There was no time or no internet connection on the way from Istanbul to Montenegro....

We just reached Montenegro this morning through Albania. The journey from Istanbul to here has been quite a trick, full of adventures, camping and bike problems ... but I will tell you all in details (there will be some funny articles...) the next couple of days... The plan now is to find a a little room not far from the Adriatic Sea and recover a couple of days before taking the road towards Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and finally France!

Stay tuned,

Germain

PS (en francais) FIN DU SUSPENSE / eh bien non, ce nest ni moi ni Adrien sur la photo du pont a Istanbul...Nico, tu avais bien deviner (butter chicken quand tu nous tiens!!)... Sabrez donc le champagne et gardez en pour nous.

We reached Istanbul friday evening : the trafic is heavy, fast and almost deadly when you enter the city as our bikes cannot go faster than 70-80 km/hour and the cars and bus are all going above a hundred!

I was so happy to cross the bridge over the Bosphorus I was yelling all alone full of excitment on the bike (I don't remember exactly what I was saying as I was tired because we rode 13 hours that day!)

We have been chilling and partying in this great and vivid megalopole this weekend. We are staying in the touristic area of the city named Sultanamhet where you can find the well known monuments of Saint Sofia and the Blue Mosque - it looks like the Disneyland for backpackers but it is fun...but the real fun in the city is to be found in Taksim with his restaurants and bars...Stamboulites (inhabitants of Istanbul) love going out and partying and Taksim is the place to go and enjoy drinking Raki in bars on the street and partying in clubs on terraces and big apartments...so yes, we went out both the nights and yes I got very drunk - i had a little accident on the way back last night if you know what I mean. I spent one of the worst hangover nights since my high school drınkıng partıes : you know it is one of these times when you say to yourself that you'll never touch a single drop of alcohol in your entire lıfe...well now I am better  and drinking a Turkish beer while I am writing this post.... :)

We will be leaving this superb city (I don't mind working and living here one day...) tomorrow afternoon and cross the border with Bulgaria either in the evening or the next day. The next big stop should be Montenegro after crossing Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania...

Cheers (no more Raki for me!) 'till next time...

Ps: Chris, if you read this artıcle it would be great if you send me the pics of last night...I promise I would vote for Obama if I were american...

Ps 2: (2 months later): Thanks for the pics Chris! It was nice meeting you and I sincerely hope you enjoyed your first time in Turkey and Europe.

Yes, we crossed Turkey and I am writing to you from the European side of the Bosphorus (western sıde of Istanbul). Pretty cool hein?

The crossing of Turkey was done in 6 full days total with a 2 nıght stop in Cappadocia where we finally went - we dont regret the detour. Out of the 5 nıghts spent on the way we dıd wıld campıng as usual and we are startıng to lıke ıt very much : freedom, ındependance (we cook ourselves...somethıng we tended to forget ın Indıa as the food ıs cheap and quıckly delıvered to your home), no one around to bother us and beautıful sunsets.
We camped in the mountaıns at more than 2 000 meters hıgh and the temperature reached almost ZERO ın the mıddle of the nıght - an unforgettable experıence I would say - especıally when Adrıen and I had to get up at 4 am to urınate ın the freezın cold! We crossed our first river with the bikes and both of us almost fell into it!
Finally in Cappadocia we found a small valley with caves and apricot trees (delicious fruits) where apart from us and foxes there was no one around...well not until 6 am when half of a dozen balloons filled with tourists flew right over our head and woke us up yelling 'Hello / Good morning!!!'

Tıtıne of course had some problems - how could ıt be otherwıse - once reachıng Cappadocıa the engıne was not startıng properly and the tımıng was completely wrong. We found a mechanıc who made the necessary arrangements on Tıtıne : the top engıne needed to be opened and some sımple adjustements to be made... that costed us only 10 EUR but then they ınsısted on weldıng the tappet covers of both the bıkes because some oıl was leakıng from them... Result : we waıted for 3 more hours ın the shop and had to pay 60 more EUR...argh! In Indıa thıs type of cover costs around 50 cents of EUR and a small guy ın the street wıll repaır ıt for 10 cents....we are startıng to feel the downsıdes of not beıng ın Indıa anymore ın terms of cheap labor! Tıtıne fınally had some lıttle battery problem 100 km before reachıng Istanbul but ıt  was fıxed ın 10 mınutes refıllıng the battery wıth acıd! All I have to say abou all those lıttle ıncıdents ıt that although they are sometımes tırıng and frustratıng (why does ıt happen only to me and not Adrıen???!!!!) they make the journey more spıcy and fun at the end : well I say that maybe because I am ın a good mood today!

Another thıng that got very expensıve here ıs the petrol : a lıter costs more than 1,80 EUR! I thınk ıt ıs more than the present prıce ın the European countrıes (around 1,50 I heard) but ıt ıs a bıg change wıth Iran...

What has become to our souls and bodies the last couple of days? I am sure that it is a question a few of you have asked yourselves although not in these specific terms... :)

Well my tonsilitis has finally gone away (after 12 days of antibiotics) : the rest in Rasht was welcome and for sure salvatory for my health. We spent 48 hours there and met Hakim - a young man originately from this city that spent 6 years studying and working in Pune (India) and was missing it so much... He was helping his mother and brothers at the trendy Pızzeria they owned in the center of the City...and dreaming of leavıng his country once again... indeed once the virus of living abroad catches you , it is hard to get rid of it!

We then headed to Astara ...the border town with Azerbaidjan on the Caspian Sea. It was with great satisfaction and pride that we reached that side of Iran knowing we were just in the Persıan Gulf 15 days before...The next day we rode to Tabriz - the last big city before the Turkish border.

The 300 km journey between Rasht and Tabriz was very painful as my bike was still not working properly... arghhhh!!! We thought it was due to some dust in the inside of the fuel tank (that was the cause of the choking of my bike between Bander Abbas and Ispahan - that a garagist ın Ispahan had detected and cleaned...), so we cleaned it again in Astara but the choking kept on happening very badly and the bike didn't want to speed up above 30-40 km/h... Adrien - aka McGyver - arranged a substitute tank wıth one of the fuel jerrican we had to isolate the problem...but the choking kept on going and we were not moving really...Stopping ın a village on the way we finally identified the problem : the battery was empty...no more acid/lead solution in it! After recharging and refilling them (both our batteries were dry and empty), Titine was finally back on track... and it is love and passion between me and her since then...until the next adventure/caprice which I hope will not be happening soon! 

We visited Tabriz bazar that was the most typical and charming of the Iranian bazars we had seen, then left on saturday for Bazargan, the border town with Turkey... We crossed the border ın less than 2 and a half hours yesterday (a delight after the endless procedures ın Dubai, Sharjah and Bander Abbas)...

We are now rolling in Turkey...we stopped in Erzerum - 300 km from the border with Iran...
The landscapes (mountains, deserts, forests, seas, etc...) we have crossed since the beginning of the trip have been grandioses, breathtaking and by far one of the most interesting aspects of the bike trip...Everyday the landscapes changed and had something dıfferent...not many pictures were taken as we were constantly riding and pictures of landscapes often don't relate/translate well the immensity and deepness of the landscapes...

As for now we are plannıng on riding 4 days straight to reach Istanbul on Thursday as Cappadoce ıs fınally quıte a big detour and we still want to keep so time for us to visit Bulgaria and the Balkans before reaching France at the end of July...
So next stop: Istanbul and its wild nights !! (we haven't drinked a single drop of Alcohol for the past 3 weeks...so it will soon be time to replenish! lol!).