Gwilym's Adventure Blog

On 5th September I entered the Czech Republic and completed my aim to ride a motorcycle to all European Countries. ( I very nearly rode around it so the challenge was not complete as it has been my goal for the last 3 summers and I was worried I would not have a new plan) How the challenge came about?: In late 2016 I decided to ride a motorcycle to all EU countries, this being slightly (but not wholly) motivated by doing it whilst we were still a member of the EU.  This very quickly changed to riding the same bike (which meant I had to re-visit all countries I had already ridden through).  In March 2017 after some extensive research (ie I liked the look of it, it was the big brother of my current bike -Tiger 800. test ride was fun and it was not a BMW GS), I purchased a Triumph Explorer XCa from Total Triumph . I started making plans and then added all the other European Countries as I didn't want to miss them out just because they weren't in the EU. I am so ...

After a 2 hour blast from the hostel in Brussels to the Calais Ferry Port, I didn't even stop, I flashed my passport and rolled straight onto a ferry. 5 mins later after strapping the bike down I was in the club lounge drinking coffee and eating a sausage sandwich. Doing a quick google check I discovered the M20 was closed from Dover so I had to take a longer way round before getting onto the M3 and 303, and it was raining. Good old UK! I spotted a broken down bike and did a quick U turn and went back to see if I could help. He was a Swiss biker riding a BMW GS 1200 (this bit is important) that had run out of fuel. I went off and bought 5 litres of petrol and brought it back to him.  The bike started straight away and when he offered to pay me, I refused his money and made him say "Triumph bikes are needed to rescue broken down BMWs". Very silly I know but it made me laugh and he smiled so all was good. He took my picture and we went our separat...

6.45 on the road and yet again very cold at 6 degrees. After about 50km of Czech roads and another 100km of German countryside, I pulled over, stuck a few extra PSI in my tyes and hit the Autobahns heading for Brussels. After 6.5 hours and 3 fuel and toilet stops, I entered Brussels and rode through the centre and past the EU Commission building on my British bike, however being 4.30pm on a Friday afternoon, no one was there anyway. I met up with Andy (who I met on my last tour) at the hostel and after a quick shower, we headed out into town to get some food and chat about our different journeys. The 2 of us have had some amazing adventures and successfully navigated our way around Europe on two wheels. The Brussels underground system however was somewhat challenging but we managed to get back to the hostel with only one stop in the wrong direction.

A long day today. Leaving the campsite at 06:15 it was so cold, about 7 degrees in fact so  I had evey item of clothing with me on. At 7.27 am I entered Czech Reublic and it was somehow even colder at 6 degrees. I gave up and grabbed a coffee in the nearest petrol station and waited for the sun to warm up a bit. Entering The Czech Republic was the last country on my list (number 36 in fact) of Mainland European Countries and so it was a case of Europe Complete. I will justify my selection of countries in a later blog post. Once I got going again the route I chose seem to contain all the roadworks so it was a little stop start but in between the roads were very good with plenty of interest. Any way, 9 hours of riding in a westerly direction has me here , near the border at my last campsite. I have a hostel in Brussels booked for tomorrow as it will be a long ride to get there.

It was cold in Hungary this morning. Single figures when I got up and in the first hour of the ride it was actually unpleasant. I had both heated seat and grips on full. It started to warm slightly but never the heat of the day before. Once into Slovakia (new country so I earn a sticker). I found some amazing roads and headed for the Tatras (on the Polish border).  The temperature was now mid teens so actually very nice for riding. I spent a few hours on the road that runs along the flank of the Tatras and had a few coffees to admire the view before pushing on west which is the way I must always be heading now. My campsite here has a bolted climbing crag but I have no gear and no one to belay me so will put it on my list for a revisit some time. Yesterdays blog has now had the map and additional pictures added.

What a great day, yet again Romania delivers! A 6:45 start and I was heading up the 7C by 7:30. "I am so great, I have missed all the traffic" thought I as I came round the corner and had to stop for over 10 minutes whilst about a million sheep , a few donkeys, dogs, a couple of horses and 4 farmers wandered down the road. Once I carried on there was a trail of sheep poo for 5km so they must have started early to move them that far. Once past this however, the road was virtually my own. I saw about 4 cars on the way up. I was riding South to North so the classic picture was my descent. It was pretty cold up to at 11 degrees as the sun was only just starting to touch the road in places. Once down the other side it was coffee and croissant and a chat to a group of British bikers. Staying true to my plan, I headed North without using the A1 (woudl have saved 3 hours riding) but used the DN1 which was a pretty good road in itself with fast sweeping be...

Ah Romania, thank you for having some decent roads. A very early start 5:45 from Moldova saw me through the border and into Romania by 7am.  I have to say, I am not impressed with the border back into the EU. All the barriers were up so anyone could drive through un checked, the customs lady really couldn't give a monkeys and was so half hearted at looking in vehicles and she had no interest in checking my bike paperwork. And the Romanian street dogs started chasing me less then 100m from the border gate. Arrrrgh. Within an hour, things started to look up. I saw hills in the distance and the road started to wind its way through them. First the DN11, then the DN73 and finally the DN73C that delivered me to my campsite here at 5.30pm. A long day. It was hot today with temps in the mid thirties so I rode for a few hours then hid in a cafe to cool down. This was repeated 4 times and I arrived in a very sweaty dehydrated mess. got more of the same to look forward to t...

I left Kiev at 6am and yes the roads are as bad as I was told. Huge holes that a bike could disappear into, random grooves that track you off into the verge and truck/car drivers that still want to be doing 90kph. It was stick with them and hold on tight. Glad I have off road setting and comfort suspension. Even so, I spent a fair part of the day standing up.  I got to the Moldovian border at 10:42. This was a much smaller and more relaxed affair than where I entered. Behind my in the queue was a horse and cart! It was also my quickest border with me out the other side by 12.10. However, that my be because they don't do things inside the border!  Once out I had to go  and get some local currency and sort insurance (5 euro) and a road vignette (86 lei about 4.5 euro). Once out the other side,Ii was off to find some food and coffee before heading to my campsite here for the night. Duruita Camping That is where things got better. Not onl...

After a pretty good (if a little weird) breakfast. Cucumber is not a breakfast item! I was on the road at 07:30 heading for the border. After negotiating a main road closure and thick fog, I arrived at the border post at 9:42am and a que was starting to form The Belarussian border is very smart with everyone in uniform and the very large Russian style military hat. However, they were very pleasant and the guy dealing with me said. "Do you have a gun"? I replied "No" Cocaine"? "No" He seemed happy enough with that though took a casual look in my panniers to be sure. I then moved onto the Ukrainian side. What a difference. Still in uniform but mainly camouflage t-shirts and baseball caps. Again very pleasant chap dealt with me, wishing me well on my journey but the system was shambolic. He went down a line of 10 vehicles collecting all the passports and documents. We then waited like lemons and a different guy came and gave them...

An early start this morning got me to the Latvia/Belarus border at 7.28am. It was nearly all going well as only one vehicle ahead of me in the queue and then when they checked my paperwork, they noticed I did not have an MOT certificate (I a impressed they even knew what one was as they said they had about 1 or 2 British people through a month) Anyway, I don't have a certificate because the bike is not old enough. The supervisor came over and disappeard with my documents. At 8.19am I was let out of Latvia. The MOT certificate issue seemed to have gone away. Then is was the Belarussian border. I had to temporarily import my bike (lots of paperwork), have it searched by 2 people, get my visa all stamped up and buy some insurance. Now, it was from a genuine lady, in a booth with the words "Insurance" in many languages above it. But at only 2 euro for 15 days cover I left wondering of what value it really was. At 9.23 I left the border and headed into Belarus...

Left my tent up to dry in the sun this morning and left site at 7.30, a bit later than normal as I had a shorter day. Still over 450km but on fast A roads with good tarmac and even some sweeping bends. About 6 hours in total followed by 4km of dirt roads to get to my campsite here less than 1 hour from the border. The slightly dodgy double hotdog tasted better than it looked but I am not sure I will be looking to have anther one. It was nowhere near as hot today but even so, a quick swim in the lake was required before spending the afternoon planning the next 3 days. The "package holiday" has ended. Since Calais there have been no passport checks, no hard borders, only 2 currencies to deal with and most people I have met in whichever country have had some level of English. Tomorrow the "adventure" starts. Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova. All with real borders and a game of visas, vehicle import and export documents, customs, potential language...