Balkanistanien

In Resna north of Cetinje there are just 3 houses at the junction. I find 7 people drinking beer. I ask for coffee, get a tasty Turkish one and don't have to pay. Even though I resist to marry the bar's owner.

The next 20 km through the mountains lead on a curvy, narrow, well-paved road without any traffic at all! 100 m up, 50 down, 50 m up, 75 down and so on. From here I see many bush fires. Some traces lead to glass and tin rubbish in the roadside ditch even tough it is not much littered. Seems that locals removed most of it. I meet some of them equipped with self-made water-based extinguishers walking into the woods.

All villages seem to be empty of people. Many abandoned houses. In one village a pack of dogs attacks me. Two or three grab both of my rear bags, pull back and slow me down while the others dance around me who is trying to get away. Dogs run faster then you can accelerate. Apparently nothing happens as I make it into the district of another rivaling dog which does not take interest in me but rather prefers to chase the others away. Good boy. I power-nap on a deserted soccer pitch.

Before reaching Grahovo I decide to take a shortcut northwards on OpenStreetMap which is not in my paper map. Holy banana, what a steep ride! It gets me up on 1100 m where the track's pavement changes to deep and loose gravel. Many times I have to push the bike up the hills because I just don't get any grip. This region is really wild!!

Before the top of a hill a gigantic and pretty aggressive Shepard's dog darts at me. A second later a guy appears and calms it down with one command. He invites me for a drink. It's around 7 p.m. already. He has a beautiful home, clean, modern, colourful. Flat TV, washing machine, high-tech stove. Not comparable to anything else up here! Flowers and kittens in the garden. I sit down with my juice. He sits down in front of me. After a short small talk he claps my knees, graps between my legs and tells me that he'd like to suck my weenie while he makes a sucking gesture whith his thumb. Aha? What is going on here? I throw Polish and Russian complaints at him in order to make him understand that I am the wrong person for his appetite. There is this huge dog. And there are rifles on the wall. And his brother with whom he is allegedly living together might return soon. I decide to better quickly leave that place. He insists in showing me the path over the hill and accompanies me with this dog. I say goodbye and push the bike upwards as fast as I can. Puh.

Two hills further a copy of this very dog awaits me but the now appearing guy does not manage well to control it. "Never look into the dog's eyes" keeps my problem at distance. The map is wrong here and the old guy tells me to take a different path. Hmm, ok. I continue. 20 m up, 30 down, 50 up. Holy shit. Already now my GPS reveals approx. 1900 m of climbed altitude difference for today. My power is gone as dusk approaches.

Another two hills further I meet two young kids playing with a baby dog not as evil-looking as the previous ones. Their grandma appears, gives me traditional coffee, feeds me well with home-made bread, home-made bacon, home-made air-dried sheep ham - freshly cut from the poor wooly fellow's hind leg - and with home-made cow's cheese. And I get fresh lemonade. Do I need any more reasons to stay over night?Read more