Using adventure cards to explore Montenegro. 2026.
Film in production.
We used a combination of the Trans Euro Trail (shown - more here), Quest Montenegro (more here) and routes shared by Montecoast Biking (more here).
12 photos…
How do you make sure everyone gets what they want out of an adventure trip?
It's no easy feat. One person may take the lead, maybe they like organising or chose where to go, and others are happy to follow and leave the decision making to others.
Finding riding partners who are all on the same page at the same time is hard. I would be so bold as to say it's almost impossible. Inevitably someone on that trip is going to be outside of their comfort zone, or slowed down, or not being pushed enough, or missing out on experiences because someone else is up front making decisions.
That's the nature of group versus solo trips, when there's more than one in the mix you gain company, safety, companionship... and compromise.
In Montenegro, Jim and I decided to try an experiment to see if we could level the playing field a little.
On day one, back at base before a wheel had been rolled, we sat down with a deck of playing cards and two marker pens.
We would make a list of the things we wanted to do, see, feel, experience over the next 7 days.
Partly a 'To-Do' list, and partly a tool to help us communicate our own personal wants.
This simple exercise created the backbone of an unforgettable short journey into some of the wildest landscapes you can ride in Europe.
Heading north into the mountains from the village Korita near the Montenegro / Serbia border. The trail took us past a small cluster of stone built huts.
The roofs looked to have been made out of repurposed oil drums. There was no one around but the huts and stone walls were well maintained and looked like they had been used regularly. Perhaps for sheltering livestock over the hard mountain winter.
We had been warned that the route may not be passable, and it didn't take long for us to start to find pockets of snow covering the trail.
In late afternoon, after struggling through snow, and without knowing what the descent would be like on the other side we decided to turn around and head back down to find camp. At just shy of 2000 meters this was the highest road we would ride on the trip.
Jim follows other riders tracks thorough a section of snow at about 1800m on the trail north of Korita. 2026 had seen record snowfall in the Balkan region and even in late may some mountain passes were still a challenge or impossible to ride through. On small 250cc bikes with two riders its possible to drag and push through several inches of snow, but solo on a larger bike would have been a real challenge.
Jim takes a moment to enjoy the scale of the mountain backdrop. The peaks in Durmitor National Park reach almost 2500m and snow is guaranteed in springtime. A well maintained road cuts through the mountains and is popular with big adventure bikes and drivers, many looking for that experience of travelling through a snow cleared cut in the road. On our smaller adventure bikes we explored off the tarmac down twisty gravel tracks until snow stopped our path.
The track north of Korita gave us our first taste of the wild, big sky landscape that was to come. Pine forests dominate this north eastern region of Montenegro, until you reach elevation that's above the tree line.
Jim had ridden / walked ahead to see if he could find a way through while I got to turn around and enjoy the view from the other direction. It felt wild and lonely.
Montenegro is home to the mountain hut. Simple A frame structures that tell the story of harsh winters. We met a local who was living in one of the smaller huts you see in the distance. I imagine the changing season into spring is a time to be grateful and enjoy the land as it comes alive for the year.
We were fortunate to be in the mountains as the wildflower was in full bloom.
Parts of the Katun Road felt like riding through Mongolia. Vast open plains with a track connecting shepherd huts. To ride across this region on tarmac roads involves huge loops that add many miles These direct, dirt gravel roads are hardy to traverse but offer a much more direct route around this landscape.
We followed some of the trails of Montenegro Quest, an off road orienteering event that takes riders to some of the most remote parts of the county in search of hidden checkpoints. Jim disappears into the distance past what may have been an old grain store?
The scale of the landscape is hard to comprehend, yet just when you feel that you are in the middle of nowhere signs of civilisation pop up over the crest of a hill. What was this mountain hut for, and does anyone still use it?
Riding the road loop around the Durmitor national park puts you into more mountainous landscapes. You can't see so far but the mountains add drama.
We joined the Trans Euro Trail heading south at the point where it intersects with the Durmitor loop. The trail was wide and flowing as we descended leaving the high mountains behind us.
The TET route south from Savnik follows access roads to huge windfarms that run to the horizon.
Our final trails took us through wild flower meadows that felt like Switzerland. The Sound of Music but on motorbikes!
We didn't have to wait long to achieve this 'sleep wild' card. At the end of our first days riding north of Korita we had to turn back due to snow, so opted to wild camp in the tree line. We pulled off the trail and along a small valley. We had hammocks and no tents and finding suitable trees to hang off proved a challenge.
Jim ponders the effectiveness of his hammock rigging onto young, bendy pine trees. Will it hold?
Our Modern Ranger Hammocks were equipped with insulated underlayer, making for a surprisingly comfortable sleep experience. Unfortunately we were sleeping in 'bear country' so on this first night sleep was in short supply.
It was not an ideal hammock location, but we made it through the night, just!
We hammock camped almost every night of the trip, but this first night was the most wild. The view and solitude in the morning was worth the sub 2 hour sleep.
The Disappearing Canyon.
North of Savnik.
After a long, hot days riding in the central northern region, taking in the Durmitor National Park, and then the Trans Euro Trail, we pulled in to a small picnic area to regroup and escape the heat. What started as a short rest turned into a while evening of making new friends with a Swiss family and some fellow motorcyclists.
The Swiss family had a wonderfully adventurous attitude to parenthood. They had traded in their working farm for life on the road, living out of a small camper van with their two kids.
Suitable hammock trees were in short supply so Jim and I made the most of a small picnic shelter, rigging up a 'hammock bunkbed' system and crossing our fingers that the joiners had done a decent job of the shelter.
Everything was still standing the next morning! Even on a cold clear night our insulated Modern Ranger hammocks performed as we had expected, a warm and toasty night with the added bonus of other campers to relax the 'was that a bear I just heard' nerves.
Etno Selo Torine.
East of Niksik.
Our last night in a hammock supplied us with the most beautiful sunset. We had ridden the TET trail south from Durmitor, across Alpine meadows and happened across a restaurant / resort that was getting ready to open for the season. The Serb owner greeted us with a beer, and despite not being open allowed us to take our pick of trees to hang our hammocks from. Proper, non-bendy, made for hammock trees! We cooked on Jim's pack-away firebox, got out the adventure cards we had written at the start of the week and reflected on how Montenegro had absolutely delivered on our expectations.
This river somewhere on the way to Matesevo would have been the perfect spot for a wild swim, however we pushed on. Back home in the UK there would have been a car park, ice cream van and hordes of tourists lining the banks, but here in Montenegro it was just another bridge over another stunning gorge. No fanfare, not even a sign.
We did manage a wild swim while camping at The Disappearing Canyon, we just didn’t take any photos on the good camera!
The Tara Bridge Gorge.
East of Pacoba.
The Tara River Gorge is one of the deepest in Europe. It's also become one of the few tourist attractions we encountered on the trip. The biggest, shortest, deepest, highest anything makes it into the 'must see' guidebooks, and visitors really did come and take a look. For a half mile radius we were in a 'nature Disneyland', with tourist tat, cafes, pay-for-loos and this huge zip line competing for our Euros. True to my adventure card, I paid to take a ride on the zip line. It made me realise how special our little Honda CRF 250L motorcycles are. We'd experienced far grander nature on our self guided ride.
A cemetery.
Approaching Matesevo.
A little street photography.
Niksik.
With the bulk of our 'off road' adventure done, we decided to head back to base via the coast. This required a detour through Niksic, an industrial town well away from the tourist trail. Having spent a week in the most remote, wild and magical landscapes you can imagine, riding into the heart of an industrial town was a shock to the system. It did not feel like this community fed itself on tourism, but probably on hard manual graft in the surrounding factories. That said, once we settled in we were able to observe this hard working community going about their business. It felt authentic and private. For them, not for us.
A-frame cabins & roofs.
Everywhere.
If you were going to describe the mountain architecture in Montenegro you would only need one (hyphenated) word. A-Frame. We encountered this simple, sturdy, structure in every village and hamlet we rode through. From homes, to guest houses, to camping pods to kennels!
This was Jim's adventure card, and we got close. Whilst riding through the village of Korita Jim grabbed my attention on the helmet intercom. Just to our right was a field of what looked like wild horses grazing. We hopped off the bikes and went to investigate. A young woman, maybe still a teenager, was right in the middle of them. We used our translate app to attempt a broken conversation with her in Serbian (the apps don't translate Montegrin) and discovered that they were indeed wild.
Pre-trip internet research had highlighted that the local drink in Montenegro is Rakija, a fruit based liquor that blows your socks off. Our on the ground real world research confirmed this, as well as the willingness of locals to share the drink with travellers, whether they are in charge of a motor vehicle or not!
We passed a sign to the Mateveso Guesthouse that included the phrase 'biker friendly' at about 5pm. By 7pm Jim and I were being served a meal that would comfortably feed my family of 4 twice over! To our shame we hardly made a dent.
I think this 'adventure card' was really in anticipation of being able to barter our way through interactions with the locals, where cash would not have been appropriate. I even bought a pack of Marlborough Red's just for the potential occasion! In reality it was harder than we thought, where help was offered we were not able to offer anything meaningful in return.
As we stopped on this picturesque track near Kolasin I noticed a guy on on the hill waving to us. It looked like he was waving us over so we rode up to what turned out to be his almost open cafe and sleeping huts.
Jim tries to use the iPhone translate app to start a conversation with our host. Unfortunately we couldn't get it to work so had to rely on hand gestures. At first he offered us the local spirit, to which we protested "we are riding motorcycles". With a look of understanding he then poured us two large glasses of local beer! We tried to pay but he was having none of it. In the end we traded a polaroid photo to go behind his new bar.
Cooking on an open fire. The most authentic, natural activity while exploring the mountains. But not without its controversies. Whilst we were not travelling in the height of summer, we were also aware of the risks open fires present to valuable farmland. Not wanting to start an international incident, without local permission, we opted to use Jim's small, packable Firebox with sensible precautions (perched on rocks and a bottle of water handy).
The Firebox is feb by small dry twigs and branches and is easy to cook a pot on.
The bonus being that one the cooking is over it's easy to turn the Firebox into a manageable campfire to stare into and reflect on the wonderful adventure we had just had.
All the cards we didn’t get…
