Day 3 of 7
Francisco’s eye, a Gas Gas in free flight, and Senjin’s first beer of the trip. All of it.
Briefing at 09:00. Today is Treskavica and Zelengora – the pearls of the whole tour, the two places I always look forward to most when I’m planning the route. The group feels it. There’s a particular kind of relaxed confidence in the morning air, the kind that comes after two hard days have sorted everyone out and the ones who are still here know they belong here. Sandwiches go in the bags again. We’re not coming down for lunch.
We enter the dense forest on the way to Ljuta. I’m leading, moving well, and after a few minutes I notice there’s no one behind me. I wait ten minutes. Then Michel rides up — not with the group. To get me. Something has happened back at the forest entrance.
Fear of the moment!
A stone kicked up by the rider ahead struck him directly in the visor. He wasn’t wearing protective eyewear underneath. The eye was visibly injured. We called an ophthalmologist in France immediately! He recommendad urgent transport. I drove to Sarajevo to collect anti-inflammatory medication and infection prevention drops, and Francisco was taken to a specialist in the city as a passenger on David’s bike, with the V-Strom towed behind. Air travel was not recommended until the swelling could be assessed. He was in good hands.
The tour continued.
This is worth saying plainly for anyone reading before joining a tour: always wear protective eyewear under your helmet on trail. Goggles or glasses. Every ride. A stone doesn’t give you time to react.
The group was quiet after Francisco left. David, as group leader, suggested we all return to Sarajevo. It was the right instinct and the wrong call — Francisco was being taken care of, the route ahead was the best of the week, and sitting in a guesthouse wasn’t going to help anyone. We talked it through. David escorts Francisco. The rest of us ride to Zelengora. Reunite at Tjentište.
And then the mountain took over.
Treskavica is one of those trails that doesn’t let you think about anything else. Which, on a day like this one, is exactly what the group needed.
Michel is on the Kove 450 Rally — a Chinese rally bike that has been quietly rewriting expectations at enduro events worldwide, and as of this morning, has rewritten a few of mine too. 450cc, light as a rumour, fast and precise in a way that makes you feel slightly embarrassed about your weight on the Africa Twin. We chase each other through Treskavica. I am not always winning this chase.
We stop in Kalinovik to fill up. This is not a suggestion. The next fuel stop is nearly 100 kilometres away. Anyone who skips this stop is calling someone who will not be sympathetic.
Zelengora receives us fully. The peaks are serious, the sky wide open, and Orlovačko jezero sits above the canyon like it was placed there to make riders stop and reconsider what they thought a mountain was. We climb the steep rise above it. Some keep going – steeper, further. Michel comes off on the soft grass and lands well. He’s laughing before the Kove stops moving.
After the lake break we continue past the Neretva spring junction toward Čemerno. The dust road is long and fast and I am enjoying it more than I should be. I turn to check on the group behind me — a reflex, something a guide does without thinking. When I look forward again, the Africa Twin’s front wheel is already off the trail edge. We go over together, the bike and I, into the ditch beside the path.
The Africa Twin weighs 238 kilograms. I know this because I felt all of them on the way down. Everything is fine. My pride is fine too, mostly.
We arrive at Tjentište as the light softens. I offer a bonus track: Maglić, 2386 metres, the highest point in Bosnia and Herzegovina, right on the border with Montenegro. Michel and Patrice say yes without pausing. The others find their rooms. The climb to the plateau above Perućica — the largest primeval forest in Europe — delivers one of the most extraordinary views I know. The Montenegrin peaks stand opposite Maglić like they’ve been there specifically to be looked at. We stay until almost dark.
David arrives from Sarajevo as we’re getting back. Francisco is settled, the eye will recover fully, but he won’t ride again this trip — further trauma is too much of a risk. The right call. David, who has missed the best day on trail so far, sits down, accepts a beer, and says nothing for a while. Tomorrow we ride Zelengora again. For him.
“The people who say yes to the bonus track never regret it. This has been true every single time.”
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