On their latest adventure Laura and Micha try gravel for the first time through some of Europe’s most underrated cycling routes in the Balkans – 600km, four countries, endless climbs and descents.
Cycling across Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, and Bosnia & Herzegovina, climbing 7,700m along the way, they face steep mountain passes, remote gravel roads, and the chaos and beauty of the Balkans region. This film captures the physical and emotional highs and lows of life on the road—from pure joy, to burnout, to learning to trust a voice that isn’t always reliable.
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0:00 Good morning Albania
0:38 Micha & Laura
1:25 Packing and flying to Croatia
2:15 Misaligned expectations
4:23 Crossing from Croatia to Montenegro
4:49 Montenegro is hilly
5:42 Climbing out of Kotor
7:20 Cetinje lols
8:08 Series of unfortunate events
9:15 Crossing from Montenegro into Albania
11:19 Albania intro
11:58 Into the mountains of Northern Albania
13:38 A change of plan
14:55 Face real fear
15:50 A budding friendship
17:40 Crossing back into Montenegro
18:54 A hot day
19:41 Reflections on creating
20:44 Border lols
21:14 Good evening Dubrovnik
#gravelbikepacking #bikepacking #balkans #bikepackingbalkans #balkanstravel #cyclingcroatia #cyclingmontenegro #cyclingalbania #gravelcycling #adventurecycling #biketouringEurope #cyclingdocumentary #traveldocumentary #balkangravelroute #shkodermontenegrocycling #dubrovniktomontenegro #cyclingadventurefilm #lauracycling #femalebikepacking #creativeburnout #lifeofacreator #europegravelroutes
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Good morning, Albania. Breathe in, breathe out. It’s going to be another delightful day in the city. My morning affirmation declared like clockwork, blind to the events of the past, present, and future. I guess one doesn’t wake up living an unconventional life, but somehow I did wake up in the middle of the Balkans, realizing there was only one voice that had got me there. And recently that voice has started to become a little bit less reliable. So I’d like to introduce you to the two main characters for this trip. Mikunix, a German medic who is brutally honest. That’s probably I hate Laura. I want to be with my friends. And Gravel, scared of him, mate. Then there’s me, Laura Kpatrick. Best friends with the camera. can usually be found anywhere but the UK and seems to love climbing. And in order for the adventure to be successful, there had to be some basic ground rules for this trip. There were three. One, maximize time on gravel, a terrain rather unfamiliar to two road cyclists. I’ve had a few mental breakdowns. Two, therefore, minimize speed. And since I plan to monetize this video and write off the expenses, this is technically a business trip. Rule number three, don’t the company. I say we come back to the start. Yeah. And the tiles are all going to be flat. Not quite to get like a proper syringe. But and so we were back 6 weeks after Mika and I had met for the first time in Calala and a month after we had cycled across France together in 8 days. Back for a different type of adventure to a land I traveled inspired by a trio who had done this very route before. I came to Mika’s home in DoddFor. We built our bikes which had been shipped from Berlin. We packed everything up and we flew south to Croatia. In true Mika style, he’d found a very kind person online who picked us up at the airport, stole our bike boxes for the trip. So much space. iPod life. I told you I’m not even taking my dress. He got my yellow trousers and my boy shorts. I’m going to look pretty. Okay, he sorted out my bag. Then we were back on the road. Back in that feeling of late summer nights. Back in that feeling of free will. and back to a slight misunderstanding of expectations for the trip. Why did you just do that? I can’t hear you though. I’m already walking. I hope it’s not all going to be like this. Criy me. First climb of the trip. 212 m in 3 km. Right. Then it’s like France all over again. Dying. M just cruising away. I think it three and a half kilome. No, that that’s that’s insane. I just know I’m being deadly serious. That’s not realistic. You do that on your own. I’m here for holiday. I’m not here to suffer. Look at that. So good to just sit there read a book is what I want to do. Yeah. You came on cycling holiday, right? I think we go there. Restaurant Lana. Hi. Hi. Day one. Completed it. What’s that? Digestion style. He’s back. Hey, Queen. Good evening. Um, we have just arrived at our accommodation. Um, oh my god, the lady that we were staying with was soy about bringing our bikes in, but we made it. It’s so nice to finally be here. So excited to do some cycling. Um, thank you so much for your psychiatry advice. Um, yeah, I think partly tired, but also just like realize that I just function so well when I’m on my own and then like having someone else around all the time just like yeah, makes me maybe get in my head a bit more than I normally would. Um, and hopefully something that can be a positive thing rather than just like making me anxious and stressing me out. Um, so yeah. But yeah, let me know how you are. Lots of love and chat soon. Bye. Good morning. Straight out the Airbnb, straight into a 230 m ascent. Excellent. What a great day to be alive. L already off route. The route tried to take us down some very nasty graveling the border. On our first official day, we crossed the border from Croatia into Montenegro, a country of just 600,000 people about the size of Northern Ireland, tucked between five neighbors and the blue edge of the Adriatic Sea. I first came here 3 years ago with my backpack and a bit of free will, knowing that one day I’d be back. Although admittedly a bike wasn’t quite in my imagination because Montenegro is quite literally translated to black mountain. It’s a place where the steep cliffs fall into the sea and the roads are carved into their faces. And we’re leaving the heritage town. It’s close to 7 hours. We’re probably for 65k. 7 hours. Mhm. Considering my steps and not yours. We booked anywhere. You should do that after the first climb to see if you’re capable of getting there. means climbing over the very mountain that gave the country its name. Welcome to the Balkans. Except the first route we tried didn’t exactly go to plan. Right. Here we go. I actually No. Yeah. No. Never have I ever had to walk a climb. That’s a walking path. I check. That was quite fun to ride actually. Yeah, I was just scared about falling. My wrist. We aborted the route. Now we’re freestyling. Oh yeah. Well, we have found a climb. Traffic in the mountains. It seemed that half of Montenegro was also trying to get over Mount Love. I’d hate to be the emergency services response time around here. National Park. Who this? No idea how long this climb is. This one is 1,000 m. Oh, great. Yeah. Honestly though, this climb was stunning. The section to get to the base of it was what killed me off was gradients consistently clocking over 20%, obviously carrying all of our stuff and in hindsight rather underfueled. We’ve done 1500 m of climbing in 45k. I need some harbor balls, man. I don’t think I’m going to get murdered. Then we descended into city, the former royal capital of Montenegro without accommodation and in need of some scratch. Got Wi-Fi. It’s got everything we need. €35. Probably has bed bugs, too. But hey, we already got a message. It says the keys in the door. So, welcome to the Balkans. And now some food. Some food. What would be your dream meal right now? chapi. I want to have some chapi. Yeah, that beef thing which I generalized for the whole balance area. It probably isn’t a food and thing here, but actually food looks so good. I’m willing to spend lots of money here. The key is in the door. Oh, perfect couch for you. All right, I’m the one who tells you what to do. and and therefore you’re the ones going to stay on the couch. Move your bike in there a little bit. See work. So, as we woke up for the day that we were supposed to cross into Albania, you want to make it seem like you’re hurting. Yeah. We seem to be hit with a series of unfortunate events. My ears really hurt. Your ears blocked. Mhm. Feels like I’m swimming. We’re not by the sea anymore. And the weather is so beautiful. Happy Thursday. Just starting the climb. 10 km. Are you okay? Not okay. Hopefully not the wrong w. Oh god. My wrist just getting to give it a minute and No. We don’t like comments. No. No. Yeah. To stop filming, I think. Do you know how long the tunnel is? The tunnel ended up being 2k of uneven surface gravel and pitch black. I think that’s the thing about cycling that if you’re willing to suffer, willing to climb the mountains other people don’t in the middle of nowhere through difficult terrain and tunnels, you’re able to see the world in a way that no one else gets to see it. Slight headwind. This was the first day that our gravel bikes really came to use. These beautiful winding paths through the mountains. We stopped in a small town for lunch. I say lunch, it was 3 p.m. Um, which if you have watched the video from France, that might give you some slight foreshadowing in what is to come for the rest of this day. A little Phantom would be lovely. That was quite scary. I didn’t really like that. The fun. Here’s the thing. Like, I love riding my bike. As soon as I start to feel unsafe on my bike or like don’t trust the ground, like that’s what it gets annoying. Got like 45ks to go. But I think it’s pretty flat. So yeah, this is the thing about like the steep climbs. It’s steep climbs as steep descents and both aren’t pleasant. Hey, legend. Good evening. Um, coming at you live from Albania. We’re in Scoda. I’m just doing for you because you don’t do it yourself. Oh my god, today was hard. Um, we had this most like beautiful sunset as we came over the border of Tbania. It’s a slightly work in progress roads. Um yeah, I’m feeling a bit better today. Um I’m still quite dissociated. Like I don’t know. I feel like I’m just like lacking welcome to Albania like confidence in myself at the moment which doesn’t really feel like me. And yeah, I guess I’m just scared that like I need to be like doing all these like insane like empowering things all on my own in order to have some sort of like positive self-t talk and like momentum. But I don’t know if I’m just making that up and that’s just like a thought that’s not true. First time in the elevator. We just didn’t have to. Yeah. Floor. Welcome to our home. Actually, such a good accommodation. Yeah, it is. Good morning, Albania. Breathe in, breathe out. It’s going to be another delightful day in the city. in the sky. When I think of Albania, I think of movement, of chaos, of color, and of kindness. Of the turquoise waters that stretch northern mountains, of guest houses and home stays. Albania is growing. It’s changing. But it still holds a really raw edge. And that is especially true when you head up into the mountains. Good morning sports fans. Today we are leaving Scoda and we’re heading for the mountains. Bit concerned about what today holds. It’s hot, it’s steep, and there’s a lot of gravel. Oh, I hate being a woman. What a great day to be alive. At least I’m light up for the climb. You know what? Normally it takes about two years of relationship for um someone to see me But that’s fine. We’re uh maybe we’re on seventh base already. I don’t know. This is gravel apparently. Why did I think it would just be like smooth? You remember when I told you it’s under 50k? Yeah. Was 47. Yeah. You know how long the gravity bit’s going to be today? 40k. 47. Ah, 47. Great. Perfect. That descent. It’s gra. We need to keep going because otherwise it’s going to take us a little bit too long. And if the almost unridable gravel wasn’t enough of a problem. There was only one road through the mountains and it seemed to have a problem. Apparently, part of the street up there has gone. How are the sensations? Good. I’ve had a few mental breakdowns. I’m actually riding with one clipped out. He said it’s somewhere around here and I think you can see Oh yeah. 7K elevation gain of lovely 400 m. It’s okay. These are with like 8%. We’ve been told to turn around again. He said the stones are still falling. He basically tried to go and see how like the way is and then there were big stones coming from above and it happened today. This was basically risking your life. You’re in paradise. So with three groups of people telling us there was no way through the mountain because of the landslide. We were left with only one option. But that was like 0 to 100 gravel crash course. Yeah. I was really struggling on the bits that were really bumpy cuz I couldn’t see. Yeah. Yeah. I just like just shaking so hard that I could have never come so hard in my life. We had to descend down the same treacherous gravel route that we had climbed where we then stopped at the first sign of life to reassess our options for how we get back on track and get back into Montenegro to head towards the capital. From here Mhm. to that border crossing. Yeah. That guy said is so beautiful. Mhm. It’s 77 km. Yeah. With 1,100 m of elevation. Yeah. On road. It will leave us with 4 days to do approximately 220k. It should be fine. Yeah. Oh my god. Yesterday hardest day I’ve ever had on a bike. Like I was so scared like going up. I couldn’t go fast enough to like get any speed going down like I couldn’t see anything. I was but also just like you can’t think about anything else which was like weirdly really nice. There’s a phrase that people say like if you if like opening your emails makes you feel like you’re being chased by a lion then like you need to face the lion basically like actually expose yourself to real fear. I think that’s kind of what adventure really gives me. like realized that until well honestly until saying this on the voice note. Uh still not like 100% mentally. Still feeling like a bit out of my body. Um but we take it day by day. Pancakes basically. What happens when the road turns into a river? Start swimming. So, I’d like to dedicate this section of the video to the four states of Mika and I’s budding friendship so far. From here, we see a wild. Starting with the You’re only useful for content. From the front again from look better. You’ve got only got my ass all the time. Your ass is sexy. Perfect. Thank you, darling. Quickly followed by we’re not even friends. Yeah. You’re allowed to say anything now in German. I’ll put it in the video. cancel. That’s probably I hate Laura. I want to be with my friends. Hey, we’re pretty good. So, we’re supposed to go that way. I’m pretty sure we’re going there, are we? With a sprinkle of the unpaid babysitter. Let me go up to the corner. Just going to film so that I can watch you fall. Boys, boys, boys. sending it away. Yes, don’t worry, darling. I got your content for you. I don’t risk my life for nothing, bro. The stones were right, but believed it was sand and then you just like slipped all the way. And obviously, it would not be complete without the flirt. I broke a sweat. Was a steep climb. Laura is not sweating. Now, it can’t go into the frame. It won’t. Just for you. You’re going to have like an old after movie just for yourself. Now I’m just using it for my promo video for the next person. It’s about 3:00 p.m. 640 m of climbing to do, but over 17k, so should be lovely. 11% is not light yellow. What the So, as we descended back into Montenegro through a different border crossing, we’ve been informed was insanely beautiful. It was the first day I wasn’t caught up in my own head overthinking my thoughts and state of being. I think adventure is incredibly healthy to get outside, face some real fear, and have some insane experiences whilst you still can. I think I just came to realize that I sometimes rely on it for my direction, my confidence, my purpose. We made it from the border. Yeah. Um, another in the past. We’re going to stay on this road for beautiful, beautiful country. Uh, we’ll see. Another day, another No, let’s just go that left. Can we get through this way? Left and we get back on the big road. Okay. And then we’re going to follow that. Okay. Bit dissociated. Dehydrated. Yeah, that’s it. Dehydrated. I think that’s the problem actually. Oh yeah. Check out the area for life. Thank you. Favorite place in town. They kind of weird business going on there. It’s Monday in paradise. Oh, the shade is so good. We’re about to hit a 15k climb. Oh my god, it’s so free. It’s really hot today. It’s like 28°. So thirsty. You want to rate that climb? The scenery 9 out of 10. Climbing road eight out of 10. Eat three out of 10. Company five out of 10. What up? After this trip, I spent two more weeks away on various brand trips and then spent a month honestly burnt out and wondering what I’m doing with my life. And I feel like this is the only place I feel I can truly be honest about my experiences. Maybe because I have more than 3 seconds to grab your attention or maybe because I can truly create the emotion that I felt. And I was going to leave my internal monologue and struggles with my thoughts out of this video for so-called professionalism. But to leave such a big part out would be almost feeding the very problem I’ve been having. trying to stay true to myself and my career as a creator in a world of so much opinion and influence. Maybe I should do it more like this person or if I do this it gets more likes and I can go round and round until I’m stopped. And I think that’s what the three goals of the trip did for me. Trying a new sport, taking time away from my screens and building a really strong friendship with Ma. I stopped and it made my conscious brain really come online to the fact that I work too hard. I often don’t live in the real world and I put pressure on myself not only to succeed but to know my brain to be able to control my brain to be able to control my thoughts and I realized I just need to let them run free darling. You’re still in the EA whatever this is. Otherwise you might need to go somewhere else. It’s only one way. I’m not sure. There it says all passport. It also says X. I’m not allowed. Yeah. No, no, no. Getting in for you. But it is sort of the world where I’m going to dump you in like no man’s land between the borders. Get comfy here. I’m sure there’ll be some men. No man’s land looking out for you. Sure. I think that’s the kind of man you’re going for. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, welcome to De Bronck. Good evening to Bronik. Breathe in. Breathe out. I’m not sure what tomorrow is supposed to look like, but I don’t need to. I don’t have to entertain every thought or need a quiet brain to be at peace. Because maybe tomorrow on its own free will be another delightful day in the city. Never felt so alive. When I’m holding the grass is green.