The Unaimed Arrow – Balkans Part II (Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo).

This is the second part of my tour through the Balkans. I continue on the bike after spending a month as a tour guide in Montenegro. Shortly after departing, I meet German cyclist Ben who joins for this leg of the trip. All was well until an unexpected twist of fate which sent me urgently home! All is revealed in the episode.

I’ve been experimenting with vlogging styles and enjouying the process! I’ve decided to up my production game a little while still keeping the experience raw and authentic. I’ve also been inspired to write and produce all the music for my videos from now on, which I have done in this video.

If you’d like any of the tracks for use royalty free or simply for enjoyment get in contact and I will send them.

Thanks for coming along and stay tuned!

What’s up guys we are fast forward one one month five weeks actually and I’ve been volunteering as a tour guide this is my has been my residence for the past um five weeks very nice place met some Legends because it’s also a co-living space for digital Nomads and

We’re going to be heading towards Bulgaria through the mountains from Montenegro let’s do it malish this is the dog from the house he’s gonna come with me for a little bit I think I forgot how different it is riding a fully loaded Touring bike because I’ve been riding just normal mountain bikes

For the last month and I almost ate crap already it was so heavy I forgot how heavy it is but anyway we’re back on the road we got a massive climb today like a thousand meters 1 200 meters of climbing but the views are going to be spectacular so stay tuned foreign But not for long okay the very steep gradients have begun It’s Gonna Take It Easy burn myself out Foreign is a lot more gentle than I thought this is where I was doing the tours for the downhill mountain biking so that’s why I know that we’re going to be climbing a very very high altitude today I expected the climb to be way more tough to be honest but it’s

Actually not that steep when you’re going up it I forgot how to look so good to be back on the bike foreign so each of these numbers that you just saw that number 10 represents which uh which happened Bend we’re at there are 25 of these

And we’re up to number 10 so if you think these views are okay right now then please set your faces to stunned my friends That’s another thing We’re just Thank you all right so that completes the infamous 25 turns as you can see quite a view there’s the Bay of Qatar down there a thousand meters elevation and I’m here with my new mate Ben from Germany hey Thank you Some euphoric downhill so long to go up so quick to go down but that’s the way it works here we have a view of scada lake and on the other side is Albania you Th King of the Montana and here we are at the campground probably the um most spectacular view I’ve seen at a campground in my life on road headies to follow the tour foreign So my laptop came off the bike fell off down on a gravel road and I checked it and it wasn’t turning on but luckily now it’s turned on for some reason maybe it’s this uh picture of my grandfather which my cousin Susanna gave me protecting it I don’t know

But if so thank you pepper Foreign So I got a some Tire issues for the second time today Kraken me the bloody shits to tears isn’t that right Ben I think my tie is going down again but look at that Mystical turtle man you are in fact a tortoise looks like we’ve got some Monastery in the middle of the lake Three flat tires three big mountains and a monastery not a bad day and making the classical tourist photo How you feeling oh we climbed so high the sun came back out but now it’s going again and Benny’s found us a nice spot for the night with a shot of the campground from last night and if we go up here you’ve got the living room nobody

All right so we packed up tent uh it’s about 8 30. 8 45 we’re going to the next town to get a coffee and I’m very excited about that and you could be forgiven for thinking that this is the sea but it is in fact a lake foreign Ask me how I’m feeling today quite well it’s okay I’m your friend many mountains to go oh luckily coming across this because I’ve just run out of water hello um do you have espresso oh perfect yes yes yes thank you to two uh Americano thank you yeah get him Betty so steep

Last punishment for the day all right so that’s it for the climb it’s been amazing along the lake as you can see some of the best views we’ve had so far and now we’re about to cross back into Albania such a crazy downhill Here and it’s [ __ ] hot safe the room or the break oh yeah ah you can fry an egg on that thing yeah so steep that we almost have to push our bikes down the hill because our brakes aren’t good enough for the challenge when the brakes are failing but we found these

So we just crossed the border back in Albania now and Ben’s just gone he’s left his bike here he’s gone back to the Border because he was disappointed they didn’t give him a stamp oh far out I’ll just man my whole bike almost went into the drink there

So we’re just going to this restaurant here to ask how much it cost to camp and the price that they gave us was zero dollars which is great so I think a good good way is to Camp here and then have dinner here as well um

So yeah love Albania glad to be back today’s bath foreign Ben has just coined the statement that where the trash is burning is a free country and I’d have to agree with that one there’s a snake just see that white plastic bag the small one oh nice yeah

I’ll try and um crop that in on the video late of it that’s really cool turns out I don’t have enough SD cards to be a wildlife cinnamon cinema cinematographer Foreign Beautiful river system we’re following here heading towards command then we’re going to jump on a ferry that’s going to take us further up the river uh Inland from the Adriatic coast and heading towards uh Bulgaria Close-ups business Here buddy God said what do you reckon I reckon the same bro foreign So we’ve got about seven kilometers till we arrive in the town of koman and then we’ll stay there the night and then tomorrow we’re gonna get the ferry up the river You’ve got to finish the day with that steep [ __ ] that’s the cosmic joke Aurora We are arriving to come on I’ve got another flat tire because the bike shop guy drilled out and put the hole in my rim which dropped metal shavings into the inside of the rim which are slowly coming out and getting stuck in my inner tubes so The Saga of the flat tires continues

And I hope it ends soon All right so this is home for the night Benny’s cooking some food getting it ready he’s also given me this banana because I was fading into dust and it’s providing me with the sustenance that I need to survive a mission to go and get some beers from the market over there All right so we’re off the ferry and we’re back on the ridgeways and we’re climbing again and more uphill today so excited we’re just having a break here starting up a fire cooking your feed and having a dip in these uh glacial streams we’ve got the local local kids here hanging around

There’s some there’s some fighting throw some punches ready do you have a message for the world come to Albania come to Albania you heard it here right here folks from the Albanian children come to Albania okay waving bye to Albania because up ahead we have the Albania Kosovo border I think

Could be a farm not sure wave hello again to Albania because this is not the border crossing I don’t know what that is and here’s the border crossing the real border crossing unlike that fake border crossing all right and now we are in Kosovo and we’ve got some nice downhill foreign It’s been a big day for the boys Benny’s had enough I’ve had enough and we will be finding a place to stop in the next town hmm so you might be wondering why we’ve gone from one scene in the forests to in the mountains to now sitting in an airport that’s because

I was actually struck by a flying bat which just nicked me with his teeth or scratched me on the forehead you can can’t even see it but yeah I could feel it and after some days of um wondering what to do and trying to seek the appropriate medical treatment

I’ve decided to head back to Australia has actually been my best option to get the rabies protocol which takes about a month um yeah I tried the first time I went to the hospital here they told me to go away pretty much and then I went again two days later

And they gave me a tetanus shot and they assured me that this would prevent rabies so uh yeah that’s the medical situation here in Kosovo unfortunately and my other option was to fly to London but by the time the flights were going to get there I could have almost been back in

Australia by the time I got this flight that I’m getting now so uh that’s the situation uh also I would have had to spend a lot a month in London which would have been costly also and cold uh so yeah I’m gonna go home super excited to see my family and friends and

Um that I’m gonna stay for the month hopefully sell my van come back to Kosovo get my bike and continue the journey yeah we’ve got bloody Jetstar changing the gates every two seconds 30 hours or something into the trip really there all right so I made it back to Australia

Now and I’ve gone to see the doctor and they told me that I might not even need the vaccine now so just came back to Australia for for no reason Maybe all right just a little update coming back coming at you from my childhood bedroom

Um I have been deemed at risk by New South Wales Public Health and they’re about to uh stick a bunch of needles in my forehead so I can get some immunoglobulin immunoglobulin and also the vaccine for rabies and uh that will be continued over the next few weeks

All right I’m just about to get the here and rabies immunoglobulin and a rabies vaccine and I’ve got mum here for moral support and also on the camera and uh I asked the doctor if I can film a bit of the procedure unaimed our own uneimed Arrow I know we’re sending in vibes

He’s a tough boy so I’ll give you this just to put over your um over your gentleman’s region and will attack your thighs yeah or just step behind the curtains you want me to pull my pants off yeah you don’t need to go after oh yeah it is very mountains and rivers

Oh I think you’re absolutely spectacular for doing what you’re doing it’s amazing worry oh did you just film all that no not all of it ouch I can’t really feel the needles I just don’t like the concept of it sorry did that hurt you dude I’m so sorry that’s good he’s focusing on

Something yeah scream at me no I’m just gonna try and dissociate from my body I would have thought you’d be doing that when you’re um riding your bike yeah a little bit it’s got a pen yeah okay yes can you write down enough all right so that’s that all done and

The most brutal needling I’ve ever had in my life