I was woken by the cawing of a massive flock of Romanian starlings cartwheeling around the hotel roof. After marvelling again at my enormous and pleasantly lived-in Timișoara bedroom, I wandered down to breakfast. A dozen or so stereotypical eastern European workmen munched bread and drank coffee in stony, lumpy silence. The sky looked like rain and the temperature had dropped. Worse, the city square was deserted – no monks, thigh-slapping farmers or stylish coffee-sipping women to be seen. I was beginning to feel a bit depressed; it was time to turn back towards the west, to aim for the Channel and predictable England.
I rode towards Hungary across massive agricultural landscapes; the fields in this part of Romania are so big you could lose an English county in just one of them. Miles sped by between far-spaced fences as the arrow-straight road headed for the horizon. There were only a few bends, and no trees. It was also as flat as a pancake, and featureless - no hills, no distant city spires, or wheat silos, nothing. Just wheat, cornflowers and rustling corn leaves as far as I could see.
After a couple of hours of trying to stay awake I arrived at the Hungarian border at Mako. The Hungarian border guard sitting in his little box had elevated boredom to an art form. When I dug in my bag for the bike's papers, he looked irritated, waved me through and asked if I could please go. Now, please. A bit different to the Kosovo/Serbia border, that's for sure.
Lakeside life
Esta historia es de la edición May 2022 de Motorcycle Sport & Leisure.
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Esta historia es de la edición May 2022 de Motorcycle Sport & Leisure.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
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Honda CRF1100L ES Africa Twin
Without panniers he was adventuring nowhere - so at least Bertie's got something sorted now
BMW R 12 nineT
Chad gets a track day surprise when BMW's R 12 nineT turns out to be surprisingly fun on track
Test fleet: VOGE 525 DSX
After testing the Voge's abilities on a long ride, it was time to take it to the Cotswolds and see how it would manage on the rougher stuff
Portuguese Perambulations
Nearly over before it had begun, a brief workshop stint allows Spain and Portugal to be explored
Highway to Heaven
Three friends take on the challenge of riding the length of Canada, from Vancouver in the southwest to Inuvik in the north. The road is long, the conditions merciless, and wildfires are tearing through the country. To top it all off, the final leg of the journey is the ultimate test of gravel riding skills, nerves, and courage - it's the legendary Dempster Highway...
Battlaxes at the ready!
We tend to take tyres for granted, never really looking at them in any detail, or at how they work, just hoping that they keep us shiny side up at all times. Even in the wet
Ducati Riding Experience
When I rode the Ducati DesertX to France last year, I did have a bit of an explore on some easy fire roads and gentle green lanes in the wilds of the Médoc area, but was left with the feeling that, had I the experience, the DesertX would have been capable of taking me along some more extreme trails to some even more exciting places. If only there was a way of finding out just how well the Italian adventure bike could cope with some more extreme terrain...
Four pot flyer
Many said that sports bikes, and particularly bikes in the traditional Supersports class that was populated by 600cc inline fours, were dead. Maybe they spoke too soon?...
Eastern adventurer
With an increasing interest in smaller capacity adventure bikes, the market expands with a new entry
First Time Lucky?
It's ironic that the first all-new MV Agusta model to hit the marketplace right after Italy's No.1 trophy brand was acquired by Austrian giant Pierer Mobility, owner of off-road titans KTM, should be the company's first dual-purpose model of the modern era, powered by MV's all-new 931cc three-cylinder engine that's destined to form the basis of a whole series of new models in coming months and years.
