THE LONG WAY HOME
SEARCHING FOR SNOW IN ELEVEN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES BETWEEN GREECE AND GERMANY.
Words—Max Kroneck, Photos—Max Kroneck & Jochen Mesle
Enjoy a sneak peek of the upcoming documentary and photobook, ‘Balkan Express’ featuring Max Kroneck and Jochen Mesle’s self-powered adventure exploring the unknown mountain ranges of the Balkans for the best snow possible. From Thessaloniki to Munich and everything in-between. 2500km’s pedaled over 200h of moving time, 1 flat tire, 9 epic days on skis, 11 different countries, endless smiles.
After three long days on the train, we arrived in Thessaloniki – our starting point. Some quick re-packing and we’re now ready to start our hunt for snow.
10 km from the city, and we already have a flat.
Maybe the highway would have been a better choice…
Three degrees in the rain – we can already smell the snow. Let’s go!
Coldness is just a state of mind.
Macedonian powder: dry, untracked, and plentiful.
This is certainly more snow than we expected at our first stop in Greece. 100% worth every calorie burned to get here.
The sunrise on Mt. Olympus. A beautiful view of the sea, but damn it was cold.
Maybe just a little bit too much snow for cycling?
On the way up to a mountain village in Kosovo. Pushing through the pain on one of our longest distance days.
It feels good, to enter a city again, after a week on tiny roads through Albania. On our way to try a local drink called Boza!
All smiles from the top of Maja e Boshit in the Valbona Valley. We could see almost 2 weeks of our tracks from the Baba Mountains in North Macedonia, to the Blidinje Mountains in Bosnia Herzegovina.
A classic camp spot somewhere in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Back on the road again.
We weren’t alone in the Valbona Valley.
Playing around in a pillow wonderland in North Macedonia. It felt really refreshing in between lots of cycling.
