Night shift – A picture | and its story

We've been on the motorcycle again for around 10 hours and the second day of the Adventure Country Track Pyrenees is dragging on.

Text: Martin Wickert, Photo: Katja Wickert

Elaborate film and photo shoots take a lot of time. It's now 6.00 pm and it's pouring with rain. We stop under a bridge and discuss the situation. According to the weather radar, a thunderstorm is brewing and we can already hear the rumble of thunder in the distance. This is a tricky situation for us, as we still have the most spectacular off-road highlight of this stage ahead of us: the legendary smugglers' trail. We decide to split the group. A few travellers will ride on the street to Andorra, while the rest, consisting of Filipe Elias, Roderik von der Heiden, Mirko Nagler, Teresa Peters, David Rynhard and Tobias Wachter, will take on the challenge and master the pass over 2,000 metres. The riders are tired and exhausted, yet full of anticipation for this section of the route, which is the subject of so many adventurous stories. And the weather also plays along. The thunderstorm soon clears, and after a tough off-road section, the clouds break. A double rainbow shines in the gathering darkness. The enthusiasm is great - if that's not a good omen for the rest of the ride! A few technically challenging sections are quickly mastered, and the team makes good progress.

Then, however, the character of the track suddenly changed completely. The rain of the past days has turned the old smugglers‘ trail to Andorra into a slippery, muddy track. Turning around makes no sense, the exhausted group has mastered too many challenging sections – we have crossed the point of no return! Instead of offroad fun, two hours of hard work lie before the riders. Now, team spirit is needed. Only together, we can push, stabilise and lift the fully packed motorcycles again and again. When the rain starts pouring again, vision is reduced to zero, the tyres‘ profiles are clogged completely, our strength is fading. Only at around 10 pm, the exhausted team reaches Andorra. But nobody is hurt, und great shots are in the can. So, a successful night shift.

The conquest of the smugglers‘ trail can be witnessed in the official ACT Video from about minute 20:00 to 25:15. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMVpcd2trvE&t=70s