Just about every adventure rider has probably heard of the Trans America Trail – a five-thousand-mile off-road track from North Carolina to Oregon, a bucket list coast-to-coast ride.
The Trans European Trail, however, is a whole different story. Stretching over 23,000 miles from the northernmost point of Europe in Nordkapp, Norway, all the way to the shores of Africa and across from Portugal to Romania, the Trans European Trail is a labyrinth of off-road tracks crisscrossing the European continent. It has a quiet quality about it, a sort of a boutique feel. The creators of the TET talk about personal responsibility, environmental awareness, and a certain code of conduct that riders need to adhere to.
Unlike the Trans America Trail, the TET is an ever-changing, organic collaborative effort of riders from all across Europe, uniting adventurers with one common goal: to bring motorcycling back as a great, inexpensive way to explore Europe.
„We‘re hoping to make motorcycle backpacking adventure mainstream, an acceptable form of rural tourism that can be carried out in a sustainable manner“, - says John Ross, the mastermind behind the TET.
How was the Trans European Trail born, and how can riders get involved? We talked to John about the origins, the present and the future of the TET.