Euro Tour Next Year - Some Advice Needed

Hi,

I've started planning a trip for next year in mainland Europe and need some advice on some items:

1. My plan is to ride from Calais in France to Athens in Greece over 6 months. Now looking at the route I have planned so far, it looks like my time in the Schengen area will exceed the 90 days in 180 days (especially if Croatia join early next year). Anybody have experience of how to get around this issue? I was thinking about getting temporary residence permits for Croatia and Greece, so I could extend my stay. Anybody done anything similar? Riding through the Alps and Croatia will be a dream come true for me, so I don't really want to rush through them.
2. Wild animals - being from England I don't have much experience with bears, wolves, such like. Any advice/ reassurance/ probability of meeting such animals in Europe?
3. Any recommendations for routes through Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece? The more off road the better

I'm pretty new to bikepacking so this will be my first big adventure.

Any help appreciated

Rich