BACK TO ALBANIA
This time visiting cities…
21st April - 24th April | 2023
In the meantime, I had extended my stay for 4 nights now as it is such a great value for money here, and in Albania is the long weekend, and I would go to some popular touristic places. So I decided to stay longer here and chill and then leave Sunday morning for Berat, Albania.
The next morning was so good weather I decided around late lunch that I would follow the road until it finishes at the Greek border. It was such a lovely ride along Lake Prespa, with the snow-capped mountains around. Just before the border two border control guys walked along the street, so I had to turn around, as it seems to be a non-official border crossing. On satellite, it looks like there are tracks, but it also looks like farmland. So that wouldn’t be an alternative for getting back into Albania on Sunday.
On the way back, I even found a lovely offroad track between farm- and bushland. It was really nice and easygoing. The first one took me down to a beach at the lake, where I "disturbed" a fisherman. The 2nd track took me to the next village, and from there, it was not far back to the hotel. As I was again so hungry, I had something to eat this time at the hotel restaurant's terrace.
The next day was a lazy day, with some work on the website as Anabela, the brain, sent me so many things that we will need for the planned changes. It was a wise decision to do this today as it was mainly raining or thundering! In the evening my laptop and one of my phones suddenly were +1 hours. It really threw me as I needed to get up at 8h, for breakfast and leave on time. As I didn’t want to mess that up, I asked James to give me a wake-up call.
All went fine the next morning, my alarm worked perfectly! Today I had a hotel booked in Berat, so a long way and not sure how much offroad. First I went around Lake Prespa to the border crossing. All went smoothly and fast. Once back in Albania, I was again within the scenic landscape: green fields, the lake (now from the opposite side) and snowcapped mountains. Again I could stop after each bent! In Maliq I forked off onto SH71, which was the first approx. 20km a pretty bumpy offroad. After that, it was all way until Gramsh tarmac, but a very twisty one; hardly made it into 4th gear! Again such a panorama after each curve!
In Gramsh I tried to get offroad to Berat; a route Pavel wants to try out. It was fine for the first 8km until I had to cross a river. Not too deep and not too wide, but who knows me, knows that I haven’t mastered a safe or confident technique yet! So I was debating with myself, then looking at the map of the track ahead and decided it is safer not to do so. I wouldn’t have chickened out if I would have been with someone. That would give me some confidence first seeing the line and then having someone in the worst case to help ... After I also scanned the map, which would include another river crossing and still about 40km offroad of no-idea-what-the-surface-is. It was almost 15hoo, so before I arrive late, or put myself under unnecessary stress, I opted for the easy way, which is still a good 90mins drive - well, once the bike was turned around.
Well, I had to beat physics first as I stupidly parked my bike on the slope to the riverbed, so I had to turn around my bike...not sure how, but I made it! Oh, also did I mention it was today 26C and I was still wearing my worm winter layers? I nearly threw myself into the water to cool down (would have been a good test for the waterproofness of my Rukka gear ;-) ).
Once back in Gramsh, I stopped at a petrol station for a well-deserved ice-cold Coke!!
At about 18hoo I finally arrived in Berat in the hotel, which is right at "Gorica Bridge". Wow, that was well chosen! After a quick shower, I went for a traditional dinner just down the road. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay attention, but cash only! I just managed to scrunch it together with the Euros and LEK I still had in my purse! After that, I had a little stroll through the back roads back to the hotel, where I crashed into my pillows pretty soon!
The next morning, after some traditional breakfast, it was time to hit the road again, to Gjirokaster, another UNESCO heritage town. First I wanted to see the wooden walk bridge to St Mary Monastery (Manastiri i Shën Mërisë) on the coast of Vlorë. What a boring ride to the coast. Also was I not in the best mood (the payment in the restaurant was still nagging at me), so that didn’t really help. Unfortunately, there was not too much to see, if you want to leave everything on your bike. Also started a pretty heavy breeze to blow, and I was worrying about my bike getting blown over. So there was no point in having my lunch there.
So I started to ride inland towards Gjirokaster. Unfortunately, the wind persisted, so I had to duck on my bike for long stretches. As soon as you get away from the coast, the landscape gets again panoramic with the high snowcapped mountains. Like that, I started to enjoy riding again ...ok if you forget about the wind though ;-) I found a wind-sheltered spot for my lunch. A lady from the village passed by and tried to talk to me, she even offered me to pass by for tea. I wanted to crack on to Gjirokaster as it was still a 2 hours ride and it looked like rain. Next time ..., but how nice was that! Would you offer a complete stranger tea at your home?!
Continuing the road recommendation of Pavel I started to think that "I have been here before", but being at so many places already I wasn't sure. Then I passed a certain crossroad and again I thought so. A few kilometres on came a massive canyon, and I knew I had been here last year! And that was an incredible ride along that road!
Arriving in Gjirokaster it just started to rain. Perfect timing, as my hotel seemed to be somewhere up the town. If you have ever been there, you will know what the streets are like. Cobblestone and a super steep street up to the old town. I was behind a little van and he got slower and slower, I nearly feared he stops any second. Also, that was on that incline no good for my momentum! In case of a stop, I would have to immediately let the clutch go to get the bike to a safe halt. So I "tut-tut" my horn and started to go along his side. I stopped at a straight bit to catch my breath and to re-orientate myself.
After that, it was another steep uphill, around a bent. So I parked the bike and first walked it to find out, into what I might put myself! Remember, it was raining, steep uphill on cobblestone! Not very bike (Steffi) friendly! It looked ok to me, so I went for the next part. As a lot of cars came down, I realised these narrow streets are not a one-way system! Happy days!
I finally made it up to the top, by this time heavily raining. I had to find the guesthouse, and the smart owner has no sign on the door! Very helpful! I was lucky, that a lady in the neighbourhood was out in the rain and pointed me to the correct gate. I did the check-in with the most miserable host (so far; felt like I was disturbing him watching TV!). I had a very dark room. The best was the 1m2 bathroom: you can have your shower whilst sitting on the toilet brushing your teeth ;-) all in one go!
He explained to me then where I have to get to park my bike. So off into the rain and riding around the block. I parked the bike in front of a garage, had to walk up again, disturb the guy, to show/ask him if the spot is fine. Then to walk back to park a wee better (out of the way of others). Whilst I did that, a man came out of his gate and I pointed to the guesthouse. I had parked in front of his garage, which he wanted to enter; he just managed to fit in. So I pulled the bike forward and showed him and he was happy about it! Good job, I re-parked my bike! I guess that garage owner wouldn't have been too amused!
Ups, another long story ;-) Now you can sit back and relax, whilst I get nightmares about how I will ever get my bike back down out of town!! Find out how I got on with this in the next blog! Also what my next destination or step is as by that time I was still thinking about it ...
Places | Cities:
Maliq, Vlorë, Gramsh, Berat, Gjirokaster
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 3285 km
Information Border Crossings (in April 2023):
German BI, green card vehicle for Albanian side, bike documents - easy.
Maintenance | Breakdown:
Gear shifter holds tight in position - so will try to stretch it until the end of the year as planned.
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
Weather mainly being dry.
Scenic panoramic landscape of Albania.