The rest day of all rest days in the beautiful UNESCO heritage city of Berat! Find the previous episodes in the series below.
Part 1: Tirana – Elbasan – Ohrid: https://youtu.be/q94Yaec3_tI?si=MupmG0TsI9U8yPxA
Part 2: Ohrid – Korce – Leskovik: https://youtu.be/qCXR36553l0?si=gB1ww0gdFEzQafkP
Part 3: Leskovik – Përmet – Gjirokastër: https://youtu.be/wIIA3y_IK1I
Part 4: Gjirokastër – Sarande – Himare: https://youtu.be/DWs39M1kQYg
Part 5: Himare – Vlore: https://youtu.be/yGuihczNjGk
[Music] [Applause] [Music] Late start to day after yesterday’s antics. I think fully flat now anyway pretty much. Let’s take it easy a little bit. Another day. What is it? 80ks today. 90 plus. 90ish ks but flat. Completely flat. We’re back on the home stretch now. Basically, there’s a funky smell coming from these drains. So, we’re trying to pack up and get out pretty quickly. After the dramas of yesterday, would quite like a very uneventful day today. Might make for a boring video, but I think yeah, I would be much happier to have a day slightly less eventful than yesterday. So, we’re going to go into town, stock up on some bike bits, take a look at the old town, and then we’re going to start the mostly flat ride from Vora to Barat. Yeah, I really like Vora. It’s got a such a different vibe to everywhere else. It really does feel something different. I can’t put my finger on what it is. It’s lovely, though. YouTube Nice. If you’re ever in Vora, get yourself to Robido bicycle. This guy is the best on it, man. Balamit. Like it. Like it. That was funny, man. He put the prices up on his phone and he just put 12 and 16. So I was like, “What? 28? That would be like 28 p, right?” And he was like, “No.” Put a couple of zeros on the end. Like it’s cheap. It’s not that cheap, but four inner tubes for under 30 quid. I mean, desperation needs must. Small price to pay. Swing by Laura Oldtown on the way out. Super quiet. Slow start to the day today. One thing we’re noticing is that the old boys get on it early doors here, man. Like we’ve been in places at 9:00 a.m. when there’ll be like a bunch of like 60 70 year old BS just knocking the beers back. It’s great. It’s like we’re just wondering like what do you do with the rest of your day? Like they all seem to go out for a walk at night as well. So is it like just have boozing in the afternoon then go home for an afternoon kip? Sorry, boozing in the morning, go home for an afternoon kip and then uh go out for your evening walk. It’s not a bad life, you know. It’s really not a bad life. It’s actually nearly 11:00 and there’s two fellas over there on the beers, but that’s a bit late compared to what we’ve seen. uh some of the times on this trip. I’m all for it. Good on you. Enjoy your retirement. Yeah, we need to get a bit of a wiggle on today. It’s uh 11:00 a.m. and we’ve just left the city. Got about 90ks left. It’s a mostly flat road, so we’ve got a bit complacent, but also, you know, like Vora is a really nice place, so we wanted to see a little bit of it. And after the ride we had yesterday, we weren’t exactly in the exploring mood. Did see some took a walk around where we were staying, like the main coastal road. Saw some excellent dancing. Like lots of It’s weird cuz like lots of people who in England might look like chavs were just like up having a having a boogie like traditional sort of dancing arm in- arm with each other. Can you imagine that in England? People would be like, “Oh, what you doing, mate?” Right. Yeah. But yeah, Vora, very, very nice city. It’s got a little bit of everything. It’s got a beautiful sort of Miami Beach coastal road. It’s got an old town. It’s got a more modern city center as well. I imagine it’s one of the more popular places. Like I’d say it’s a very very very livable city in terms of it just has a bit of everything. Interesting. Door over the door. Hope it doesn’t open. Yep. And then we’re back over there over the road again. All right. So, we got 31ks on this road. Just try and blast it out. Yeah. Yeah. Get to Fier, get some lunch, take it from there. There’s Valora in the distance. Time to say goodbye to the coast for a few days. Inland to Barat today. And then we’ll be back in a few days to Durz for one last night at the coast. Then back to Tyrana where it all began. [Music] Massive salad, proper homemade chips, bucket of bread. We’ve still got a full chicken to come as well. Wondered why she pulled her face when we ordered that. Now I get it. How are we doing? Just keeps coming. Just keeps coming. You ever seen a shot of Coca-Cola before? I’m well into this. [Music] It’s just right. I’m already there. Perfect. [Music] So, we asked for an uneventful ride today. O thought I was going to stack it then. Um, but yeah, besides this little bit of uh gravel seem to be going through quite a lot of industry industrial stuff at the moment. But compared to yesterday, if this is as eventful as it gets, I’ll take that. Mate, this looks like something out of like an old western movie or something. I don’t even know where we are, like what this is. Don’t tell me we’re going to get kicked out of here as well. Ah, he’s telling us we need to go the other way. Flashbacks to the tunnel. So, guy’s got Paul’s phone asking his mate. I think he’s trying to help. Don’t think he’s being like antagonistic. Oh. Boss man’s getting out now. Literally two minutes ago I was saying no drama today that way. So we just got to go that way, that way, and that way. Yeah. Okay. Well, I’m in. Thanks. Oh, well, it’s not so much drama. Not as dramatic as yesterday, but still. I think he’s saying the ground isn’t good, right? That’s what he was. Well, it looks like that way meets up with this way anyway. Let’s just do it. Like they seem like they were being sound enough as well, right? Yeah. But maybe I get the impression this might actually be private land as well because it’s black gold, isn’t it? It’s gold. Yeah, it’s oil basically. We’re in an oil [ __ ] refinery. And like it doesn’t smell great. And there’s that bankers thing there. There was another one of those signs earlier that said like no ex no access except bankers. So, he didn’t seem like a banker. I thought we were having a repeat of yesterday then. No, we’re going to have to get [ __ ] back. Yeah. All right, let’s Well, I mean, the surface is better, so that’s something. I think today we can genuinely blame the map. Yesterday was 100% on us. Today we’ve been done by the map. Well, I’m still not sure where you want to go cuz we can This is like a main road and we can go down to like the main main road which is the one we Nah. Yeah. You want to I want to try and cut through again if we can. Yeah. Hang a left here. Yep. I think Mariners is kind of where we were going to come out anyway. So, let’s do that. Well, that’s got to be a new record even for me. Uh about 2 minutes after I said we’re having a nice uneventful journey. Turns out we’re almost certainly trespassing in an oil refinery. So, uh make that two for two in terms of being in places we shouldn’t be. We got a rest day tomorrow, so there’s no way we’re going to trespass on anything tomorrow. But, uh, yeah, seem to have become Accidental Trespassers over the past couple of days, which I think would be an excellent name for an indie band from around 2007. The accidental trespassers. Skinny jeans, Top Man, clothes, beads around the neck. NME darlings. Yeah, bring take me back to 2007. Hey, about 10ks to Barat now. Um, Kimu’s trying to send us down yet another gravel path. So, we’re uh finding our own way, but should be there in not too long. Long way around. That’s all right. Around the houses. I quite like to just see like random little neighborhoods sometimes a happy little boy. Aren’t you? That made it worth it. See a happy sunbathing dog trying to get past some old boy with a big metal pipe. What a guy. And just like that, we’re in Barat. Okay. So, Barat is known as what? The town of a thousand windows. A thousand windows. And it’s all those windows that are up on the hill. All those houses there in the distance. Wow. It’s like the whole city’s like built on this hill. That sounds like a broken phone. Thanks. It’s all right. Survived. I think I put it back in the pouch very lazily there. Just ruined their photo as well. Yeah. [ __ ] it. So that’s it. The town of a thousand windows or whatever. Yeah. Maybe there’s more. Beautiful. Yeah. It’s amazing, isn’t it? Really cool. Amazing. Yep. What a view from our hotel in Barat. Wow. This is just like an entire town built into a hill. Ridiculous. Albanian street dogs are the next level, aren’t they? They’re so chill. This is a rest day in Barat. Not doing much resting. We’re currently trekking up to a waterfall. Probably the most sort of organized touristy thing we’ve done this trip, but we were told by the lads that we met at the brewery in Kcha that you’ve got to do it. So, here we are. Looking forward to a good dip in what’s going to be some freezing cold water apparently. Guess we weren’t the only ones with this idea today. It’s absolutely freezing. God, what did the guides say? 10°. Yeah, I mean maybe in the late afternoon that’s I don’t think that’s 10. I think that’s like 4. I pull [Music] off heat. Woohoo! Go! Freezing. I think I’m done now. Yeah, I think I can safely say that’s the coldest I’ve been in quite some time. Tell you what though, that cold water something to it. I know they always say Wimhof and ice baths, cold water therapy and all that, but yeah, I was feeling rough coming up here. Um, mainly the winding road. I was getting a bit travel sick, but also the geyser at dinner last night kept just bringing us shots of raki as well, so probably a little bit rough from that. But man, I feel a million dollars now. That was quality. What we got next? I think we’ve got a canyon next. Should be good. Yeah, that was really good. Enjoyed that. Must admit when I first saw when we first got there and we saw the big crowd I was like not into this but uh actually wasn’t that bad. It was people just gathered around taking pictures. But once you got in the water bang on it’s a good look. Gives a smile. It’s very cool water. Ready? There’s a video. Oh, yeah. One, 2, 3, go. Oh, that’s nice. This is the one, man. This is the life. Taste of like sand chemicals. I wish I went first. It sound like all gone. All right. Other hand. 1 2 3. Let’s go. [Applause] Two three. How we doing? Yeah, I’m off my feet. My legs have a nice rest. Sorry, I just kicked you there. Well, what the hell’s like is it like 8, right? Yeah. I mean, depends which like yesterday we went we came from Vora. Oh, yeah. On the coast. That’s like 93ks we did, but it was completely flat. So that was much much easier than like the day before which was 55ks from Himara to Blora. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. Losing my foot in here. Look at that, man. That is unreal. Holy [Applause] [ __ ] [ __ ] That’s why they got the helmet. That’s why they give you a helmet. [Applause] That’s quite strong there. Get a little run up. It’s been some rest day. This gone on a waterfall hike. Yeah, we’ve gone canyoning and now we are hiking up to the castle on the mountain overlooking Barat. It’s probably the least restful rest day ever, but it’s actually been the best day of the trip. So, you know, swims and roundabouts. Working up a sweat today. Guess this is the way in. Wow. It’s like a town in and of itself up here, right? Like a Yeah. restaurants. Sort of self-contained town. Let’s have a look at this view. Nice little sundowner IPA at the top. Perhaps unsurprisingly, we’re looking for a restaurant, but Google Maps doesn’t quite line up with what is reality around here. Assassin’s Creed [ __ ] Oh, no. It’s flying up now. Oh, yeah. All right, we’re good. It’s hard to believe this is up on the top of the hill. [Music] [Applause] [Music]