As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end as we head back to Tirana ready to depart Albania. As expected, it didn’t go off without a hitch as there was a final puncture and a shocking final ride to wrap up the trip!
Catch the rest of the journey at the links 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
Part 6: Vlore – Berat: https://youtu.be/m4–uUiQYiA
[Music] [Applause] [Music] Good morning from beautiful Barat. Just getting prepped for what looks like a hot one today. Yeah, roasting. Got the fuel. I think we’re going to hit 40 today. Maybe 10:00 a.m. and it’s absolutely roasting. It’s the last long one. 95ks today and then a nice swift one into Tana tomorrow. about 40ks. Shouldn’t be too painful, I don’t think. Said it before and I’ll say it again. If your Albania itinerary doesn’t include Barat, get that sorted. What a place. It’s 10:00 a.m. 36 saying highs of 43. All right, then. The penultimate ride. Bye. Bye-bye, Barat. I’d say this little stop was the highlight of the trip for me. Absolutely delightful little town. It’s no wonder it’s a UNESCO heritage site. It’s absolutely mind-blowing. I really hope it stays this way. So, we’re leaving Barat on the road that we came in on. Just going back on ourselves. It’s a very very unspectacular road, but it’s near a means to an end. Cut through a Friday market here. Sign for Durz 80k. I think the road we’re going to take might add a few KS to that, but anything to avoid the crazy busy highways, we’ll do it. Hey, England. Oh, don’t know what it is, but it seems very out of place. [Music] So, we’re 30ks in to this ride. Uh, it’s all been on the main road so far. Just got off onto this quieter country road. It’s been hesitant to use the word borings cuz none of it’s boring, right? But there’s just not much to say about it, which for now is fine. 95k, so we got another 65 to go. Um, yeah, famous last words. So far so good. Hopefully this doesn’t come back to haunt me. Usually when I say that, it comes back to bite me on the ass. So, watch this space, [Music] Jack. This is your future self from about an hour into the future. You have no idea what you’ve just said, boy. Keep watching to find out. [Music] I’ll be under no illusions. I’m still looking for that Pepsi sponsorship, but when there isn’t any Pepsi around, I’m a big fan of the lemon soda as well. So, if any lemon soda representatives are watching, I will also accept a sponsorship from you guys. It’s perfect after a long hot morning. Second bure of the day as well. Meaty. So, we’re about 35ks in. Well fed. We’ve decided to spice it up a little bit. We’ve added a little detour. We’re going to instead of just following the road the whole way, we’re going to head up a smallish hill where there should be a nice viewpoint which will cut out some traffic hopefully and also just add a bit of variety. It’s the second to last ride. Tomorrow is going to be quite a unspectacular one into Toronto, I think. So, one more climb won’t hurt. I might not be saying that when we get into the second half of the journey. We’ve still got about 60ks left, but let’s see. It’s not always about the destination. And it’s about the journey as well. Right. Here we go then. Shift down the gears. Let’s go. [Music] It’s so peaceful up here. It’s also incredibly hot. I’ve just checked the temperature. It’s 40° 1:30 in the afternoon. So, a peak of the midday heat. Who knew adding a hill at this time on this day might not be the smartest idea, but hoping it’s going to be a nice view at the top of it and a nice downhill back when we joined the main road. Just to give you an idea of how hot it currently is, I just tried to take a picture on my phone of the view and I couldn’t. My phone was just too hot. Damn. I think this is the hottest day. [Music] Yeah, I’m not loving this decision we made. Riding on sand uphill. Let’s go. Whoosh. Nearly stacked it there. What do you reckon? Can’t go back. We’ve gone too far to go back. Yeah. Yeah. Think we just have to go with it, man. Yeah. Well, remember when I said it always comes back to bite me on the ass when I say it’s been uneventful. Here we are up in the hills riding on sand. I’ve had to push a little bit cuz I got beached driving riding with one hand now while I film this. [ __ ] hell. Views are good though. Swings and roundabouts. E. Just sliding from side to side in the sand. It’s a wonder I’ve not stacked it yet. was a wibbly wobbly one. I was all over the place there. Yeah, I was really standing. Yeah, I thought I was going to go a few times. Look at that view. Downhill on the sand. How the [ __ ] have we ended up here? This was supposed to be the nice easy one today. One foot on the floor is the way. [ __ ] hell. God, slide all over the place down here, I think. Oh, Jesus. What have we done here? Yeah. What gear am I in here? [ __ ] in hell. Nope. I’m walking this. My wheels are spinning, man. Good on you, Paul. Is it flat up there? A puncture bollocks. Oh, look at that [ __ ] When it rains, it pours, man. At least it’s a front. [Music] One fresh inner tube in the bike. Let’s get back on the road. Thorns everywhere. If I’m going to get another puncture, this feels like a likely place. Yesh. Come on. Oh, it’s raky. Yeah, they got grapes. It’s a racky distillery. And there’s a dog barking at us. So, my vote is right personally. Racky and you’ve made a good case. Raky and aggressive dogs. What could possibly go wrong? There’s some hot water. I think she’s all right. She’ll stick to the racky. Oh, she’s nervous. Quite nervous, isn’t she? water. She’s off. She’s like, “No, it’s [ __ ] rocky o’ you talking about? You got any elbar?” [ __ ] Friday afternoon. Yeah. All right. At the end of the day, it might be fun. Yeah. Right now, I wouldn’t I wouldn’t have it as our wisest idea on the longest day and one of the hottest. Yeah. Say we’re almost in the town. Yeah, very close. All right. Hey. Oh, never been so happy to see tarmac. A look at that open road. I think I just aged about 2 years in the last hour. Just like that. Too early for a beer. Back to civilization. Look at all the elbars. That’s just for tomorrow’s breakfast. Oh man. Pepsi Co as well. Get in. We’ve just come out of the mountains or just come down from the hills and we’ve popped into the spa and this gentleman has just told us. Was that a good idea going up there? Uh, no. No, it really was not because there’s like a lot of snakes in this part of the mountain. You Yeah, there’s like a lot of snakes. Oh god. Yeah, I did say that. I was saying, Paul, wasn’t I? I think it could be snake territory, but it’s always nice to hear it from the locals and know that know that we’ve done something very stupid after we’ve done it. But or I got my Pepsi in the end. We met someone pretty cool. So, how you feeling, Paul? Shaken, stood everything. Yeah. Back on Tarmac. Back on Tarmac. What’s your name? Sorry. Juliano. Juliano. Nice to meet you, Juliano. Thank you so much. No problem. What a guy. What a great kid he was. Yeah, man. Yeah. Just such nice conversation. Like just such good advice as well. It’s quite funny to hear like how [ __ ] stupid we’ve just been as well, you know, from a local. [Music] And we’re back on what I think is going to be a big old boring road, which I’m okay with. [Applause] Found ourselves on a nice little side road next to the main highway. Besides the wind, it’s pretty optimal. Just really need that wind to do one. About 30 ks left into Dur. Without the wind, I’d say about an hour and a half, but it’s looking more like 2 hours. So, should be rolling in about 6:00 p.m. Man, I really need to stop saying things have been uneventful, don’t I? I probably about 20 25ks into Derez now, just on this long straight road. It’s uneventful, but we know how that goes, right? So fingers crossed next time I see you or next time you see me even, I’ll be in DZ with a beer in my hand. What’s going on here? This guy slowed down waiting for Paul to overtake him, then stopped to have a conversation. You speeded around that corner. Yeah, fell in. Yeah. And I went and he waited for me. Oh, okay. To say what? Do you have a problem? Oh, really? I said no, mate. Just saying hello. What? Hello? What? Hello? Saying hello to you. And then he gave me a prop of evil eye. Oh, yeah. Yeah. As I said, uneventful. Don’t 90ks in. That is looking like a very very attractive proposition. Never mind. Back to the grind. 7ks to go. Finally, here we are. Ride. Good going, man. 97ks. DZ is this weird sort of contrast, isn’t it, of like building site. Another big building site in the distance. Fairly nice beach. Port. And then Swanky Hotels right next door. Yeah, it’s a real city of contrasts. Yeah, I can’t say I’m too impressed with DZ to be honest. Um, of all the beachside coastal towns I’ve visited, this is by far my least favorite. Yeah, go for a quick dip this morning and then we’ll be back on the road for the final leg to Tana. So yeah, if you are traveling up the Albanian coast, I wouldn’t make a special trip to Durz unless you really have to. There’s much much much nicer places, spend those days in Vora, Himara, Saranda, even Samuel. We didn’t go to Samuel, but apparently that’s really cool as well. Just a little bit too off the path for us. The last ride, the last dance. Getting packed up and ready. It’s the latest departure we’ve had. It’s 12:00 already, but we’ve only got 40ks till we’re back in Tana. So, we’re going to take it nice and easy. Hopefully get there in 2 hours, 2 and 1 half hours, and then just have a couple of days exploring my new favorite city again. Feels weird to be setting off in the midday heat, doesn’t it? Feels hot. Yeah. Feels weird that this is like the final ride. It seems to like It’s weird because it’s like the trip seems to have gone fairly quickly, but at the same time then you think back to when we were first in Tana and it feels like a feels like months ago. Yeah. Still got sun cream on your nose. 32. We’ve all managed to avoid sunburn. Yeah. So, one more afternoon. 32° for now. Says highs of 41. Okay. But I mean, if it’s already 12:00 and it’s 32, mind you, it gets hotter quite late in the afternoon here, doesn’t it? Yeah. It doesn’t let up. Yeah. All right, let’s get some water and get on the road, eh? One to go. Let’s be doing it. Tana, here we come. It’s time for those famous last words again, which I’ve said so many times on this trip. It’s looking like quite an uneventful day ahead. Let’s see how that’s going to come back to bite me on the ass this time. One last big bite on the ass. I think 2 minutes later and me chains come off going up a hill. But if that’s as bad as it gets, I’ll take that. Just the most annoying thing. Look at the state of my hands now. Got that for the rest of the journey. This beats cycling along the highway any day. Man, the one thing I dread about cycling trips ending is like you have to go back and eat sensibly again cuz you’re not earn not burning that many calories off again. Like on these trip, we’ve been burning like 1,500 2,000 calories a day. You just eat whatever you want, right? Yeah. On top of Yeah. Like the sort of active calories and just standard calories, right? You have to go back and then start thinking about what you eat. I haven’t thought about what I’ve eaten for 3 and a half weeks. I mean, I’ve thought about it as in positively more more. Yeah. So, the only kind of holiday you can go on and like lose weight and eat as much as you want. So, I have to really really make the most of that tonight in Tana. Yeah. Absolutely. Stuff your face, get to that brewery, drink as much IPA as we can. One last sublaki. Open sulaki. Your route is 500 m. Eating all that. I know. Smell like one and all. [Music] Getting close. Whoa. That was a good move, wasn’t it? Very very smart. That’s cool. [ __ ] me. This is a bit precarious. It has genuinely been a little bit of a meh ride today, which you know, I guess going between the second biggest city and the biggest city, the capital, there’s not there’s only 35ks between them. So on the outskirts of these cities, just quite a lot of industry and Oh [ __ ] my phone’s about to drop. Whoa, look at that. Just as I was about to say, uneventful again. My god, it’s just been a lot of this really running alongside the highway. But 11ks on this road. We’re only 15 out of Tana. So, I guess the final four is just going to be navigating the city. though. See you in Tana if nothing else happens before that. This is by far the worst journey, man. By far the worst. Like the road quality is dreadful. The driving standards are just seems like the closer you get to Tana, the more everyone’s driving like a knobheaded. Yeah, this has really not been a good way to end the trip. All right, so it looks like mide back in Tana. And as painful as that entrance into the city was, we’ve now got cycle lanes all in front of us. Hopefully this is going to smoothen the rest of the trip. Yeah, like you said, I don’t like cycled into a major city and it’s not been bad. That was like the added addition of like road works that surface already. Terrible surface. So many people driving like you can’t get any kind of rhythm. Yeah. Breathing in dust the whole time. Yeah. All right. No, just get going. All right, let’s go. This is more like it. [Music] Back where it all started. Let’s be there tomorrow. Now I’m getting deja vu. I’ve come full circle. How cool is that? Tana to Tyrana in what? 18 days. Yeah, I think roughly we made it. Cheers. Cheers. Job well done. Lemon sodas first. Yep. Can’t beat it. Except Pepsi, of course, if you’re still watching. Back in the wonderful city of Tana. Love it. It’s good to be back. It’s cool traffic light, man. The red and green light is basically the Albania flag. Scanderberg Square. in the bazaar. It’s where I got my football shirts from. It’s the best place for souvenir shopping. celebrating in style. Been waiting a while for this. I know, right? Cheers. Cheers. That’s good. So, we’re having to keep our voices down here cuz we’re in our what became our favorite tap room in the couple of days we were in Tana, but they’ve had a police complaint tonight and they’ve had to close a little bit early. They were supposed to close at 12:00, but they’ve had to close at half 11, but he’s told us he’ll serve us, but they have to close and he has to leave at half 11. But he’s pretending there’s no one in here while we finish our drinks. There is no one in here. Yeah, except us. Just us. Take a look at that. It’s cool place. Gates closed. Cheers. I feel like such a local. What a privilege. He’s very trusting. So, the next shot will be brought to you from the cells of a Tana jail, I imagine. But for now, in one of them bunkers we Let’s enjoy. Cheers. Yeah. Cheers. All right. So, we’ve had our lock in for about an hour. How are we going to get out of here without making too much noise? [Music] Oh, that’s loud. That right, that’s enough. That’s enough. You have to lock it. What? Just Just turn just push it closed. That’s it. That’s it. Thought that was the police behind us. It’s a taxi. [Music] Electric car siren killer. [Music] [Applause] [Music] F.
1 Comment
Did you buy your football shirts from a banana stall?!!