Bikepacking Albania – Cycling from Albania to Portugal

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Dear family and friends,

It’s finally here! The first of many videos from our journey bike-packing from Albania to Portugal.

This episode follows us on our journey through Albania. We are so accustomed to how large Australia is, that it continues to blow our mind how much ground you can cover in Europe in such a short amount of time. And we didn’t want to miss out on the Albanian alps on account of them being too steep for our ol’ bikes, so we hitchhiked some segments.

We are so grateful for the strangers and friends we met along the way, and can’t wait to see what Montenegro holds for us!

Thank you for watching.

See you in the next one,
Finlay & Lydia

P.s. check out our linktr.ee/creakycheeks (pssssst. You should donate to one of the charities!!)

Credits to the content we used to make this video:
map: https://mapswire.com/maps/europe-physical-maps/

Song1: https://ende.app/en/song/13317-pod-wiejskim-sloncem-under-the-country-sun-poland

Song2: https://soundcloud.com/albanian-music/track-18?si=4805e56c0dcb4075b4030493dbaf01b5&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Typewriter sound effect by ZapSplat

Yeah. So, we’re in Tana in Albania and um we’ve just done two weeks of traveling just with some friends and we rented a car. Now the real trip begins. Now the real trip begins. Now we’re tripping. Lydia shaved her hair off today. What? I’m like I’m like nervous. [Music] He’s never done this before. Did you do that in my sleeve? Yeah. Yeah. And now we’re going to put our bikes together here in the hostel that we flew over from London. I just had to go get cash out. Once we put them together, we’ve got another night here and then we’re going to cycle up just cycle all the way to Portugal. To Portugal. Um but the first leg of our trip is going to be to Croatia to Split to Split. um where we’re going to be meeting Finlay’s mom. My mom and brother and Amanda, you said? Yes, she will be there. Um so yeah, that’ll probably that we go. We back. We out here. You want some of these nuts? I wonder if that’s on correct. Where is my axle? Does it matter which way the front wheel goes on? Where are my pedals? Oh no. Where is my axle? I would have put it in this bag, wouldn’t I? Right. Yes, I did. Good boy. That looks right. Right. Mhm. What’s the best way to do this? How’s it going? Good. It’s going great. What are you doing? Look at this. Look at this setup. We got That’s going to fall off in the wind. Yeah. No, wind isn’t that strong in Albania, so it’s fine. We keep it on there. The wind’s more like this. I’m really happy with my setup today, guys. is it’s by far the most organized and the most ow most aesthetic. Look at that. Look at that. We’re getting breakfast before we hit the road. Finley’s gotten four sandwiches cuz he’s freaking fatty. This helmet feels sick. [Music] First meal of the first day. [Music] [Music] for me. [Music] We are recording. We have arrived in what might one might might We’ve arrived in what one might call the Garden of Eden. That’s right. Initially thought we were going to camp by a river. And then we kind of got here and it wasn’t too promising and we couldn’t even really get down to the bank of the river. Yeah. Sort of like construction vibe. And then uh Lydia was like, “What about we we ask that lady in the restaurant that’s just closed?” Yeah. Went, “Hi, can we please camp behind your restaurant?” And she went, “Yes.” And then she showed us this little place out the back that we didn’t even know was here. And it’s this gorgeous little little enclosed garden. There is a toilet. And she was just really friendly. And so it’s it kind of works out because we’re gonna wake up in the morning and probably go to her cafe and get a little a little espresso carpenter and say thank you. Do you want to do pegs first? Yeah. And then for dinner. True. You would not believe it. You would not believe your eyes. We’ve actually got four cans of tuna and rice. Oh yeah. We did wild camp in this country already. Yeah, we did. That was really fun. We did it on a beach. We did it on a beach. That was a photo. And we did it in a parking lot by some hot springs. Here’s another photo. I don’t know if I took a photo. Really? We’ll do some cool like Hey, good morning. Your camera’s dirty. Okay. going to do like a sit down with the mics. Yeah. Okay. Are you filming it? Yeah. Hey guys, slept like horrible. Slept horri horrible. So bad. Day two, Lydia. Huh? Day two on the road. Hey guys, welcome back to our channel and we’re currently cycling on a road. My bicycle keeps making weird noises. Do you hear this? We got two issues. The first issue is my water bottle is open in here. That’s been leaking for about I want to say 10 km. It’s very wet. This sleeping bag is pressing against my brake lever. So, my brakes have just been on this whole time. That’s why I’ve been going so slow. Yeah, that’s why. We’re going to play some pool. [Music] You had so many options. Can you get your own pool queue? No. I can’t tell if it’s hotter in here or outside. [Music] Hello, guys. Stop. Stop the video. We interrupt this really entertaining, awesome video, not because we’re sponsored, but we’re hoping that you might sponsor a donation charity. A donation to a charity of your choice. That’s right. Tell them, what are we sponsoring? We are sponsoring two charities. We’re trying to raise money for two charities. Uh one in the UK and one in Sydney. And both of them are related to uh spinal and brain injuries and the rehabilitation that comes with that. So we really hope that you can donate. We’re going to put some links in. Bing bing. And if our fundraiser is no longer extant, if this you’re watching this video into the future, we’re no longer doing it. That’s so cool. You’re in the future. It’s really cool. What’s it like? What’s it like over there? Um, but before you tell us what it’s like, just donate anyway to those charities because they’re really good. Uh, and they help people and they’ve helped even my family directly uh, who have been affected by strokes. And by the way, I’m looking at you, the person watching this video, not just some random entity that’s non-existent. You’re the one that can make a change. $1, $2, $3, $4,1 million. Just do it. Just do it right now. Link in the description below and right here and right there. Okay. Bye. Enjoy the rest of the video. Missy. Love you. Bye. You in? Yeah. We’ve been given directions by multiple locals. A few of them said we couldn’t go this way, but one that we could, so it a go. Don’t trust Kimoot, guys. Oh, this video is not sponsored by Kimoot. You all right? Yeah. Okay, we’re back. [Applause] Where do you think it wants us to go? It says turn right, but it’s it was a drain. It’s really hot. Ow. I just almost burned my finger and he just doesn’t care. [Music] I don’t like this. Are you getting this audio experience? You’re done. [Music] Dude, it’s sturdy as hell. After not being able to stay at the place we intended, we stumbled upon this farm that had free camping facilities and a really cool restaurant that was all farmtotable. And we ended up having a really, really wonderful night even though we thought we were [ __ ] I’ve got a flat tire. Um, it happened yesterday. I have a feeling I know where it was. It was on this part of the track. Ow. And we’re going to do our first patch of the trip. I’ve got a little bit of soapy water here that I’m going to rub on the inner tube once I pump it up again. and we’ll be able to see where the bubbles come out and they’ll show us where the pole is. This is stupid. How do we do this if we’re on the road? Really do know what I’m doing, guys. Should we go into the light? There it is. There it is. You see that? He’s lost the hole. So, we need to scrape in all the directions. Then we need to put it on. We take one whole minute to put it on. So you do it really slowly and then you can pump it back up. Where is it? Yeah. Great. Great. We’re all patched up. Right by this other patch. Look at her. It’s a cool looking patch. I just can’t deal with looking like this every day. Can we get a full 360? like every day for the next four months. You’re saying this is what I’m going to look like. Like because it’s going to be like hot and to protect my butt and protect my head. This is what we’re saying. Look at Lydia. She looksing great. Look at her. Get that brightness up. Check that out. Look fine. Damn. Right. But then look at this. I don’t see the problem. Every day. I reckon I was only sitting on like this part of the seat. [Applause] Hi. Those over there are the Albanian Alps and that’s where we’re going to be going. I think we’re going to start going there tomorrow. We’ll be leaving these ink cuz we want to do the Valona to theft walk which uh I’m sure you’ll see. Uh so we arrived today in Skoda and then we’re going to be hitchhiking our way over there pretty much. So we just stopped to get some fruits. We got I’ve never seen a kiwi like that before. And these are called kimch, I think. Yeah. Juju bees. Juju bees. Red Chinese dates. There we go. Fuel for the road. Fuel for the road. [Applause] Stay close to your shoe, dude. Is he going to bite me? Yeah. Yeah. Do a little loop. Yeah. down to run that. Dang. Come on now. Is he going to do a full loop around your foot, you reckon? Where’s he going? It looks like he is. Yeah. Circle around. Where do you want to go? Where’s he trying to get to? You got to get off the road, dude. Hey. Oh, you asked also for the bikes if I’m not. Yeah, cuz we So, we’re going to go up to um Balona and do the hike and then come back and then stay one more night. Oh, hello. It’s dinner time. We’re finished up with the fried eggplant. The final dish. Got a lovely bit of couscous and beeftock here. These are a beautiful little kofa with some fresh onion. Looks so much better in the light. And here we have uh the fried onion and eggplant and capsicum mix. A little bit of spices. We are eating micro plastics. That’s right. Because my spoon half melted in the uh in the cooking process. Bonapetit. That’s the spot. Oh, there it is. Look at this guy. Oh. Oh, yes. Oh, good boy. Good boy. Hi. Good morning, guys. Guess what time it is? It’s 8:00 in the morning. Um, Finlay and I stayed at a hotel last night. It cost us $15 each and it was it was the bare minimum, but it it was it was wonderful. Today we’re going to be hitchhiking to Kan and uh yeah, hopefully we get by with my little flash card. Um we we’re going to ask them Ashkanes, which means are you going to Kan? Can we come? And then, you know, little small talk. Tomorrow we’re taking the ferry to FA. I feel deeply uncomfortable, but they do say uh embarrassment is an unexplored emotion. So, I I need to just sit with it. I just Yeah, I feel really uncomfortable. Not Finlay, though. He doesn’t mind. So, we just hitchhiked. We just hitchhiked to this town and uh now we’re trying to get the next step of the way. Uh and a man, a lovely man, just picked us up. He’s super nonchalant. He wasn’t even like, “Hey, get in my car.” He was like, and then we just hopped in and it was kind of silence the entire time, but it was good. Why are you still filming? We’re making slow progress. We got to one town over. No, next town’s this and then the road off towards Kamana Ferry is through there. So then we’ll actually get to use a Kumani sign. Uh we have all day so there’s no rush. There’s a car. He’s not pulling over. What is that? Hey everyone. Hi. We just had lunch. Yeah. Um it was sausages, kafta, goats cheese, tomatoes, onion. How was it? It was really nice. The standard for Albanian food here, which is very, very nice. So, right now we’re walking to the turnoff where people go to Kamani Lake. So, hopefully everyone on that road is going to Kani. And uh some guy gave us two bottles of cold water, which was really nice. Yeah. He said no. Yeah. Go back to Skod after and get them. We’re just going to common or a bunch of Thank you. Yeah, we have we have all day. We’ve just been picked up by one of the engineers of Kamani Road and uh he’s taking us pretty much all the way from where we just were to Kamani. He has to do this drive every day from Tana. So luckily he’s picked us up for this journey today. We were told we can come down here for drinking water. So just an FYI to the camera, Finlay’s never had food poisoning. So hopefully I don’t myself later. [Music] What if I lift the chair? Good kitty. Quick, sit down. What was that? Who was that? How’s the shot? It’s good. So, we made it to Kamani Lake. Uh, and through the kindness of strangers, we were offered to stay on that ferry, which turned out staying on this lovely little balcony of this restaurant here. So, we’re going to stay here till the morning and hop on that ferry at 9:00. Yeah, I’m super pleased with how today’s turned out cuz we kind of woke up going, we have no idea how it’s going to go cuz we don’t know how long it’s going to take to catch a ride, let alone where we’re going to stay for the night. But three strangers later and another one up here and yeah, we’ve made our way here for free and we’re just going to stay the night. So, it’s really, really nice. It is really nice. Feeling very grateful and it’s beautiful. We’re going to have a quick dip and then maybe get something to eat and a drink. You think? Yeah. A drink, I think. A drink, I think. Little drink, I think. All right. Just watching this um this drunk driver trying to take the boat out of the water. I’m scared. We’re making dinner. We’ve got um mystery canned meat for the sixth time on this trip. This time we’ve got flesh saka and tomato meatballs and tomato. Sorry, I couldn’t read the English. And we got a hold man. Yeah. Good morning, guys. Good morning. We spent the night on the terrace of this restaurant. Um, and this morning we’ve been given free tea and a two for one bar deal, which is unheard of in this country. This place is called Rosafa Boat Tours. Okay. They’ve been really, really lovely and generous to us. So, not sponsored, just super grateful. Sponsored with tea and direct. Yeah, that’s the way to our hearts, honestly. And you guys, we already saw the Wona T because we we were in the T. Oh, yeah. Oh, really? So, up to Well, guys, we’re almost there at the start of our hike. And after being refused, uh, well, not refused, but asked to pay by two people. Australia, Australia. We were like, “No, we’re all good.” We kept walking and then two fantastic Albanian men picked us up. We’re like, “Get in.” We got in. They pull out some cold beers and like here you go. Uh drive us like almost all the way until they had to peel off. And then when we get out, we take 200 leg. They’re like, “Get out of here.” But we’re feeling the bliss of Albania and this hospitality truly. And we’re going to remember that. That’s the memory for the ages. We just got another two hitchhikes, but one guy took us 3 km and then another group of guys picked us up and then brought us to the start of this hike. So, we’ve actually done 3 kilometers of the hike already by car and we’re about to start the the but the bit that the bit that’s on foot [Applause] videoing about and just get this one just We just passed a couple and they had this puppy with them and we said, “Is this your puppy?” And they said, “Nope, it’s just been following us.” So now we’ve stolen it. Isn’t that right, Finlay? Yeah. You go further back this lens. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Good morning. We don’t have the mics cuz meant we forgot, but we’re just chilling this morning on the edge of the mountain. I don’t know why I said mountain like that. But yeah, it’s it was a storm last night. We thought it was going to be raining this morning, but likely it’s not. Yeah, the lightning and the thunder were intense. Mhm. We were intent. Sure. Hey guys, we’ve just got gotten up, woken up, packed up, everything, and now we’re going up to the pass. Um, we’ve got all of our friends. This lovely lady, she was with us all morning. This little guy, he ate human poop last night and was keeping us company. Uh, this dude, don’t know him. So, new friend, but there’s, you know, there’s a lot of friends to be made on this path along the way. Um, and we’ll see if they follow us. Uh, because they like to do that. So, let’s head up to the path. [Applause] [Laughter] Last night, we camped down there where that big rock is, and now we’ve made our way up. problem. No problem. Knee problem is no problem. Walk down the hill backwards and you have no knee problem. Hey. Hey. Come here. Good job. Yeah. Oh, okay. You going to Got me in my tummy. really good. It does. That looks really good. Let me squeeze. Take my helmet. Okay. Hey. Hi. We’re about uh what 3 km from the Montenegron border. That’s right. And uh we’re really sad to be leaving Albania. I’m actually devastated. It’s been about three 3 weeks that we’ve been here. And um Oh. Oh my god. I don’t know what I was expecting. Of course, he was going to honk. Um yeah, it’s been 3 weeks. I feel like we’ve gotten really used to the food. We love the food. Food’s really good. We finally gotten the hang of saying please and thank you. Mhm. Um that’s right. And talutm. Uh and yeah, gotten really comfortable with all the people. People have been so so friendly, so generous, so giving. Yeah. Truly. Like we heard about it before we came here, but we can’t. The amount of help and generosity we’ve received in this country has been insane. Yeah, can’t overstate it. But I’ve also heard similar things about people in Montenegro. So, I’m very very keen um to do it all again. New food, new people, new words, new mountains, new mountains. Yeah, it’s been pretty flat so far today. Yeah, today and from Tana to Skoda. We obviously did that big hike, but yeah, we’re leaving Albania. And yeah, we’ve got we’ve got some monster mountains to be cycling up and uh it’s going to be interesting. Mhm. We’re hitting the first of those in 2 days. Yeah. And then it might snow, so we can only hope. Yeah, I think that would be really fun. It is a nice spot, but also there are a lot of cars going in front of us. We could have picked No, I like it. It highlights that we’ve we’ve taken the time off out of just cycling to pull over and give you guys a quick update. We’ve been pretty poor with it. I think we’ve been quite tired after that massive hike. Finlay’s been bedridden for 2 days. My legs have been absolutely So, they’re feeling all right today, which I’m I’m happy about. I couldn’t walk downstairs properly, so that’s good. Yeah, it was worth it. Um, I think that’s it. Yeah. See you when we cross the border. The trip has officially begun. Mhm. Boy, parking.