We Got Caught Trespassing in Albania’s Longest Tunnel! | Himarë – Vlorë | Cycling Albania Ep.5

It all goes a bit wrong on this cycle from Himarë to Vlorë, as we try to take a shortcut to cut out the Llogara Pass. Safe to say it backfires! Only one day but enough troubles to last a week!

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

I have a feeling that’s going to take a full episode. Can I get around to edit that bad boy? [Music] [Applause] [Music] It is a scorcher this morning. Leaving Himari and onwards to Vora. Next coastal stop, the Vora is about 70ks away and there’s one mahusive mountain in the middle of the ride, but after that it is just like half of the ride is just going to be fully downhill. So should should be an all right one. This it’s going to be tough, but it’s going to be worth it, I think. enjoyed Hamari. Little bit more chilled than Saranda. Still sort of Mediterranean beach resort vibes, but about to get run over here. Sandwiched. Yeah, a little bit more relaxed than Saranda. 1 and a half kilometers in first hill. I thought we might get at least a little bit of easing into it. My word. Is this the earliest stop we’ve ever had? 2 and a half KS. I’m pretending to check directions, but I am. Stop me puffing. I’m desperate for a drink. Oh my gosh. And we’re in for a trick today, I reckon. I was expecting the one in the middle. Wasn’t expecting this one so early. two and a halfks in and I’m gassed. You may have noticed on the last like ride and this ride there’s only two of us. Like Danny’s decided to stay in our in Ser where we left yesterday. Have a nice chill week exploring that area rather than powering all the way up the coast. So we’re going to meet him in Toronto on the last night. At this point right now, right here, I kind of envy him. I’m filling up my bottle already 3 km in. That’s the first time I’ve ever had to do that. Got plenty of water this morning as well, didn’t we? Yeah. Hit a good rhythm. Yeah. that. But that’s that’s the end of that gradient now. I hope so. Hope so. If that’s the first chunk out of the way, I’d sooner do it at the beginning than at the end. Oh, yeah. You know. Yeah. Let’s see how we go. What do you think that was? About 12%. The sign said 10 on the bit that was relatively easy. Yeah. be 12, 13, 14. It’s going to be a tough one today, man. I was sick of that, man. We’re setting off a bit too late for these kind of climbs. Yeah. 10:00. It’s too late. [Music] Jesus Christ. Another one. 3 and 1/2ks in. Leaving Himari now. Himari, you are delightful. But getting out of you, you don’t make it easy. It’s the toughest exit to a city I’ve ever ever witnessed or town. Man, this is all right, though. This is not more like it. That one minute of treating us to downhill and then setting us up for this. Jesus Christ. Jeez. Listen to those gears, man. I can say with some degree of certainty, I’ve never stopped so many times in the first not even 5 km of a ride. Holy [ __ ] It’s hot. It’s hilly. [Applause] This today is going to be It’s going to be hellish, man. Just little bursts little and often. Water stops, sugar stops. It’s going to be the way we have to do it. This could be the steepest hill I’ve ever climbed. Steeper than anything in Croatia last year. I think there was one in Samoa that was like that but it was only for couple of hundred meters. This is 30 km. Yeah. 30 km of this. You smell the clutches. Next target we get around this corner. Yeah. Then there’s a bit of flatten down. Yeah. See if we can get that done and then we’ll be at the bottom. Do the flat, do the down, and then reassess. All right, Jio, done a whole 5k in 44 minutes. So proud. Oh my god, my helmet is absolutely disgusting as well. Every time I put it back on, just drips into my eyes. How much? 146 left at the top of the pass. Which means we’ve done about 15. Uh, sorry, 500. Jesus Christ. Just another two of those then. Just another two of those. Just to confirm that is electrolyte powder. Colombian marching electrolyte powder. Paul has not taken up a dirty habit since we’ve been here. It’s just like a spoonful of table salt. It’s probably what it is. [ __ ] grip. Plenty to go around. Oh god. I’ll stick to my nice lemon and lime flavored one. Is this part of the Jiro Dealia? Looks like it could be. sponsored by Credins Bank. Here’s a little tip for you. If you’re in Albania with a foreign card, use Credit Bank. Use the ATMs at Credins cuz they ATM withdrawal fees in Albania are insane. Uh, Credits charges 600 le, which is about €6 for every transaction. That’s the cheapest one we found. Most of the others are 7 or 800. So 78 to take out your cash. So tip number one, if you can find a credits ATM, use it. Tip number two, take out as much as you think you need because you’re going to get charged an absolute king’s ransom just to access your own money. There you go. It’s not just a cycling channel. Just stopped at a roadside mini market. Got the got the market cornered here, haven’t they, man? Two big bottles of water, can of Pepsi, and a bounty ice cream. 700 LE. About €7, which wouldn’t be too bad if you’re in, you know, in the UK, I guess. But it’s probably about twice as much as it’s as it would normally cost here. But captive audience. Been craving a bounty since yesterday. I had a bounty crepe and it was so underwhelming. Oh, that’s the kind of sugar I’m going to need today. I think I tell you what, I found a real red flag. People who don’t like bounties. You know those who say it looks like tastes like sunscreen. Just what you think? Unbelievable stuff. Just what this ride needed. Cobbles. It’s almost like they’ve gone, you know what? That wasn’t hard enough. Let’s cobble the [ __ ] out of these streets as well. Can’t remember the last time I saw a traffic light. It’s been a while. I don’t think I’ll ever be a nutritionist, but that can of Pepsi and the Bounty ice cream seems to given me a little bit of a a boost. I’m sure there’s much healthier ways to get your sugars, but got to enjoy life as well, haven’t you? [Music] Now that I think is the climb in the distance. See that winding road? You might not be able to see it. Holy moly. Oh yo yo. You think it’s that windy one? Yeah, that’s the one. Yeah. Boot boot wide open there. Look at the gradient from here though. Doesn’t look that bad. Too bad, right? It’s high, but it’s not a huge gradient. They cut it into the mountain at a reasonable gradient, I reckon. Yeah, I think it’s going to be fine. Should we eat at the top of the mountain then? Yeah. Okay. I’ve got I’ve got the glucose. You got stuff you can have? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve just got a bag of raisins. I feel like I feel pretty good now, actually. Yeah. I think that first one was almost got in my head. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Got many left. Yeah. This is the right hill. Yeah. Before we set off. Yep. Hill. All right. Fortunately. Yeah. He wasn’t too happy to see me. Another calorie stop at the mini mart. Ooh, could be a burk over there. What nutrition are you going for? Carbs. Blaze. Yeah, salty carbs and some grand chips. Thinking there’s a there’s a buria next door. Oh, is it? I might go and get a burka. These have been great, aren’t they? Yeah. These like these little these pub snacks, man. They can’t beat them. They’re my favorites. Going to be so disappointed if I can’t get a ber now. Mission accomplished. How much was it? 150. Yeah, I’m getting hot. So good. Just trying to get the change. Yeah. So, for those of you who are not aware of the absolute perfection that is the bureck, it’s basically like uh Balkan pasti, I guess, is the best way to put it. Each country seems to have different variations. In Croatia, I was eating them almost every day. It’s just pastry stuffed with either meat, cheese, spinach, sometimes all of them. It’s just unbelievable fuel. Good fuel for the mountains, but it’s also just really, really, really delicious. Going to need it where we’re going. Which one did you get? Mish. Mishe. Yeah. Unbelievable, isn’t it? Very beefy as well. They’re not shy. Yeah. There’s like a proper pasti, isn’t it? The ones in Croatia, they were like a they’d make them in a big sort of pancake shape. Like massive massive like circular one and they just cut you a slice out, you know, like we had in a little triangle. Yeah. They were like really substantial as well. But this is so nice. Just I’m actually quite hungry as well. I know. It’s a bit steep now. Look at that. It’s even steeper. And Berk was very well timed. And now time to climb. Oh, legs are already hurting. Puncture. Yeah. Damn. All right. Front or back? The theme of the trip, man. Back to where it all began about a minute and a half ago. [Music] Little bit of a nightmare that couple of issues with changing the rear tire. Rear tire punctures are just the theme of this trip. I’ve had two. Paul’s now had one. That’s before we get up the hill as well. Like of all the days for a puncture, hill day is not the one. We’re also pretty much out of inner tubes now. So, we really need to hope that we get to Vora with no other issues where we can stock up. Hopefully, we’ve been trying for ages to stock up, but we just haven’t been able to find anywhere selling them. I think Laura is going to be the biggest city that we’ve been to for a while, though. So hopefully we can get ourselves sorted there providing we get there onwards and quite literally upwards. They do say you should spend some time in Dur. I’ve been reading that it’s a good place to make a nice little stop. Not sure this is what they had in mind. Let’s go start your watch. Oh, I’ve seen this uh graffiti a few times now. Something something apartheid touristic. I have to find out what that means. Like wonder if it’s like a bit like what’s going on in Spain at the moment where they’re worried that locals and being overrun by tourists. I don’t know, man. If you do know, if you’re from Albania or speak Albanian, of course, let me know in the comments. That road into the mountains, man. It looks intimidating. Staring us out. You don’t have to go there. Really? Is this this a new road? New road. Oh, man. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to take it, but I think we’re going to have to, man. There’s a tunnel. There’s a tunnel. Okay. Uh, let’s give it a go. I mean, I’m wearing black on black, but stick together in the tunnel. Yeah, I’m just going to go and park up a minute, have a drink, and take a look at that viewpoint. But that is that is good news. And that’s not on your map, this road. It is on there, but it’s kind of like grayed out. Okay. But loads of cars are going down it. Yeah. It doesn’t say it’s not. Yeah, it’s new. Yeah. Google says drive that way. Okay. Let’s do it then. Let’s take the risk. So, looks like we might have stumbled upon a little cheat code here. The original plan was to, well, the only plan we thought was to go up there to the Lagara Pass, which is supposedly a really beautiful road, but after the day we’ve had and this potential new road option and the climbing, it’s going to cut out, feels like a bit of a no-brainer to take the sort of easier route. Yeah. do does feel a little bit like sad though to be missing out on what is probably a very beautiful road. But we’ve been going for nearly 3 hours and we’ve only done 25k. So, we really need to make some time up cuz it’s almost 2:00 p.m. Yeah. So, let’s see how we go. It looks like a bit of a car lorry road, so we might not be allowed on there anyway. But let’s let’s give it a go. See how far we get. I mean it it would have been nice but man that is so steep. Yeah. The big concern here is that there looks like there’s a tunnel with a lot of lries going through it. And I’m wearing all black. Here we go then. Let’s see. Well, first of all, let’s see if we get stopped. Doesn’t look like it. Well, the dog’s having a word. The dogs might be trying to tell us something. You just stay out of the road, buddy. You take care. So, what’s that red circle? Is that saying that That’s saying that we can go through, right? Yeah. If it if you weren’t allowed, there’d be a line on it, right? Line through it. I guess this Yeah, this is probably the cycle. Although it’s fine. Yeah, first. Yeah, sure. Yeah, they’ll take me out first, won’t they? All right, tunnel time. There’s a few like [Applause] sort of alert noises. Seem to be following us, those noises, unless they’re playing throughout the whole tunnel. And a lot of the lights have turned red around us. Don’t know if that’s a sign saying get out, but I think it looks like it’s getting lighter at the end now. Anyway, so maybe that’s just cuz there’s more cars coming. Does that mean there’s five more kilometers? I do think these red lights might be for us cuz there isn’t a single red light on the other side of the road. There’s also a car down here waiting. Are we going to get in trouble here? Let’s see. Yep. See you. Huh? Can I go? No. Okay. So, we have to go back. No, you can’t go back. You have to go. We can get out. Okay. Wow. You didn’t see the sign there very soon. We thought there was no there was no line so we thought it meant it’s okay. No, it’s okay. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Sure. All right. Okay. Sorry about that, man. So, that didn’t exactly go to plan. I mean, those guys were nice enough. Very nice, actually. Very, very friendly. Uh, very helpful. Uh, I asked if we could turn around. They said, “No, we’ve got to take you out.” Loaded up our bikes into the back of the van, drove us the remaining 3 km of the tunnel. And yeah, they’ve just dropped us off now at the end of the tunnel. As you can see up there, the mountain is actually on fire. Um, so we might have actually skipped dodged a bullet there anyway. Although they did say it’s fine, wouldn’t have affected us. But any thoughts on that one? What can you say? were kind of joking about, you know, those noises. Was probably trying to tell us we shouldn’t be in here. Turns out it actually probably wasn’t. It was probably actually like alerting alerting them to the fact this is where they are. Like that’s where the cuz there was no red lights on the other side of the road. Every single light on the other side of the road was blue or or white. Just our our side was all red. They were remarkably calm. Well, I think they did say, didn’t they? We we weren’t the first. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You think they would? Well, I don’t know. There was a sign, but didn’t mean what we thought it meant. Yeah. I think on the positive side, we’ve shaved an absolute [ __ ] ton off this day now. We’ve only done 25ks. We’ve got 30 left. 30 left from here. Yeah. And it’s pretty much what, 500 meters down, 100 up. So, we’ve shaved about 15 20ks of hill. All of that. You’re not going to be able to breathe up there either, man. That’s crazy. Lesson learned. Not really. Right. Where do we go from here? Man, that fire is Yeah. Oh, look at the black smoke there as well. Damn. I’ve honestly not felt like a naughty school kid like that for as many years, man. So glad they were so friendly. Or at least one of them was at least. Yeah, they took it. They took it well. Man, that is insane. They were lucky though, man. Like some countries should have been taken in. Yeah. Questioned. Yeah. Fine. Yeah. Yeah. Fine. At the very or extorted by the workers themselves. Yeah. Right. Yeah. We got very lucky there. Don’t worry about it, guys. Fine. the amount of times I was a I was apologizing so often and he was like he was almost getting pissed off with the apology I think he was like just get over it right it’s fine you [ __ ] up today yeah what a story man just done our most recent 5k in 12 minutes first 5k of the day took us almost an making up that time. On the right here, we have the 40 signaturies of Albanian independence. [Music] These were the guys who got it done. [Music] would have to say the toughest day so far. Not just physically because of the hills, but mentally as well, the heat, the psychological factor of like I guess just like little things like the puncture and getting stopped by the and it’s a funny story, right? The tunnel thing, but at the time it was quite stressful and then thinking we’re going to have to go back and uh what’s the word? Scale that mountain in the end. And yeah, it’s just been a really draining day, man. We’re about 6ks away from Bora now. So, we’re almost there. But man, I’m ready for a dip in the sea and a cold drink. Beautiful. Someone told us the other day that Vora is the closest thing to Miami Beach they’ve seen in Albania. Um, never actually been to Miami Beach, but I get I think I get what he means. It’s really nice, man. This is stunning. See, I think in time that might become one of my favorite rides. Yeah. Not right now. For now. I’m just glad we’re here, man. We’ve made it to Laura. We’ve made it to our accommodation. Just waiting to be let in. Man, when I get down to editing this, I feel like this is going to justify a full episode today. Could have ended it with a car crash there as well. Oh man, what an insane ride that was. I have a feeling that’s going to take a full episode. I get around to edit that bad boy one day, just not today. [Music] [Applause] [Music]