On yer bike

  We awoke after a good nights sleep. The shed was a quiet haven tucked away beneath the mulberry trees. I picked some this morning and had them with our breakfast. They were amazing and the trees outside in the garden are laden with them. All free for the picking and Crispy knows how much I love a freebie.

We were soon showered, fed and out for the day. It was a little overcast first thing with high cloud that shielded us from the first rays of the morning sun. Yesterday was hot and today was forecast to be hotter so we were grateful for a little cloud cover. We took two bikes from the campsite as our trusty steeds.  The bikes are ex city bikes from Strasbourg that the owner obviously bought as a job lot. All silver and still proudly displaying Strasbourg city council logos. Basic but serviceable and good enough for our needs. The main roads around the city  are busy but the drivers are.very accommodating to cyclists. We headed back towards Shkoder and took a little detour over a footbridge ,that had seen better days, to the opposite side of the Buna river that drains the lake into the Adriatic. The lake is huge and makes Windermere look like a disappointing puddle. It is 27 miles long with a surface area of 200 square miles. It looks more like a sea than a lake once your on its shores. 

The route we had decided to go took us all along the Albanian portion of the lake up-to the Montenegrin border. A well made metalled road that follows closely to the lake shore and is relatively flat. Crispy is an old bird now and at home is the proud owner of an electric bicycle. She did not relish the thought of going back to pedal power. However she put her big knickers on and stepped up to the challenge. The ride was wonderful and mostly easy going. As the morning progressed the light cloud cover broke and once again we were at the mercy of the sun. Although the road passes through a nature reserve there are not many trees and shade is a rare commodity. 

We were lucky enough to come across a tortoise that was crossing the road in front of us. We had passed a few cars on the single track road so we stopped and assisted it on its way in the hope of preventing tortoise road pizza, We never know if your doing the right thing by intervening. It could have taken poor Mr Tortoise an hour to get where he is and then some interfering tourist picks it up and moves it. Possibly to where it’s just come from thus forcing it to run the gauntlet of the road crossing once more. I carefully picked it up, considering this the lesser of two evils, and placed it carefully in the scrub on the opposite side of the road. All the time being very cautious of snakes. We had seen dead snakes on the road and my knowledge of Balkan reptiles is very limited as to their toxicity so it pays to be cautious. As I released it and it slowly lumbered into the undergrowth I spotted another tortoise waiting for it. Hopefully it was the right thing to do.

We also saw numerous lizards, of differing size and colour, and various forms of bird life including grebe and owls. Yes owls flying about in the daytime. It was a rare treat. 

After reaching the Montenegrin border we turned around and retraced our route back to Shkoder. By now it was over 34 degrees in the shade. We had no shade so god knows how hot it was.

Once back in Shkoder we cycled up the main highway towards the centre to find a small market we had noticed yesterday on our walk to the campsite. We bought fresh mozzarella and homemade sheep’s cheese plus a selection of homegrown salad veg. Tonight will be a veritable vegetarian feast outside our shed. I know there’s a definite salad vibe going on but it’s too hot for cooked food. We will save the tatty ash and cottage pie till we get home. 

Tomorrow morning we head back into Shkoder to find the bus to Tirana.  It runs every hour on the hour so there’s no need for an early start. The journey should take around 2 hours and will give us a short time  in the capital to have a look around. From Tirana it is only a 45 minute bus ride to our next destination of Durres, a seaside town on the Aegean coast. Our home for the following 2 nights on our continuing journey South to the Peloponnese and eventually Athens.

Bare and Crispy signing off, In a shed, Shkoder, Albania