Durrës – Ishull Lezhë 74.94km 🚴♀️ 3.58.54 ⏱ 18.8km/hr ⬆️ 225m ⬇️ 270m
And on the fifteenth day He created a pool 😇. And it was good. Don’t know what we would do if there was no ocean or pool to jump in after a day on the bike. Not jump is the only answer of course, but without a swim it’s just impossible to cool off.
We left a little later than planned as we had to wait for our breakfast. Omelette 🍳 and pancakes 🥞 , it was a good morning. Or Mieremengjazz 🐜🎧🎼🎷(mirëmēngjes) in Albanian. From the hotel it was up and down on bumpy gravel road for a while to get out of the city. Mas made a computer 💻 game of it, reverse Pac-Man (not eating bumps), including theme song. We had a blast, good times 🕹. The landscape was beautiful again, so we did enjoy some nice views. Especially Suuz who cycled behind Mas for quite a bit, great view 🍑.
Upon exiting the suburbs of Durres we got back on the asphalt, the fun was over and we just had to cycle again. A stream of cars 🚗 🚙 coming from the opposite direction, lots of them speeding up to the car in front of them and passing it on our lane. In this case we wished we really were Pac-Man and could eat simply devour those cars, lunatics with a death wish. Suuz was really pissed off 😤. But at least we saw them coming and could anticipate.
We returned to the highway a couple of times today, highway means gear up, eyes 👀 straight ahead and go, go, go. Cycle as fast as possible to get off that thing as quickly as possible. For sure the asphalt surface is speedy but it’s just too narrow and the speed difference is too high. About 30 kilometres into our ride we had our morning coffee ☕️ at a roadside cafe and Suuz ate her daily banana 🍌. Mas ate a rotten apple 🍎, except she didn’t. Cause it was rotten. So a sugary energy bar it was.
Weather forecast promised it wouldn’t be above 30C degrees today. Well they were wrong. “Feeling hot hot hot” is officially our trip’s theme song 🎶. Since mountain shade and ocean breeze have deserted us our besties spot is open again. Anyone can step in to fill this gap. If you are really big, tall and broad-shouldered you have a good chance to become our new best friend (SHADE!!). Applications are open.
Mid-way through the day we decided to take a smaller road that would be a few extra kms, but potentially quieter. Best decision ever 👍🏻. The beautiful paved road was nearly empty and took us through numerous cute little villages and lush green hills. With around 50km on the watch we stopped for lunch at a local burger 🍔 place. Suuz ordered the house burger and Mas a veggie one. Those things were humongous so we didn’t eat it all. Otherwise within a few weeks we will be able to provide our own shade.
After lunch it was still about 22 kilometres to the Kompleksi. Mas was in search of a new battery 🔋 for her heart ❤️ rate monitor. She had brought an extra one from home only to realize it was empty. She found one in the third store she made Suuz go to, and has three different types of batteries now, so if anyone needs a CR2032 or a CR2016 let us know. It will be brought to you within some weeks. Best before 2025 doesn’t mean it’s a CR2025, of course she knew this but she didn’t want to disappoint the Albanian woman 👩🏻 at the counter who was so happy she found it.
Anyway, we continued. A little piece of highway 🛣 was followed by a nice side road into the country. On these roads we do have to be aware not to cycle into the locals🚶♂️ walking around with huge hay forks 🔱 or scythes (yeah I had to use google translate for this) resting on their shoulders. Danger of being seriously cut ⚔️ or worse, become a human souvlaki.
Cycling along the side road we stumbled upon a local prison , which looked awfully creepy. So creepy we didn’t dare take a picture in fear of the guards 👮🏻♂️watching the place. We had take a dirt road for the last 5km. It was awful, this morning’s Pac Man lost his appetite so he was not of any help either. We just had to undergo the slipping, bumping and shaking. Thank our lucky stars ✨ for our shock absorbing sports bras. The four sisters would be reaching our knees by the time we go home 🙈.
The dirt road leading up to Kompleksi Sebastiano (our home for the day) ran along a natural park 🌳, but the anticipated view was wasted. Literally 🗑. Lots of plastic bottles and other crap in the water and at the side of the road. Dirt road, literally.
But when we finally arrive do at our destination, there was a swimming pool 🏊♀️ . All was forgiven. We installed our stuff in the apartment, ourselves in a beach chair, and didn’t move an inch for the rest of the afternoon.
After a quick shower 🚿 we had a lovely dinner in the garden, enjoying pizza 🍕 from the wood fire oven, an ice cold Paulaner weizen 🍺 and a game of gin rummy. When the mosquitos started having us for dessert we called it a night and went back to our cool apartment for an episode of The Missing (season 2 for those familiar). Goodnight! 💤
Een echt honza biertje, die Paulaner