Cycling London To Bangkok #7 | Cycling Across The Albanian Mountains With Not Enough Food Or Water

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In this episode we cross the border into Albania, tackle the Albanian mountains, and cross into North Macedonia.

We tackle the Albanian mountains with not enough food, water, or money, and end up getting sick. It was a real mission. Join us for a rough one.

As always, thank you for all the love and support across our socials and here on YouTube. We really appreciate it.

Dan and Alain

Hello welcome to episode seven Albania let’s go we’re cycling from London to Bangkok we have cycled through England France Belgium the Netherlands Germany Switzerland Italy Slovenia Croatia and you join us in Albania in this episode we go to Albania versus Poland we head into the mountains unprepared

Have no food very little water and no money and we have to spend three or 4 days in the mountains and the land gets kidnapped maybe this Albanian fellow has taken a land taking a land away and that’s maybe this is the End goodbye goodbye time to cross the border into um Albania hello Albania and hello Albania welcome to Albania yes get in there another country in Albania it’s legal to free Camp you can wild Camp as long as you like as long as it’s not on private property so for the first

Time in this whole trip we’re going to legally wild camp Tonight night one in Albania we’re looking at camping on this little island across this bridge so we’ve been here for less than 5 minutes this dude’s already in the water sweating all day washing his clothes it’s got rough it’s got rough out here welcome to Albania Welcome to our first Albanian sunrise well my first Albanian Sunrise Al land is still sleeping well deserved rest good time 7 Ste about 9:00 you went straight away yeah 10 10 hours I probably went about more like 10 to be fair but 10 to 6 8 hours like banging n yeah yeah

Six when we when we chatted I I stayed up yeah I’ve I’ve been for a swim I went fully H this guy is going to fool through into the river oh no oh no there you go mission complete good morning we are checking out to the city of Shaka in Albania this

Morning Everything’s changed like the flick of a switch as we entered Albania the way the city looks the driving everything what people are eating it’s Everything’s changed Everything’s changed we’re in scod Albania it’s definitely a East Meets West kind of place um it’s bit of a culture shock

Coming out of Montenegro coming here Albania is 60% Islamic and you can tell straight away the the food is changing lots more kebabs of rice the first time I’ve seen rice on this trip which is always a sight to behold I love it um yeah hectic streets people are really

Friendly though so far so good we’re absolutely loving it we don’t really want to leave this town but we have 50k today to do to get further south but so far so good we’re loving it traffic is crazy the landscape is crazy people have just called us crazy

For doing this trip ter enough we camped on it’s hard to say but a bit of bit of land over there somewhere behind me making our way out of shocko now and towards dorz we’ll be in dorz tomorrow uh tonight we’re going to Camp somewhere on the edge of a river is the

Plan call to prayer on the right how you liking these roads um it’s not too bad actually yeah it’s it’s quick but I feel safer here than than on other roads be yeah thumbs up nice view it’s flat 26 km an hour cruising it’s a totally different and interesting experience cycling on

These flat Albanian roads than anything we’ve ever experienced before driving just um yeah the drivers are just a little bit more free you know free is that the word maybe free we’ll stick with free you got to stay alert Definitely Sunset riding thank you for another wonderful day Albania wait it’s only been our first day feels like we’ve been here for ages already um people have been really lovely food has been good as well the ride has been magnificent yeah it’s been interesting thank you Albania thank you very

Much it’s not just us struggling with this road it’s the it’s the Toyotas as well 4x4s think we might sleep somewhere down there maybe first full day in Albania done we’re going to call it a night in this spot not not the best but it will do

It’ll do dud sunset’s in about 25 minutes so we’ve just got to call it really anyway sunset’s not bad under this bridge it will do it’ll do sunset’s way too early it’s 700 p.m. we laid there for like an hour 2 hours just just laid there before we sleep but

Yeah sun set used to set at 10:00 Germany and Switzerland even Croatia was like half 8 9:00 now it’s like half 7 so it’s 4 7 and the Sun is about to go over the mountain so yeah so this is our bed we decided that we couldn’t sleep under the

Bridge it it just didn’t feel right so we have come to the we’ve come further up the river and this a Pebble Beach really for the river so we’re going to try and make our way down there I think it’s a bit nicer Mor oh you’re brushing the teeth

Yeah one of the nicest Camp spots I think personally not too bad SLE there bike’s safe and sound there mountain mountain mountain mountain river yeah it’s not bad it’s not bad at All welcome to Albania beautiful place yeah last day of riding a long time before a big break our big end of summer season break our big end of summer season break would involve a 5 we stay in durz on the Albanian Coast but we had to get there Firsty I’m just about to overtake a Ferrari no biggie ah this woman got in my way I’m going I’m going for the overtake again yes see you later mate we cycled off the highway and through the back streets making our way to the coastal town of durz coming into dores

Now bit of a Mad cycle on the way in but got ourselves on this this puff again we set up home in our accommodation brewed a coffee and got some rest but we didn’t just sit around for 5 weeks using The 2-1 against um Toronto good good play on the right wing crossed it in head off this dude went down two minutes ago and then the other the home team TWA scored so he’s got to play that open now big time he was he was milking it completely

He dived he tried to get the play stalked and everything opinions on Albanian football so far it’s right it’s all right um where we are is a bit bit boring but we’re trying to get to the Ultras right now to see if we can spice it up a bit

Firecrackers chunting that’s what we want we so the lights have just G out at Stadium the fans keep [Applause] Chanting That was close that was close that Was Go Ch Well that was a good rest it was time to look forward to the rest of our cycling adventure and continue our journey I’m excited though I I’m really looking forward it was a nice day here it’s been nice a nice day a nice rest we love

Albania love but it’s time to go it’s time to go it’s time to carry we’re on a mission yeah and we ain’t getting anywhere by sitting on this couches day no come onpa I forgot how to do this just oiled the bike with B4 diesel car oil yeah do the trick the

Tires first time in about 6 weeks we are leaving where we have rested for 5 weeks in Albania next up turkey the gateway to Asia got first we have to tackle the Albanian mountains North Macedonia Bulgaria and then eventually Istanbul come wait come on we side called through the outskirts

Of the capital city tan these Albanian towns that were past through are absolutely buzzing with life very busy people everywhere cars everywhere but in a nice way it feels it feels good hustle bustle markets shops it’s a it’s a good busy it’s a really nice busy got an apple grapes juiciest grapes in

Albania the hospitality is crazy we bought two apples and we went back to buy some grapes she was like don’t pay she was just she just hand it to us we insisted but it’s crazy how friendly people are friendliest country so far andaz so she’s now come out and given us

This biscuit bread cake cookie things really nice so friendly day one on the road day one back on the road feeling good I’m feeling very good I’m excited man yeah good we have now got to scale the 1,200 M Albanian Mountain um we planned this for day two

But we thought screw it let’s do something today we’ll make our way up oh yeah there’s Bears up here as well it’s bear territory where we sleeping tonight we don’t know we do not know smoothest Road in Albania this not even a joke oh my God from the hustle and

Busting of Teran at the capital of Albania not very far away are the Mountains the AL part two there right here we go feel like we have no idea how tough this is going to be we know nothing about this place except it’s 1.2k up I think we’re officially nowhere officially in the middle of nowhere it’s a very tough first day back

That’s that’s for sure very tough and very Sweaty look at the engineering on this one I love it there’s something so special about a tunnel for a mountain the mountains are incredible incredible it was great to have a rest in Albania but this first day is hitting me hard I’m struggling I’m struggling

As the sun set over the mountains it was time to find a place to Camp however we came to a shocking revelation we have no food very little water and no money and we have to spend three or four days in the mountains this is the most unprepared we have ever

Been yeah we we didn’t really prepare very well we got bit excited and just left we were chilling out for five weeks and went yeah we’ll get a little a little shlack on the way out a little little you know got no money we have we have 170 in

Cash we’ve just had the worst noodles of Our Lives worst noodles of our lives and we got to climb the mountains tomorrow that way somewhere and there’s Bears about oh and there’s bears and wild dogs good start Good Start I don’t know how this happened we we’ve been in

A town for 5 weeks the F day one we’ve come out with not enough there’s no money got very little food got some bread and pate and sardines we’re run out of water but but we don’t know where the next shop is I don’t know how we went to these

Mountains and all of a sudden Society just finished and it’s this so I don’t know what we were thinking I think I thought was this is less altitude than the Alps therefore and we were fine in the Alps there were shops in little towns therefore I thought we’ll be fine

We’ll find stuff but it’s uh less Des even more deserted so it’s a struggle that’s for sure it’s a struggle but you know life goes on which just look we might not even survive tonight they just find our memory carding oh no if I sniffing at the

10 could be a a bear could be a dog could be the local Albanian man anyway oh my God it’s getting dark it’s getting dark despite waking up up in a beautiful location the worst noodles of Our Lives had actually made us very sick how’s it going mate it’s not a good

Start at all we had some dodgy food dodgy food yesterday very rough this morning it’s been a rough start back I’m not really sure why well here’s the bikes this is our security lock frame wheel L’s got a bungee to the tree so that you know if any Bears

Startop playing with it we should be able to hear it and um mine’s bike clock to the tree it’s rough but we got a big climb today 800 M up and then down and then up some more and then down and up so yeah big climbs day two on the road since leaving

Our little break in Albania and things are already going a bit wrong we’ve come to the mountains we’ve not enough food not enough water and 170 change we ate some duy noodles last night and now we both feel sick and Al land’s gone for a poo in the

Woods I don’t understand how we were so unprepared and how do you cook instant noodles and then you get food poisoning off instant noodles they tasted like paint I don’t get it I don’t get it beautiful scenery though beautiful beautiful can’t comp complain at that [Applause] almost immediately a restaurant saved Our

Lives we went here simply asking where’s the nearest supermarket because we didn’t know and we needed water and some food for later so um he told us where it was offered us two jugs of water which then turned to six jugs of water which then turned to some dessert

Which then turn into some pastry which then turn into some milk and yogurt and a sit down table um we didn’t ask all of this they just insisted wow the kindness of strangers Hospitality here is unreal I’ve got a whole meal and milk taste it yogurt made like yogurt

Stuff yogurt just had the amazing Hospitality at the restaurant now it’s time to keep [Applause] cycling how you feeling really rough I’ll be honest I’m struggling this is the road there’s Dan and this is the view might well us check this view [Applause] up Today has been emotional we woke up this morning really sick really ill I’ll spare the details it it was bad it was really bad um we somehow have no money no Tak card there’s no Bank we didn’t realize how remote these mountains were going to be bit naive of

Us um we did pull up to a place as for Supermarket they fed us gave us water it was amazing um but still that doesn’t shortterm short-term fix we still got another day and a half until we get to a border we’re hoping that we

Find some stuff on the way out but yeah it’s been rough I think Dan’s feeling it more than me it’s been emotional we don’t know when this is going to end we don’t know where the next supermarket is or where our next meal is going to come or next time

We can get our cash it’s it’s rough look at these inclines look it’s crazy it’s crazy got a headache oh wow oh wow that appears to be a market if they accept credit card debit card whatever that’s the that would be a huge win no it’s looking like a no what’s the verdict

So the benefit of this place is that they gave us two bars for very cheap whatever whatever they costed that’s that leads me on to the negative they got no money left they just took what we had left so oh there might be drinking water there we might have

Water and we have a kind of a can of uh sardines and you’ve got a can of what you got Pate pate and some bread but then we are we are out need ATM we need a cash machine yeah cuz we’re a few days we’re a few days in these mountains So hopefully there’s a town in the mountains with a cash machine we’ve got our eyes on one we’ll see this is good though bar it’s really good we got some Wi-Fi at that cafe and we found out that on Route there is a town with possibly an ATM but a supermarket which takes

Cards so if there’s a supermarket which takes card we can obviously just stock up food there and it might might keep us going for a few days these Albanian mountains are beautiful check out the MOs yeah man look at that Moss Yeah Boy come on come on we’re back oh we’re

Back despite feeling ill we had no choice but to keep pushing up the mountain we were never going to turn around and head back to the capital our only option was to keep cycling up oh come on it don’t look like it but this is the Top wow we reckon to that view then it was well worth it in the end in the end it was D I was uh I was just not happy to be honest that on that climb today’s been a horrible day but yeah I mean it’s been a horrible day

But look at the view when when you have this it makes it makes the tough climbs worth it look at it the Albanian mountains wow let’s go downhill all right let’s go these roads are flipping Mental this is what it’s about all that hard work for these amazing amazing fun downhills come On there’s the man the myth The Legend This is incredible amazing look at the mountains everywhere what a downhill that was the best downhill segment of the trip so far unbelievable Albania has the friendliest people the best downhills the best looking mountains some of the best traditional food we’ve had so far in fact definitely and now look at this

Tunnel the best Tunnels Rough day today it’s been up and down it’s been up and down started really bad got a bit better but it was still bad got a bit better but it still bad then we got to the top came all the way down we’re now on our last f 5 km stretch to a

Supermarket this way then we need to find a place to sleep getting dark come on D it’s really tough hardest day so far for me yeah not easy not easy the Sun is setting but we have got to get to this town we’ve got to get the food back up replenish some

Supplies so we need water as well we’ve got to get there tonight we can’t stop off early these mountains so beautiful proper nice red behind me well today has been the toughest day on the trip so far everything has happened today tough tough tough climbs harder

Than the outs for me our legs and our fitness probably isn’t there 5 weeks off it’s been a tough day tough first couple days back but we’re determined to get to This Town Tonight last climb of the day about to be finished tunnel in front of us that goes

Downhill get in there what a day what a day should be all downhill now just come out out the tunnel and I see civilization oh we needed this all the lights in the distance I believe that’s the town we’re after we made it we made it to this town

And now we’ve just gone mad crisps coat chocolate everything everything need to get the sugars up is this is this our dinner oh we might go back here again oh we will We Will We cycled 400 m back to the foot of the mountains for a place to Camp wow morning Morning beautiful is it a video it is welcome to the Albanian mountains just open the tent up and we’re on Mars bit mad beautiful beautiful but today’s our last day in Albania yeah North Macedonia next today at some point whenever we can be bothered I’m actually

Sad to leave Albania but um time to move on yeah North Macedonia might be amazing Thailand’s cooling Bangkok here we go pherei that camp spot it’s time to go North Macedonia come on we got a little distracted and ended up staying a few hours in this town before we left for North

Macedonia Breakfast Time come on get the the popcake fru here I got the yogurt we just thought sit under the mosque it’s nice and peaceful with the mountain in the back not a bad place to have breakfast there’s a street dog there it’s a really beautiful town

So different to anything else we’ve seen so far yeah I’m loving it good good it’s Unique it’s definitely unique yeah last day in Albania hopefully these these nice towns continue The whole town went silent you hear that like every no there’s no noise other than Oh I need that don’t let me get That what’s happening I got a flat tire got a flat tire in the middle of the highway so um got to change it I guess but worst place is to be to um have a flat tire yeah not bad just uh watch the world go by look at the mountains yeah corn fields

Yeah let’s get to work boy yeah we are the we are the tourist hot spot of the minute there’s the minivan come to check us out yeah we have two English boys on a bike Journey that mom and son just coming back from school it’s a life out here it’s a life

Out here get the mosque oh yeah that mosque is wicked yeah cool cool place to be right now it is got the uh sardines and tomato sauce beautiful view land’s just fixing the bike must be nice eating sardines right now must be nice so an update on the

Situation uh an Albanian fella has pulled up and asked if we need help so he he going to take Alan to a bike shop in the village just back the one we’ve just cycled through and uh he’s going to pump up the inner tube he’s going to pump up

The and he’s going to pump up the inner tube uh in the bicycle shop over there because the pump that we have is broken it’s it’s not pumping up very well and it keeps popping out and stuff so um hopefully the situation should be fixed soon and I’m just here looking after the

Stuff yeah maybe I’ll Never See Alan again who knows who knows maybe that’s it maybe that’s the end of maybe that’s the end of the whole Thing maybe this is it maybe I maybe I live in this Village for the rest of my life and just become a farmer in Albania That oh yes later thank you thank you what a Legend fixed it woohoo yeah let’s Go This straight road takes us into North Macedonia so goodbye Albania this is it you had a good time in Albania best country so far by country mile sorry C but it’s the truth truth Forza GPA we have just left Albania and we are approaching North Macedonia and instantly there’s nothing here just bushes overgrown bushes and um dodgy bulam road but that’s that we’re used to that now excited for North Macedonia don’t know much about it already the views are beautiful

Wow uh we’re in the capital of North Macon on Hy I mean I’m I was getting nervous about the Bears anyway we have 13 pints in two days that eyes widen the when holy Macedon Mountain Water we went on a bike ride and we end up in North Macedonia I don’t know what happened