Most episodes of The Cycling Europe Podcast know where they are going from the outset. This episode is slightly different. We start in the English Lake District to take in the sounds of the recent Cycle Touring Festival in its new home of Coniston. We then head to India to hear from long-distance cyclist James Thomas. He lives in a coastal town in Goa on the shore of the Arabian Sea but often ventures into the mountains on foot and on his bike. He reflects upon his current experiences in India as well as past experiences cycling through Europe, especially Albania. We stay in Albania for an extract from Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie, Andrew P. Sykes’ travelogue about cycling the EuroVelo 8 from Greece to Portugal in 2013. To explain if things have changed in the past decade, the podcast speaks to Dritan Kolgjini, a tour guide for Explore Travel’s Albanian cycling trips. Does the country really live up to its reputation of being the ‘new Croatia’?
[Music] welcome to episode 79 of the cycling Europe podcast my name is Andrew Sykes and welcome to coniston in the Lake District for the first time the cycle touring Festival which up until now has always been held in clithero in Lancashire has decided to move up to coniston in the Lake District and I’m looking out across a sea of tents and it’s the Gathering Place for about 200 people listening to and hopefully being inspired by Tales of people heading off on their bikes near and far but first I need a c [Music] welcome to the Cy T Festival again afraid the we couldn’t arrange the weather so it has it quite wet but hopefully the rest of the weekend won’t be quite as bad as it was last night and we’ve got a really exciting program planned as you all have seen from the timetable and it’s really good to see everybody here in person again um [Music] before we take you on our trips through Cuba and Mexico we want to say a little bit about how we got him to go inside them in seemingly less hospitable parts of the world with these amazing creatures seeing them underwater um and studying them learning all about them so that we can protect them as a species uh we got to do lots of cool stuff with science equipment underwater to the cafe y any work really well other things likely to go wrong broken racks bottle cages things like that and did you have any problems on route quite dy I happen to put in one of the many things I probably didn’t need was my mask and this was of course before mask was a than those were just a few of the sounds that I recorded at the recent cycle touring Festival I’m now back home in Yorkshire my original plan was to actually record some interviews with various people who were speaking at the festival but then it dawned upon me that actually a lot of the people speaking had previously appeared on the podcast anyway so for example Mark Wedgewood he’s the chap who cycled every OS map in numerical order he appeared on the podcast last year Libby BS she’s appeared talking about sustainability Neil Weeden he’s appeared Caroline burough the poet she’s appeared a couple of times I think Paul cheese he’s the chap who Cycles around recording sounds human natural unnatural sounds and putting them together in a soundscape in a piece of music it’s phenomenal the amount of equipment he has in his bike but I met him up in Scotland a few years ago and recorded a chat with him there was also Martin how now Martin actually contributed to the podcast that I made before I went to the outer hdes so he was talking about that talking about cycling the heidan way at the festival I didn’t actually realize it was him um but he was talking about cycling around the British coast and hopefully he’s going to appear on an upcoming podcast about Shetland and orne so hopefully that might even be the next one and Rob erley of course the man who provides the music to this podcast he was talking about cycling 1970s style and he kind of adopted various methods and practices that were popular in the 1970s and he spoke quite comically about that he has appeared on the podcast many times and I’m hoping to get him back on at some point to talk about his experiences of cycling 1970 style in 2024 so in the end I just thought H perhaps there’s not a podcast here but it was a fascinating event and hopefully it will continue in the future so my original plan had to be changed when I got home in my email box had arrived a monologue from a chat called James Thomas now James lives over in India but he contacted me last year asking if he could contribute to the podcast to talk about his experien of cycling in Europe as well as cycling other places around the world and I said yeah yeah sure why didn’t you record a monologue and it was only after hearing what he’d recorded that I thought ah yes that could be a possible theme for this particular podcast so without further Ado I’m going to hand you over to James Thomas who is going to talk to you for 10 15 minutes about his own experiences of cycling in Europe and elsewhere I’m James from the UK and I now live in the tropics in South India in the north of Goa which is where I’ve been for the last six years uh spending summer in the high mountains or in the in Europe and the UK uh but predominantly living here very close to the Arabian Sea on the beach in a small fishing Village and it’s stunning I’m just here uh it’s about 8:00 in the morning the sun’s really high in the sky it’s hot it’s humid the monsoon will start in a couple of weeks so it’s actually the hottest it ever really gets you know until the rains come it’s very sticky but it’s a great place to be it’s super relaxed super easy Vibe yeah it suits me pretty well and living on the subcontinent does give me access to the high mountains with particular ease so I tend to ski in Kashmir back country skiing up there uh in gmog which is fantastic highly recommended and Central Asia is just a stone throw away as well so I also went to Kyan this winter for a ski up in shimak just outside of el mmati which I highly recommend very good Resort and um the cycling and Hiking here in in the Indian Himalayas is is hard to beat it’s it’s rustic it’s raw and it’s it’s rough but it’s it’s great you know for that reason it’s it’s not bike packing because you’re still following an organized infrastructure of a road or whatnot but there’s a great tradition in India of the pilgrim you know the Baba the Seeker walking from place to place holy sight to Holy sight and uh particularly in the north uh this is something that you you’ll see actively if if you find yourself in the country you know you’ll see these folks walking around so with that infrastructure historically in place there are places to stay food and lodging is it available quite easily and so these very remote places become super easy to reach and and get into so just by way of invitation this winter this Autumn I’ll be taking a group maybe eight cyclists up to the high mountains of India uh to cycle the Manali to lay Highway and don’t let the word Highway confuse it’s a rough path uh that stretches from a pretty comprehensive town which is man up into the very high mountains over a couple of very high peaks four and 5,000 m passes in the road Tang pass Kila tangang 5,300 M so pretty big climbs and that all happens in a space of 450 kilom on the way to lay which is also a fantastic beautiful place and which is almost Tibetan in in culture and tradition so if that’s of Interest I’ll be doing that this Autumn with a group of eight so if anyone listening wants to join in on that go to the website and take a look be welcome to join us so that’s kind of where I am and all this kind of fondness for the Indian Himalaya and this part of the world subc continent came to me as a result of having cycled across Europe believe it or not and that’s really what I wanted to to speak about today sort of to tie in with Andrew’s fantastic new book L Grand Tour and just to speak about some of the possibilities and things that cycling in Europe could lead to as a bicycle tour and Enthusiast as I am so over the years I’ve cycled in more than 40 countries more than half of those have been in Europe which is the first thing I would say about cycling in Europe it’s infinitely accessible particularly from Europe itself or the UK it’s just right there on our doorstep you can take a sailboat you can travel by rail you know this there’s really every reason to be there this summer and do something fantastic with a bicycle so it’s easy to get to it’s super diverse you know I love Europe the culture the people the food every day you can be in a different country and and with it its own Quirk and peculiarity around how they serve the beer or how they make the cheese or how they bake a loaf of bread and how they sit around the square and talk about things and the culture is really still in Europe very rich and very uh interesting but it’s also super familiar in a good way you know because we’re all aware of Europe we’re such close neighbors with it and the continent offers so much possibility I know for this particular ride which I’m speaking about which was sort of my gateway if you like my pathway into cycling in a big way uh before I did my self-supported solo Journeys I cycled with my best friend Adrian and our idea was to raise money for charity for recycle the bikes to Africa people so we set a Target to send a container full of bikes over uh over to Africa which we did and in order to sort of f all the money into that charity and and raise money we we took off on our very own Grand Tour and the target was 20 countries in 100 days and we did it we did 22 countries in the end uh over the course of a 100 days Europe is one of the few places in the world where you could do that you know uh we I think in one afternoon we managed to get to uh four countries uh we’re going back a few years now this is 2011 so my memories are a little bit hazy but got to say it’s very accessible it’s super enjoyable and that Journey For Us began really with a sail Crossing from hter Rotterdam we went over to the Netherlands and then we found our way to the black forest and the source of the danu and from there we followed that River sometimes in and out of the the path itself the Euro valy 6 to go into the mountains to get into the villages to get into some other distractions and diversions but essentially we followed the danu all the way to the Black Sea before cutting down into Greece doing a lap of thos Island and then coming back up the dalmatian Coast within that framework we covered every eventuality and and and kind of magic and experience you can have on bicycle you know the thing that landed for me most strongly was you know people are good and the world is safe those were the sentiments that I sort of took away from that journey and and it was that Journey itself that gave me the confidence some years later once I’d saved the money and got stuff together to cycle to Vietnam and back you know to cross the whole continent as a land mass as far as I could and come back with it so and that also introduced me to India which is where I live now so these bike rides these grand Tours they lead to bigger and better things massive epic life-changing things so do read Andrew’s book and do Inspire yourself to make a journey in Europe this summer there’s really no better place to do it when uh the sun is shining and the beer is cold and the food is so delicious so do jump into that that’s my recommendation but before I wrap up one one of the things that I remember most fondly of this trip and there were so many memories but as we reached Albania and at the time it was lonely planet’s most popular destination it was the coolest place on the planet I think according to Lonely Planet magazine and we would just happened to put it you know put a dot on the map and said we’ll go there because we needed to go to 20 countries so it wasn’t like we premeditated it we just needed to get our numbers up you know we crossed and everywhere we went we said we going to Albania people say ah d so dangerous there’ll be gypsies in the mountains and murderers and all this kind of stuff and we were like all right we’ll take our chances see how it is and the closer we got the more excitable people got and finally we crossed into Albania and very dramatically over a massive range of hills and coasted down into this Valley loads of people washing cars and and and hose pipes squirting up into the air because the it had rained and there was a big river nearby and it amazing just a real spectacle you know these these hose pipes shooting into the sky in sort of rainbow crystals falling down in a refracted light it amazing and the first place we pulled up in Albania was just like a A Roadside Cafe I guess it looked like it just opened it was almost like a cyber cafe very basic place with a a computer and a load of teenagers but we stopped this this guy was kind of waving frantically from the side of the aad with both arms that we stopped so we did we got to talking like you usually do and he’s like oh what what are you doing where you Going’s what’s the thing what he what are you doing here you know and we we we we sat with him and this chat was called Sally tobaku and he got into his story and he was one of the first people in the country to speak English as a professor and had lived this amazing life visited the UK a bunch of times commentated the football in the ’90s International Football between Albania and England wildly suggested that we stay the night and we thought of course we’ll stay we were 40 50 days into our trip by then so we were comfortable with these kind of invitations and this kind of scenario it was it was really our thing so we said yeah of course we’ll stay and they they found a wild Han and cooked it up and we had supper and then they decided to name the cafe after us so they called it the hungry hungry cyclist which was brilliant and we left one of our cycling shirts to put on the wall and all that kind of stuff and as it happened we’d started our journey from not kimire croon Abbey which is where Lord Byron’s interned and Sally tobac was actually a member of the Byron society and he’d actually been to the Abbey where we had started our journey and this connection this this sort of synchronicity of this meeting and this overlap of Our Lives this place in not just we all were totally Spellbound by it was amazing just to be in such a weird and remote place having this wild conversation with this chap who lived such an interesting life in in Albania this shared experience of having been to this same place and and importantly where we began our journey some uh weeks earlier it just brought the whole thing together as a really beautiful moment on that journey and that’s very typical I think of of when you step out into the world with a beautiful idea and a a smile and good attitude great things happen and this is for me one of my favorite memories of of that trip so Sally tobacco rip uh what a what a chap he was and uh very interesting guy wonderful chap actually when we sat down to meet before he even introduced himself and we just pulled up the chairs and he said you’ve come all this way here to Albania and uh now you’re going to get a test I’m going to give you a test like okay what’s happening now and we’re sitting on this Veranda this balcony this CA and it overlooks this huge expansive Valley where he’s been walking all afternoon this mountain Ranger he just says uh my heart is not here it’s in the mountains chasing wild deer and just stares the both of us uh really intensely into the eyes and I look at Adrian Adrian looks at me and we’re like okay we just we just have to take a guess at this and I yeah I think uh you know what Sally I think that’s burns isn’t it that’s Robert Burns and he’s almost falls off his chair and he’s like of course it is of course it is brilliant brilliant brilliant from that moment we’re we’re firm friends and the whole thing is a magical a wonderful moment and uh yeah the mountains are calling so do explore Europe and do uh make the most of this summer with Andrew’s book in your pania uh explore those wonderful mystical magical corners of Europe and the continent get some cheese in a bagette put it in your pocket and uh take off on your bike so that’s it for me and uh yeah once again thanks Andrew for hosting this monogue and yeah if any of this idea to cyc in the Indian Himalayas resonates do drop me a message by email which is really big by cide uh at gmail.com through the website which is really bikeride.com or on the socials which is real big bik ride on Instagram and Facebook love to connect with fellow cyclists and learn more about your adventures and share some stories uh around the world by two wheels so great once again thanks Andrew best of luck with the book this summer and uh look forward to reading a copy very soon bye everyone I’ll see you again bye for now thank you for that James that was excellent thank you really interesting um it can’t be easy in place like India finding a nice quiet corner to sit and record something like that but actually I think the sounds most of them actually add to what he was saying rather than detract him from it what perhaps apart from the banging noise at some point um but anyway he was talking about Albania there and it got me reminiscing about my own experiences of cycling through Albania back in 2013 so I actually went back to the book that I wrote along the med and I reread the chapter where I talk about crossing the border from Greece into Albania I think it’s the same border that he took when he was there and what you’re about to hear is my experiences of doing just that it’s the chapter of the book when I leave Greece and I enter into Albania part two Albania Thursday the 11th of July 2013 cycling Day N ionina to Sanda 107 kilm I woke up on that final morning in Greece to the most magnificent sight as I pulled open the flap of the tent which I had purposefully erected to point in the direction of the lake and the mountains Beyond a most wonderful Vista of more morning Tranquility was revealed the grass was bright green and slightly damp in the Dew the foliage of the trees was equally vibrant and a Mist hung over the pristine Lake that was gently lapping against the shore just a few meters away from where I was lying I could hear the calls and OES of early morning rowers on the lake they were presumably making the most of the opportunity to practice during the coolest part of the day and in the far distance were the occasional squarks of wide winged predatory Birds a few kilometers away the mountains rose out of the water on the other side of the lake but with most of their detail masked by the Mist apart from the fine line that distinguish their dull green and brown slopes from the cloudless Blue Sky the whole of the scene was drenched in Bright Morning sunlight beautiful just beautiful had I not promised myself that I would be ticking off the first of my 10 countries later that day I would have been perfectly content to sit and watch Lake Pam VOA all day I think that was what most of my neighbors were spending a few days doing and I could certainly see the attraction there are strong arguments that travel broadens the mind but there are also pretty persuasive ones that dictate that from time to time you should just stop and stare here in ianina I’d found good evidence for doing just that I moved from being horizontal in the tent to a vertical position on the grass and stretched in a way that only campers and some wild animals will appreciate the tent itself just like the grass was very damp so I unpegged it from the ground and dragged it over to a nearby strip of concrete that was already bne dry I also released regi from his overnight position Tethered to a tree wheeled him onto the concrete crouched low on the floor and took a photograph of him silhouetted against the sun he had rarely looked better his Mechanicals were also in fine form having survived the roads of Greece without any issues whatsoever the mishap with the Pressa valve back at Athens Airport was beginning to be forgotten leaving Reggie to guard the drying tent I packed everything else away and wandered over to the reception area to see if they sold anything for breakfast they did but it was limited to processed quasons in cellophane packaging not that this prevented me from buying a couple and munching through them as I returned to complete the process of loading everything back onto Reggie for the cycle towards the Albanian board order everything was done at slow speed as it was a delight to work in the warmth of the morning sun and I was in no particular Rush eventually I was ready to depart and push the bike back towards the area in front of the shallal like building at the entrance in the middle of the car park was a large tree around which had been built a low wall sitting on the wall was a cyclist his lra shirt contained most of the colors of the rainbow and on his head he was wearing a baseball cap turned so that it faced backwards I nodded in his Direction and exchange greetings with him are you going far I inquired it was a bit of a silly question as next to him was not only his bicycle but also a trailer piled high with equipment that’s a bit of a silly question he would have been perfectly entitled to reply but fortunately didn’t I’m going east in the direction of thessalonica he did reply and I detected an accent are you French yes my name is Jean franois and I’m from breast it turned out that Jean franois was not just cycling across Greece but cycling around the whole of Europe an adventure that was going to last some seven months and Tak in most of the continent’s countries he had set off from Western France in April and was following a route that would guide him along most of the edges of the continent both the seab boarders and the land boarders he was about 50 years old and had taken a break from being a cycle Courier in his hometown in Britany he was quite some feat he was attempting and made my own little Jaun across the continent resemble Le vacon de ulo if Ed Cox and his cycle to Brisbane had been in the Premier League of long-distance cycling Jean Fran lra was certainly leading the championship we chatted about our respective Roots but again as when i’ had exchanged experiences with Ed earlier in the week Jean franois wasn’t able to offer advice about Albania for he too had taken the ferry from bendes in Italy to Greece I was so desperate for some recent firsthand knowledge of cycling through the country that still remained a mystery to me I would simply have to find out for myself later that day Jean franois was just as Keen as I was on keeping tracks of where he was cycling but instead of investing in some lightweight computer equipment I had an iPhone and a mini iPad both of which could easily fit in the pockets of one of the small paniers he had brought with him his relatively bulky laptop computer I was beginning to see why he needed the trailer that was attached to the back of his bike indeed the comparison between my efforts to travel light and his less successful ones was something that Jean franois later commented upon on his own blog he insisted upon showing me the exact route that he had taken and the Myriad of Statistics which his straa GPS track was able to furnish him with it is truly amazing to consider how much data is now available to your average cyclist as he or she goes about their daily commute or in the case of Jean franois myself our Continental Journeys until relatively recently this information was The Preserve of the military or very well- financed sporting teams in money drenched Formula 1 now it’s cheaply accessible to almost anyone who wants it it’s just as amazing how little interest it is possible to have in someone else’s statistics I know nodded and smiled without taking in much of what Jean franois was telling me elevation moving time calories Cadence cuddly toy I activated my own iPhone GPS tracking app at the gates of the campsite with a promised to myself to use the data only sparingly in conversation should an opportunity arise I consulted my paper map and estimated that it would be a cycle of around 60 kilm to a place called calpak at which point I would turn left and cycle another 30 km to the border with Albania from the border it would be a gentle ride back down to the coast at saranda where I would be looking for a hotel having long since given up much hope of finding many if any campsites in Albania the final few hours of cycling in Greece was spectacular as I climbed higher into the mountains I was traveling through extremely remote and wonderfully verdant Countryside even the Campsite in ianina was busy compared to the isolation I was feeling as I moved closer and closer to Country number two on the list I paused at a bakery that I found in a town about halfway between ionina and caki and fell into conversation of sorts with a man who turned out to be Albanian he spoke know English and I spoke no Albanian or Greek he was fluent in both but we somehow managed to communicate the fact that he had lived in Greece for 25 years and that I now needed to turn left towards the border with Albania no no I insisted while pointing Straight Ahead no no he retorted while pointing down a road branching off to the left I smiled and thanked him for his useless insistence that I turn left I knew that I needed to to arrive in calp paky before considering turning off the main road that’s what my paper map said although it wasn’t something I could confirm via an electronic map as there was no 3G signal available to me in the remote mountainous area but something wasn’t right there was something about the road itself which as I cycled out of town degenerated somewhat it was still very much a proper Road and there were no issues with cycling along it but it had suddenly been downgraded significantly in addition the traffic that there was along the road had more or less stopped and most cars and lorries were turning along the road indicated by my Albanian friend I asked to pass in pedestrian the direction to caky by simply saying the name of the town and profer in my hand in the two possible directions here cpy she said while pointing to the floor what I was in CPAC you already surely not there are times when for some unknown reason you take on board a fact and never question its validity crime is rising no it isn’t gcses are easier than o levels no they aren’t caki is 60 kilm from Aina uh no it isn’t all morning in my mind I’d been cycling towards a town that was 60 km away when in fact fact it was a mere 30 km away I must have seen signs along the road that told me that or at least hinted at that but I clearly chosen to ignore them I was indeed standing in cpy and the Albanian had indeed been correct why did I have the tarity to think otherwise an Albanian who had lived for the past 25 years in Greece would surely be someone who knew the direction to the Border I double back and brother sheepishly turned along the road towards the border the road that the Albanian chap had told me I should be following he was still standing outside the bakery and I couldn’t help but glance towards him he smiled and waved I have no idea what the Albanian word for idiot is but I’m sure he was thinking it in those last couple of hours of cycling in Greece my mind wandered between the fear of entering the unknown and the occasional distraction that I found along the way reminders of fighting from the early 1940s with the word oxy still visible in big letters on the side of one of the valleys a modern fighter jet parked by the side of the road on an embankment with its long pointy nose complete with even longer spear-like radio antenna jutting out above the heads of any passing Road users and the idilic lake zavina which according to the information boards along its Shore had been puzzling Travelers for centuries it read as follows Holland a physicist and a doctor that passed by the lake just before 1820 reported flamable gas released through a hole in the ground a passerby reported dark stones that smelled of petroleum or tar and that burned when placed in fire had I stopped reading there a shiver made passed along my spine but I continued and was informed that in the eyes of modern scientists the stuff about flaming gas and burning Stones was complete Tosh although it took a couple of paragraphs to explain why finally after a welcome few kilometers of freewheeling downhill I climbed a kilometer or so to the border crossing from a distance the small cluster of modern buildings looked like a shopping center and to a certain extent that was what the they were as there were opportunities to be deprived of your last Euros or first Lei the Albanian currency on either side of the Border but above all this was a proper border crossing the kind of which is increasingly rare in our shenen ised continent I’d visited the town of shenen during my 2010 cycle to Southern Italy a place where Luxembourg melts into France and Germany almost seamlessly ly but here in one of the furthest reaches of the shangan area there were no such informalities my passport was checked first by the Greeks then after a short cycle through No Man’s Land by the albanians all this will no doubt be swept away when as it inevitably will Albania joins the European Union but for the time being I gloried in the rare opportunity to feel as though I was a proper International Traveler Greece had now ended and Albania had started a large white sign proclaimed welcome to Albania in Albanian and just past the Border buildings themselves was a semicircle of what appeared to be closed shops and money exchange outfits to the right was a large metal Communications Tower there were no problems with 3G signal here and a fenced off car park with vehicles that had seen better days many of those I guessed had been in the 1970s I cycled a short distance away from the border to a point where the road curved to my left and I was able to look down upon a Long Valley with a wide plane at its bottom I pulled on the brakes and dismounted to take in the view and to work out my bearings the first thing that I noticed was how abruptly the landscape itself had changed gone were The Valleys of deeply wooded slope s this land had been stripped bare of almost anything that could be used for fuel on a fire or so it seemed it was possible to follow the line of the Border behind me as it was the point where the trees were no longer standing I aligned my map of Greece with the line of the Border running north to south and it too reflected the fact that vegetation was abundant to the east it was shaded green but there was very little to the west where apart from a few isolated patches of green the map was white not that my map would continue to be of much use for much longer I was about to hit the edge of the paper and having forgotten to purchase a map of Albania before I left home I was now Reliant upon the far less detailed black and white Maps contained within the brat guide to Albania that I did have with me the journey from the border into the valley before me over the mountain on the other side and then down towards the coast at sander would be about 30 km I remounted Reggie and took the plunge freewheeling around the curve in the road and towards the flat Valley bottom I would eventually become accustomed to experiencing regular changes in the style of the road paraphernalia around me but this was the first of those changes different signs different fonts different markings on the road within a few minutes I was cycling along the flat wondering at which point to turn and once again head out of the valley there were a few candidates for roots but as I followed them with my eyes up the bare Hill opposite me all but one peted out and disappeared the one that didn’t was first signpost to jorat and then much to my relief to surrender that wasn’t too difficult I stopped to buy some water in jorer cat itself it was not so much a town as a collection of buildings spread along the road that by this point was a few tens of meters above the valley bottom lots of the buildings appeared to be abandoned but one most certainly hadn’t it was a brand new betting shop but reasoning that it wasn’t the best place to buy water I ventured a little further along the road to a shop that was set back from the road the woman who served me was a delight asking where I was going and indicating with her angled lower arm that it would be a bit of a climb she wasn’t kidding it was a steep crawl of 300 M over a distance of just 5 kilm with the final couple of kilometers along a bendless road straight to the top of the hill I paused occasionally to take in the views and they were just reward for my toil I was in urgent need of food and just over the crown of the Hill I found my Oasis in the form of a petrol station I was the only customer around and the two likely lads who were running the place initially looked towards me with suspicion and I reciprocated both spoted bright yellow t-shirts that I assumed passed for a uniform of sorts and both looked and sounded as though they’ been knocking back beer since lunchtime they were also chain smoking but it didn’t seem appropriate to point out the potential risks of doing so in their current environment hi do you speak English you are English or American I’m English do you have any food why you come here Albania is country no money no jobs everyone leave to work in England Germany money money drugs one of them said cryptically these two were clearly not on message when it came to welcoming foreigners to their country despite the harsh words towards their own country they were in fact affable company for the few minutes that I spent at the petrol station eating some more of the prepackaged quasons that I enjoyed earlier in the day at the Campsite in ianina I’d only been their second customer of the day although the wad of Euro notes that one of them pulled from his pocket in order to give me change implied they weren’t on the bread line just yet from there it was a long Glide down towards the sea at saranda an attraction called in English blue eye was being regularly advertised as I descended from the Petrol Station 15 km 10 km 8 km so when it came to the point where I was invited to turn right to visit the blue eye it seemed too good an opportunity to turn down advertising does work it was somewhere from the main road or rather it seemed that way as I meandered past the potholes in the road towards a large lake at the edge of the water a better quality rout started and under a rusting overhead sign saying welcome to blueee there was a man wearing what looked like an army uniform he was in charge of the barrier across the road and was also responsible for collecting the money I had no Lecky on me just Euros but he opened the barrier anyway and let me through without charg him I still had no idea what I was about to visit the road once again deteriorated to the point of being comically pot old but after a few minutes I arrived at a cluster of buildings in the woods there was a bar a restaurant and quite a few families Milling around there was even a large CCH parked up outside how did that manage to negotiate the route I’d just taken a man indicated that I should leave the bike by the side of one of the buildings and when I went to find my lock he wagged his finger indicating that it wouldn’t be necessary warily I did what he said and walked further along the path into the deeply wooded area leaving regie at the mercies of any passing Thief it was a pretty little spot with a fast flowing river and a couple of bridges over the water but after 5 minutes or so of following the arrows I was back where I started still none the wiser as to exactly what the blue eye was for the remainder of the afternoon I kept my eyes wide open taking in as much of this new country as I could and resisted any temptation to deviate from the path I chosen at times I pass sights that surprise me a large shanty town on the outskirts of Sanda for example but many others that reassured me that this was just as much part of 21st century Europe after all the enormous signs ad I in verone being the prime example I’d expected Sanda to be a quiet fishing port but what I found was a large seaside resort that wouldn’t have been out of place had I been traveling through any other Mediterranean country I found a bar and ordered a beer opened up a browser on my phone and with no connection issues whatsoever within a few minutes i’ booked myself a room at the three- star hotel Park Mama it was all a far cry from the kind of Albania that I thought I was about to visit only a few hours previously and as I sat on the balcony of the hotel overlooking the Cresent of Shoreline in front of me complete with highrise apartments and hotels a pristine Beach a smart outdoor swimming pool and yet another large advertising hoing for verer I was a bit confused Albania wasn’t meant to be like this so the those were my experiences of traveling through Albania back in 2013 or rather the first day when I arrived in Albania I continued cycling North and basically followed the coast from sarande up to VOR and then eventually to tyana the capital uh I stayed mainly in well I stayed all the time in either hostels or hotels spent two nights in tyan and that was a real surprise I really lik tyan it was a very interesting place to visit and then after having had the day off in tan I continued my journey North and then the following day I arrived in Montenegro you can read all the details about how I got on if you get hold of a copy of my second book along the med but that was more than 10 years ago and James he was last in Albania in 2015 so I think what we do need is a modern day perspective of what it’s like to cycle in Albania in 2024 so I got in contact with explore explore is a travel company and they organize walking tours and cycling tours in many places around the globe including Albania and I spoke to a woman called Laura and she put me in contact with somebody in Albania called dran dran called Genie hope I’ve pronounced his name correctly and he is the tour guide for explores cycle tours in Albania so earlier today I had a chat with him online and I started by asking him to introduce himself my name is uh we say or Tron to make it easy I’m a guy since eight years I do mainly um Alpine I’m leading groups in the mountains uh mostly but uh since I’m a cyclist myself more I like lots of sports I’m doing kayaking and basketball I used to play since high school I was in amateur teams let’s say and because of the passion for Sports and Outdoors uh I started even doing cycling tours in Albania which mainly operate in the south of the country where do you live in Albania um so I’m Capital based uh I was born in tyan in ’94 it’s uh what we call the Democracy generation those born after the Communist dictatorship which ended in 91 and I I lived here till about 10 around 2004 late 2004 we my family left to uh turkey my dad was working for the government of Albania at this time um so I grew up abroad for a couple of years in turkey and later on uh in Bulgaria and a late 17 I came back to tyan and after studying history one thing comes to another Sports culture they all mix together and I’m because of communicative skills I believe I got into tourism and tour guiding I was in Albania in 2013 and the other person in this podcast James I think he was last there in 2015 have things changed a lot in the the last 10 years things has changed completely in fact from 2013 I would say especially there’s been a change of governments um because political side obviously has its effect uh on the terrain on the places that uh if you’re cycling through Albania you will go and visit and see differences but in 2014 Albania was accepted to become an official country candidate to join European Union this means uh it translates into more funds coming into the country related to many things Education Health uh employment and infrastructure at least throughout the main roads or the main uh major cities let’s see of the country and has there been an improvement in the cycling facilities I remember been there in 2013 and there were very few bicycle Lanes there were very few routes that I could follow I was trying to follow the Euro 8 but I don’t think I saw any signs for the EUR val8 so I did take the roads and the quality of the roads was was not good has that improved so when it comes to let’s say uh marking of the trails uh in fact because of uh technology uh it’s probably easier for us just to go through the GPS now when it comes to cycling Lanes dedicated cycling Lanes if you’re touring around Albania you don’t have that yet so let’s say in the main roads you’ll just have to take we call it the main inter Urban Roads but uh because everything is so densely concentrated in tyan it means that the rest of the country is more U laidback let’s say a bit more uh relaxed therefore uh cycling in these inter Urban RADS will always be in fact a pleasure because also the drivers the car drivers they’re more laidback as that’s the most fitting word I can think of everyone is very relaxed in the uh in the outskirts of the country so if you’re doing a cross country tour like value 8 Euro value 8 I think it’s getting better with every year to come the route that you follow for explore it’s it’s a loop um that goes from tyana all the way back to tyan so you take in the coast of Albania going through places like sarande and the Lora pass which I remember passing through myself uh but you also cycle in the east of the country and that is very very mountainous I think right you’re correct um it’s it’s quite mountainous in the east in fact the if you look at a top topographic map let’s say you will find out that the east of the country is um the Continental side of Albania is very mountainous and then the west side of the country which is facing uh the Sea The Adriatic and the ionian coast only the Adriatic in fact because in the ionian which is the deepest sea in the whole Mediterranean it’s all mountains dropping down to the Sea uh but the Adriatic Shores they are usually flat so it’s easier to cycle on the western parts of Albania than it is on the Eastern parts of Albania but once you get to Lake orid let’s say that’s already 700 meters of elevation so you reach some kind of plateau and there already you’ve made it uh through the worst however with with tourist groups keep in mind we’re trying to make these tours not just as a challenge or a full-on two week uh uh touring uh holiday let’s say but it’s a more relaxed and we’re trying to maybe in a shorter amount of time trying to fit in as much as we can so uh with explor in particular since we’re taking the case uh we’re first driving to this Plateau by Lake orid at 700 meters and from there we start the cycle with the aim of completing about 420 kilometers by the end of six days of cycling which is some challenging distance in fact it’s not as easy even though it’s just 420 kilomet because it’s mountains everywhere every meter counts I was reading some of the reviews on the explore website and some people definitely have made comments about the scenery stunning scenery uh the variety of the landscape eye opening which places in Albania do you think that the people that you guide which are their favorite bits yes that’s a very good question in fact if you if if you ask me I can never choose a favorite bit but uh for because I love the whole country it’s so diverse from east to west from north to south even though it’s just a similar size to Belgium for people that I’ve uh I’ve taken on these trips uh the more pristine the quieter places the more in the Outback in the countryside those are the most preferred places so let’s say in eastern Albania when once you start from Lake kit that’s already impressive enough the oldest Lake the deepest lake of Europe so that already is tunning scenery you can imagine and then once you leave Lake orid and you’re going south to korta and then further south to EK there is a town called EK and this is very deep regions uh in Southeastern Albania and from tyana there used to be like 10 hours of driving by car uh 20 years ago today you can access these places in 3 hours driving which makes it so much easier to be there and still enjoy the pristine nature that Albania has to offer I remember the hills being extremely steep I can’t imagine that’s changed in the last 10 years so the hills remain there the mountains remain there you know and uh you for me personally that’s the beauty uh of Albania that you’ve got these uphills but then you’ll be rewarded with different views with a nice downhill yes there will be some uh some steep bits but in southern Albania you’ll never get more than 133% of steepness and that’s for very short distances so most of the steepness will be on an average of uh 67% so if you can do 6% for 1 hour cycling then keep in mind that the rest will be very enjoyable for sure the groups that you escort I would imagine probably all of the groups use hotels and hosts but for independent Travelers people on bicycles who for example are following the Euro 8 from Greece in the direction of Croatia and Beyond what are the camping options I seem to remember finding it quite difficult to find campsites so I didn’t I just stayed in hotels instead thing is um if you if you look into the uh the graphics let’s say uh of how cycling tourism has developed here in Albania I would say it’s just be just getting there under the radar it was nowhere near and you would only see these solo Travelers by bike and me being a cyclist myself I remember very often seeing loads of them but this was 10 years ago right you’ve been here more than 10 years ago and I can imagine it was very difficult for you the Albia you’ve seen more than 10 years ago I have to tell you it’s not the same anymore because of these European investments in order to integrate Albania into European Union Community um so today you can imagine hostels campsites agrotourism Farms anything you could think of there is like in every other 40 kilom 50 kilomet so if you’re doing a short day or a longer day it doesn’t matter because you you can go to a village uh and there you will find a AGR tourism or campsite as we might say what about the other aspects of traveling things like the the food is the food in Albania good so uh I believe your listeners uh they they have been to the Mediterranean before but if if they’ve never been they should know that Mediterranean food is some of the most known food in the world the best food in the world uh and anything can grow in Albania you can imagine it’s a country located between Italy and Greece so if you think of Italian food and Greek food I personally being uh uh raised uh for some time of my life in Turkey I personally really like Turkish food but we also have that influence because Albania was under ottoman rule for 500 years and with our neighbors Italy and uh Italy and Greece we have 1 million Albanian in each of these countries so you can imagine 1 million Albanian in Italy of course they will bring back what they learned from there 1 million Albanian in Greece they will bring back what they learned from there and you if you are more into Gastronomy let’s say not just local food you’ll also find that today in Albania is there a problem with wild dogs if you go to Greece for example you can have issues with dogs with which are are wild is that an issue in Albania as well I’ve never had the issue uh cycling with wild dogs uh in Albania I would never think of such usually you don’t see wild dogs in Alban mountains running off with nothing to do usually it’s Shepherd dogs that you get to see and Shepherd dogs as long as you leave the Sheep alone they will not try to defend the Sheep so that’s my experience and uh what I hear from Greece and from Romania more I hear the dogs in Romania can be quite aggressive speaking of countries I know nearby here in the Balkans uh but here in Albania I’ve never had any such issue and I’ve never heard of anything like it the drivers in the urban areas can that be an issue for for cycling what I worry most about is first of all just tyan because tyan is completely different from the the rest of Albania this is key important to know when you’re coming to this country tyan has about 30% of Albania’s population more than 30% so imagine the rest of the country like there’s no one out there so urban areas yes in tyana I I won’t say I’ve never had accidents I’ve had some minor accidents before uh because drivers can be rough and stressed and uh and there’s a lot of uh ego on the roads sometime so for tyan yes I would say be cautious and always expect the unexpected this is like a key rule for me because it’s so crowded like people imagine like Tokyo Crossways something like that is is getting just now just this last 10 years I’ve never seen anything like it it’s like I’m I’m a newcomer in my hometown but the rest of Albania very easygoing very relaxed they they will honk at you but that doesn’t mean to f off that means to just saying hi to you and they want to cheer at you that’s why they hon on the car so sometimes foreigners can be a culture shock when I spoke to Laura who works for explore to get in contact with you she told me that the bookings for people on the trips that you organize on the trips that you lead have significantly increased in 2024 she said they were up by 40% and she also said that people are beginning to see Albania as the new Croatia because it’s a country that is now opening up more to tourism do you agree with that I totally agree with that I mean how was it like Greece became the next Italy or something then Croatia became the next Greece and uh Montenegro became the next creatia and Albania is right there with Montenegro I believe both two countries aspiring to join European union and uh for young Brits especially I mean me myself I I I really like British culture I like the British people I get along very well I’ve even I’m trying to learn the uh the British tongue not RP but maybe some jargon from the language because uh I I like the idioms and the phrases that they use so yes for Britain Albania has become a hot spot right now it’s not just uh Walkers trackers it’s not just cyclists it’s it can be just families who want to come here to enjoy their vacation it can be uh young ones who want to attend their British festivals going on and I know how bris love their music so uh you’ve got those coming to Albania so in any town you will see in tan especially tyan but in any town of Albania during the season summer you’ll see like every weekend events happening musical events happening so yeah yeah it’s definitely getting there thank you for agreeing to speak it it was a big pleasure talking to you Andrew yes absolutely so that’s it for episode 79 of this C cycling Europe podcast thank you to James thank you to dran thank you to Laura for setting up that conversation with dran when I started making this podcast I really had no idea what direction it would go in but I’m glad that it did end up going in the direction of Albania because I have to say since starting to make these podcasts all those years ago I’ve always wanted to make a podcast about Albania because I think it’s one of the uh really undiscovered gems of Europe so um yeah top tip get yourself to Albania on your bike go and follow the uh euroo 8 like I did back in 2013 from Greece all the way to Spain and Portugal and I’m sure you’ll have a fantastic time so thank you to all those people who’ve contributed thank you to you for listening to the podcast if you’d like to get in contact then you can do that by visiting cyclingeurope.org cont and if you’d like to support the podcast then you can do that by visiting cyclingeurope.org support I will be back for episode 80 of the podcast very soon hopefully now that the book has been published I can hopefully spend a bit more time making these podcast so hopefully it shouldn’t be too long before episode 80 is available to download and listen to so thank you for listening and happy cycling [Music]