Balkans Cycling Adventure – BCA. Cycle Day 11: Tiranë to Lezhë, Albania. 71 km 235 vm. Connal Tours European Cycling Tour 2024. Connal Kit for all your cycle touring clothing.
Exiting Tiranë not for the faint hearted but was probably easier than entering into the unknown. Our route took us out and around the airport where we met up with some other cyclists randomly on a corner out on a quiet backroad. 2 returning to Airport with their Brompton bikes to fly home, another 2 German cyclists heading south. Very muddy & potholed section of roadworks around a new Motorway section under construction. A gearing issue on N1 meant a stop at a roadside oil merchant (2 helpful brothers). A couple of good stops for coffee. 2 more helpful Austrian cyclists, again going in the opposite direction. The most touring cyclists we’ve seen all trip.
Through some very productive small holdings at the base of some steep hills. Some very new roads and suburbs on the outskirts of Tiranë and along the way. Lots of hellos from most of the pedestrians we came across. Workers in the bars we stop at are very interested where we are from and always asking if we like Albania. Truck pulled over to make sure we were on the right road, then waved us on in front of him. Genuine heartfelt generosity of spirit. Just how a nation can go through such repression, control, terror and fear to emerge into such an open, generous, hospitable nation is quite amazing. Once again, the traffic is incredibly courteous and patient. Lezhë was a late addition to the itinerary in an attempt to shorten up a previously planned longer day. To our surprise it is a neat & tidy town with the mausoleum of Albania’s national hero. He died here and signed a major treaty here to combine the various principalities to fight against the Ottoman Empire. Scanderbeg died on January 17, 1468 at Lezha (Alessio) and was buried here at the Church of Saint Nicholas, but his bones were later exhumed??? Stolen?? Conflicting information about where his remains actually lie. In March 1444, he established the League of Lezhë, with support from local noblemen, and unified the small Albanian principalities.
Cycle Day 11 of 45 over 10 weeks cycle touring covering over 2400km in a loop circuit of the West Balkans in Europe through 8 countries. Connal Kit for all your cycling touring clothing. Connal Tours European Cycling Tour 2024. connalkit.com.au 16May2024.
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