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In our second episode in Albania, we cycle out of Sarande and make our way north along the stunning coast. We climb the Llogara Pass in the Ceraunian Mountains which was 1000m straight up! Sweeping views as far as the eye can see and a long and pretty crazy descent sums up that climb quite well!
Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes as we make our way towards the west coast of Ireland.
Total distance cycled so far: 797km
Total stats for Albania: 498km, 4415m gained, 28hr 10min in the saddle
Countries visited: 2
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we’re Lauren and Scott and we are cycling 10,000 km across Europe starting in Greece the plan is to cycle to the West Coast of Ireland passing through 15 countries we cycle through some of the most magical Landscapes Europe has to offer so join us on our first ever Bike Tour as we learn to navigate the European cycling networks encounter all weather conditions and overindulge in our favorite baked goods mine’s so crunchy in this episode we Marvel in the beauty of Southern Albania so beautiful conquer a climb high five battle some vicious gusts oh god let’s get our first puncture of the trip oh we have a flat no good morning we have just left Sande it was a bit of a crazy time getting out of Sande because the traffic in Sande is bloody outrageous some of the roads just like merge and I don’t even know if there’s like a rule any we climbed out of Sande cuz we went down to the PT we had to like climb all the way out into the valley I think it was like a 1.8 km climb on the way we got some good encouragement from a car with like four or five girls in it and they were just like yelling encourage me out of the car we must have looked like we’re really struggling it was really steep but it was also really like a really busy road we’re heading towards a place called hamar it’s not that far it’s only like 65 km I think but it is also 10:00 a.m. we love have a good light checkout um we kind of just potted around this morning and repacked the bags and made sure everything was clean and ready to go and that is the plan for today so the morning’s been spent cycling through over like maybe like the side of a mountain we keep going up and then steeply down and then up and then steeply down which is really nice we’ve got a really beautiful view of the Valley and the mountains it’s actually a lovely ride the road’s not very busy either and the road is not through narrow so they can overtake us pretty well also how pen is beautiful there’s a lot of off it’s like we’ve been running up a lot oh my goodness this view is wonderful we’re really hoping for a village soon and we’re hoping that Village is telling B it’s qu to 1 here we’re in a town called Lov we’ve been riding on this beautiful Road like all morning we came across this market and the markets like the little supermarkets they never seem to have like the lights on or their drinks fridg is on or anything so you never know if it’s really open anyway in there I found a loaf of bread and two bananas so we’re having natala and banana sandwiches and it’s really nice actually I was wondering how fresh the bread was thinking maybe I bought a few day old bread but it’s actually pretty good I’m a fan so after our peanut butter Nala delicious sandwiches um we had a 3 km descent and it was freezing I was like my body was shaking and my back got sore cuz it was like literally shaking anyways um beautiful descent but very sharp like hairpin turn to like lots of breaking um the most breathtaking views we’ve seen in Albania so beautiful and now we’ve just ridden up halfway up the H up it’s Steep and so we’re just giving their legs quick little rest before we finish the top so we didn’t film anym this day but it is definitely in our top five rides of the entire trip the southern Albanian Coast is a must SE we spent the afternoon searching for a wild Camp spot but to no avail we ended up in dermy just as the sun was setting and booked some last minute accommodation in the middle of town with over 1600 M of elevation gain today we were excited for a bed we’re leaving in beautiful town of dery which we made to last night stayed in The Lovely Hotel last minute of course so today we have some steep climbs ahead of us we did meet Beautiful Joe a while ago now like two weeks ago and she’s an absolute machine C away to Ric already in 10 days from aens and she took her 2 hours to get up this switch Backer roon Road so she’s 2 and 1/ half times faster than we are so this might take us 4 and 1/2 hours it’s going to be a lot of fun it’s just very steep after yesterday where we climbed like, 1600 M and today’s in the 2000s were a bit bucked there won’t be any attacks from Dugan today that’s for sure that was a big one all right we’re about what not even a quarter up the mountain so some stats from the start of the mountain each switch back is averaging to be 1.2 km is it yes we started exactly 25 minutes ago and we’ve done two switchbacks this switch back is like going like along a canyon so we switched back up the mountain twice and now we’re going like into the canyon more every car is laughing at us laughing on mine either either they think we’re probably doofuses oh my god look how steep that he’s up there we haven’t walked our bikes yet and only five cars have passed us going our way but a lot going other way we’re 7.3 K is up and an hour and 25 minutes pretty much exactly we think this is the last switch back the mountain you see behind us what’s that one called Lauren that Scott is Mount unknown Mount Soo I think or chico and we are going up the lagora pass ah there you go bit of information for you this definitely looks like the last switchb there’s none that are higher than us no I think there’s a good Viewpoint coming up it’s going to be the slowest 7K up in this fastest 7K down legs are feeling good it’s not like really steep like it was yesterday it’s like just a nice incline steady isn’t it steady and cl it’s going to maintain your pace guys we’ll see you at the top oh hi there we’ve made it to the top of the Lagana pass have a look let’s see if we can see the switch back we came down and there all the way around and back around and Lawrence eating a t sandwich what do you like one what I like an IT sandwich yeah why not but we definitely going up oh my god look up there just sees more switch back all the way to the top I was wondering it took us an hour and 35 well we got hour 10 yeah about an hour 35 and Joe did it an hour and 45 and she didn’t have stuff at all and a road bike yeah we’ve definitely got a lot longer to go did a refuel with the tow sandwich how AR you hungry oh no I’m going to tell it of the bag that’s a put inside out on to the view oh no I just didn’t again yeah some rookie areas over there today want to make your own sandwiches no that’s where as we keep going so we finally made it to the top 10 km 2 hours 10 2 hours it’s restaurant up here who knew and you can stay up here there’s a few restaurants actually there’s restaurants all the way down that was good though it’s a bit cold up here but maybe because we’re a bit sweaty yeah I feel like we should keep moving cuz it’s very cold we should have a downhill now but let’s not Bank on that yeah we’re in the guessing where the we’re pretty sure we are there great ocean views to absolutely nothing so high five good job 40K to you I [Music] do [Music] we think there’s a couple dogs up here at bar to our friend and Chaser three of them so um a little cautious it seems to be okay there’s people around and cars going by and I can’t see any dogs just yet let it fly baby that was a short live downhill do you think we should look like our rain jacket honestly no I should be okay for now it’s [Music] freezing that was very scary that was very scary the wind must be the gas are massive we’re coming down and then the wind was that Fierce is pushing us like sideways off the road like actually off your bik lost all no stabilization at all and we’re still pretty way high out and we do not want to go down we going to have to keep doing what we’re doing I really slow not real slow yeah and you feet close to the ground so I can put them down if you need to hi very windy windy yeah all right we’ll go slow oh we just wow oh God to not feel safe at all got one foot on the pedal one leg on the ground kind of supporting this hands on the brake far right can’t do this for longer cuz it like fully cramps your quad yeah ow don’t go too quick guys it comes real fast stop again oh it’s like really hurting my hands quite curious to see what the weather actually is up here right now wow look at the mountain looks so nice my location 12° feels like 12 reckons the wind is only 18 18 the gusts the gusts 83 km no way it’s like 183 look where we come from I’ll turn the bike around look at the mountain up there little somewhere up there not that high but Lord Al Mighty that’s enough good content at the moment I got to concentrate to get down spy to the bottom oh my goodness she so that whole descent no cars passed us which seems crazy because there’s a lot of people going up the other way but I also think that on The Descent so many like restaurants was there like a campgr or something I don’t know what was going on a camp out there yeah it seems like it was like a it’d be packed it’ be pumping in the summer it’ be really cool anyway that pass with the wind most outrageous very scary we’re going end up having to like walk our bikes no one came out behind us though so we just like went slow kept our feet close to the ground and the wind hasn’t really stopped but I think it’s just cuz we’re not so high and it’s got a bit warere so cool this place is amazing it’s a great National Park isn’t it yeah now CH for the win we must be only 30ks from Flor now we’ll get to ground level see if we can find a bakery or something I really want a pork top this is what I really want for lunch pork top big bowl of chips some salty and a Gatorade that would be the ultimate lunch let’s go find that so bye-bye we had a little Google where we could go to lunch and only 2ks away from us was a pizza place that’s supposedly the best pizza in Albania and so we discovered yesterday there’s actually a lot of Italians living here we are pretty close like you can catch a fairy over to Albania so from Italy to Albania um so we’ve come here he’s the most lovely man so so lovely wao oh here’s our pizzas yum really excited what do we go to here some kind of like vegetable I got like an eggplant zucchini and corn Pizza Yum and it’s got It’s called like four something or rather it looks like it’s got olives mushrooms ham and slami which is like before delish I’m really hungry dark oh my God the base oh look at that cheese M mhm it’s been a long time since I’ve had pizza so I don’t know if that’s the reason but this is could be the best pizza I’ve ever eaten pizza’s like 650 if you’re wondering to we’ve just booked accommodation in in VOR VOR only 9 km away I said to Lear yesterday we are definitely wild camping tonight I just can’t spend that much more money but then I just look at booking.com and Airbnb and literally all the rooms $25 to $40 and they’re all n star ratings on booking.com so we just wrap up an entire apartment with a kitchen and everything we need for $31 I was like we’re on a budget but you know 31 bucks you got to that’s just too buy good oh we have a flat you’ve got a flat there it is wow I’m really in a bad spot too I need to punch a repair K all the air goes down just when I thought would be there can we go further down or is it too late oh that’s full flat you put a tube in that yeah D it is that the Fest one yeah they’re all the same it was like next to it that’s it there isn’t it that slip we should be able to just squeeze it yes there we go aim at the hole press down until the puncture plug is around halfway in couple newbies going out today couple re rookies Lauren’s absolutely killing it so sweetie she’s got it working the tie came off its bead and everything yeah go as much as you can I suppose have you have you heard it go back to its bead I haven’t but it looks like it is on his bed yeah going try and get the pump off now and I’ll lift the bike oh what you got another one no it’s just definitely not on speed I just touched it and ceiling came out oh maybe keep going we can swap yeah don’t like pull on the how you doing blowing up a bit hey you got R feed over here oh okay what about that side can you see the line that’s where it El went looks okay but I don’t really know that bad no he takes the valve why do we have so much trouble with this stupid valves oh it’s all coming out everywhere [Music] yeah we all plugged in we got 8 Cas to go she’s just gone bang let’s see how we go here all right that was a bit stressful but I feel like we did well there for the first time using that Markoff tubis valve repair [Music] kit [Music] hard navigating these roads you’ve never been down before we we go quick stay on one side I must say this is P easier than S just fanging it though just got to Fang it uh keep yeah Tire still looks good she’s good working so hard I’m really taking inale arious this place is I know and compy yeah God it’s hot is this what 23 Albania feels like at least the traffic’s kind of died off how’s your tire feel f 6ks to go there it is there our first ccle path of the whole trip you wouldn’t read about it this place cool it’s like I’m like half in Miami and half in Albania but half on the go Coast again it’s like this weird Hotel buildings situated above all these restaurants on this lovely prominade of a beach with these massive trees and a ccle path H boy oh boy got to love it just connecting the city really don’t know where my sunglasses are so see what happens it’s 4:00 place is cool though I don’t know got a good vibe from it the people seem half old half young vibrant no dodgies looking couple young pumpkins over there some guy in his uh Speedos over there slowing I don’t know if we have to stop here or not wow there’s a lot of restaurants here first time I’ve actually probably seen a bike too I think like cyclists in a way good hope everyone else is enjoying the little tour of V here look this nice green section hey hi guys hi we’re in Flor Vora VOR e with two dots we um have come from the puncture I think we’re only on the side of the road it feels like a long time but I think it was only maybe like 20 minutes yeah I think it was only 20 minutes we actually did that pretty well see as we went pumped it up and then it went again and we had to do it twice well learned it twice just there smashing It smash my watch kept saying there was an incident detected cuz my har was so high yeah got our final stats back from The Climb um now they came into Wi-Fi and we only getting 12200 M today but I was only over the 10ks of the climb yeah cuz everything else was downhill like pretty much from there we we barely pedal from the the summit or whatever to pizza and then like into okar I think it was it was like 12ks and no pedaling yeah and then we started pedaling from okar room to VOR on that bumpy crappy road that we got from feel like a billy worked today except for the first two hours when that’s true yeah and also the places we were passing along the coast are so odd like they’re just so built up it was like modern apartment modern apartment modern apartment and there must be so much work down here cuz everyone’s just busy like lots of construction and anyway there was an interesting places to ride along there um beaches were beautiful obviously but it’s getting really windy outside and thunderstorm coming through in the morning yeah so I don’t know what we’ll do we’ll probably just sit tight until supposed to finish like 10: or 11:00 in yeah so we’ll check out and then we’ll get going to Barat I suppose and see where we end up probably get another hotel cuz you know there credit card tourist now apparently yes we are great I can’t believe we not wild camping but this he actually gave me a dollar $150 off so this is $31 this apartment we’ll give you a little tour her because she is immaculate so beautiful this would seriously be over $100 [Music] at we’ll have a great night’s sleep in this beautiful comfy bed we’ll see you in the morning on the way to br
1 Comment
Beautiful . ❤