Day 111
A very quick border crossing, again there’s no stamp and only one side is manned. The Albanian mountains are immense.
Day 112
From here there’s not much choice – up into the mountains, mostly leading to gravel roads, or take the Fierze-Konan ferry. The ferry has been on my list of things to do for a long time, but of course it involves waiting around (both options leave at around the same time). It would be feasible to ride to Schkoder after the ferry, the other cyclist on board warns me about the state of the road from Konan and the traffic at that time of day. I optimistically set out and very quickly give up and backtrack to stay the night in Konan, the road is quite atrocious.
The ferry is ride is quite stunning, but I think I’d have been disappointed if I’d been on a tight schedule and used a whole day on it.
Day 113
The road out of Koman winds along the side of the valley, up and down, and the surface is appalling. It takes two hours to cover the first 20 km before the surface improves. I pass quite a few touring cyclists on their way up to the ferry and Valbonë.
After the second dam the landscape flattens out to Shkodra and the lake. Shkodra is quite something, kitsch architecture, much of it painted pink or orange, and millions of cyclists. They are all over the place, going in random directions, a few of them on the numerous cycle paths. It makes sense, it’s flat here and the traffic is basically stationary with cars double parked and all over any cycle lanes that don’t have barriers on them.
I head out towards Montenegro and there’s not a lot here…
… Apart from dozens of really bad “Events Venues”. That would explain why every second car that passes is large, black, and has streamers. The Albanians really do like their big events.
As I approach the border I get the feeling I’m driving into a big cul-de-sac surrounded by huge mountains with no sensible way out.
