Balkans_2018...You Only Live Once!

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Panichishte Ski Mountain (Bulgaria) -> Skopje (Macedonia) -> Mavrovo -> Lake Shkodra (Albania)

https://goo.gl/ZRHrMd

map_9.jpg



Claw-Back Day


The early start (and resulting frozen fingers) are the first step to try and make up a little on what we missed out on yesterday. We'll see how it turns out, there are just no fix+firm rules in the Balkans.

There are also borders to cross, another Capital along the way (Skopje, Macedonia) and all that entails, very few main roads....and the usual warm-to-hot temps by the looks of it.


Balkans_0121.JPG



Balkans_0122.JPG



Balkans_0123.JPG



Balkans_0124.JPG



An hour and a half later....


Balkans_0125.1.JPG



Balkans_0125.JPG



A quick crossing this time...luck's on our side.

Balkans_0126.JPG




Balkans_0127.1.JPG
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
....and we keep tacking westwards towards Skopje.


Balkans_0127.JPG



Balkans_0128.JPG



Balkans_0129.JPG




We hit the on-ramp of the toll-way just east of Kumanovo and the homework pays off, a pocket full of small
Euro notes and shrapnel make for fast progress through the tollbooths every 20km or so.
The freeway-ring circling the capital is a blessing....but also comes with a few surprises.
While the going is quick, the road climbs up the hillside into a wide valley east of the city.

With traffic going at 110-160kmh, those lumpy, dark bits spaced along the emergency lane only get a second glance
as we're getting close....and the "lumps" start to move, holy shit!!
What looks like gravel-dumps turn out to be young boys with piled boxes and crates of grapes, offering and selling in the emergency lane of the freeway :doh::doh::wot:
The adults are picking the fruit in the vineyards up the steep clay embankments above, shouting encouragement and latest prices down to their youngsters.
We hammer past barely 4 feet away....while getting overtaken by a few big Audi Diesels.
Oh man....:eek:

What about the local riders?
They LOVE their flip-flops, loud T-shirts and shorts....and screaming Kilo-Gixxers clawing skywards, howling past the apathetic cops.
Just another day in the Balkans, yaawwwn...


Balkans_0130.JPG




The going is good, the mid-afternoon twisties along the valley floor of the Vrbanj-Valley are a cool-ish delight, the gleaming minarets of the mosques in those tiny glued-to-the-steep-slopes villages keep calling out
"STOP and check me out!!"....and we're skimming south, not far from the Albanian border.

Lake Debar



Balkans_0131.JPG




Balkans_0132.JPG




Through town and up a potholed side-road past the tip...and yet again, the border crossing is nearly over before it started.

Made Albania!!
:clap:



Balkans_0133.JPG




Balkans_0134.JPG
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
....and it doesn't take long for roads not just to turn into absolute traffic chaos...
....but also into barely rideable tracks, spine-crunching pistes and goat-tracks spiced with craters and various remnants of some former being....as a riverbed, maybe!

Holy Schmoly!! gulp!


We're down to barely 20kmh...and the afternoon is fading away from us.:mad:

Along the way, a cute, little restaurant in the middle of no-where


Balkans_0135.JPG



...then some good and quicker bits sparking some hope and upping the speeds...


Balkans_0136.JPG



Balkans_0137.JPG



Balkans_0138.JPG



...until you come around that lefthander, blinded my the low sun, and your entire lane has literally "disappeared", buggered off, sunk, vanished, ceased to exist....and all without the smallest of warnings :wot::wot:
How was that about bowel-movements??


Balkans_0139.JPG




Salvation!! The lil' Baby-GS were starting to gasp....


Balkans_0140.JPG



Lost the run against daylight, bugga!!....


Balkans_0141.JPG




The Grande Finale??....or....just a desperate wish for things to simply finish?

This can't be the road to the "Lake Shkoder Resort? "W-):doh:



Balkans_0142.JPG



It IS!!


And unbeknownst, we also gained an hour due to crossing a timezone....and that means there's still an hour of food and drink at the on-site restaurant, HOORAY!!! And Hans and Elisabeth are there, too.



Balkans_0144.JPG



Balkans_0145.JPG








Nearly 700k's of Balkan roads, one tough day on the bikes....


Balkans_0146.JPG



and now well and truly stuffed and pickled....that bed looks damn good!:rolleyes:




Balkans_0147.JPG




Lights out!



Lake Shkodra Resort, home for the next 4 nights!
And one of our best stays of the trip
:clap::clap:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Lake Shkodra-> Shkodra -> Rozafa Castle -> Rruga Kolë Idromeno (Albania)

https://goo.gl/BYDvy8

map_10.jpg




Welcome to Lake Shkoder Resort :D
where A$50/ night buys you this little treehouse with balcony, tables/chairs and hammock/ banana lounges in the shade underneath, power, good wifi etc.

Balkans_0148.JPG



Just as cute (fixed floor/ proper beds etc) and even cheaper


Balkans_0149.JPG



Hans comes for an inspection on the way to breakfast at the onsite restaurant
Mornin', chief!



Balkans_0150.JPG



The Tree-Lodge...the Maxi version of the little single room variant. This one with full kitchen, loft and washing machine etc.


Balkans_0152.JPG



...where strange things happen...lost yer socks, mate?


Balkans_0153.JPG



Let's go for brecky...

Balkans_0154.JPG




Balkans_0155.JPG



Balkans_0156.JPG



Balkans_0157.JPG



Black cat in the morning and all that...


Balkans_0158.JPG



Balkans_0159.JPG



For simplicity, just add half again to the listed prices for Aussie-$$....


Balkans_0160.JPG



....which makes for A$4 Egg+Bacon sandwich(es) on freshly baked bread!!

Check the double-whammy on the bottom right!!
Anyone is welcome to get some fresh bread here in the mornings...at A$1.20/ loaf


Balkans_0161.JPG


6 bux for the "English breakfast"...


Balkans_0162.JPG



...and just over a Dollar for a cuppa. And ALL THAT comes with a friendly smile, a bit of a chinwag and some info
of what to do with the day, as well as an invite to show up again for dinner. WHOWWW!


Time to follow their advise and have a lazy day, snooping around Shkoder- town for a bit, get some local Rubels and get prepped for an early start the day after. :chug:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Finding your way to the Rozafa Castle carpark isn't the easiest job, Bob-the-Builder from a-few-hundred-years-before Christ most likely didn't think off some weird clowns crawling up the hill just to have a look, but rather counted on "visitors" to bring their swords and muskets for a week of head-lopping, rape and pillage.

Lets have a poke around...this is looking impressive! :woot:


Balkans_0163.JPG



Shkoder Hinterland to the south...


Balkans_0164.JPG



Balkans_0165.JPG



Shkoder Hinterland to the north...


Balkans_0166.JPG



Balkans_0167.JPG



Balkans_0168.JPG



Albanian flag


Balkans_0169.JPG



I wonder how many feet and boots went up that hill...


Balkans_0170.JPG



Balkans_0171.JPG



Balkans_0172.JPG



Balkans_0173.JPG



Balkans_0179.JPG



Balkans_0174.JPG



Balkans_0175.JPG



Balkans_0176.JPG
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
The Drin Gorge before it flows into the lake...


Balkans_0177.JPG



Confluence of Buna and Drin just before the gorge...


Balkans_0178.JPG




Towers of the millennia...

The old mosque at the castle and today's comm-towers at Mt. Štegvaš (which is actually just across the border in Montenegro).


Balkans_0180.JPG




Balkans_0181.JPG




Balkans_0182.JPG




Balkans_0183.JPG



Time to say goodbyes and ease the bikes down that steep and slippery cobblestone drive to the main road and into town.

Balkans_0184.JPG
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
The old Rruga Kolë Idromeno is the historical heart of Shkoder and THE road and place where traders and rulers met and brokered deals of all sorts.
There's a Grand Mosque, an Orthodox church and a Catholic church in close proximity to each other, showing that they can all co-exist happily (as long as there's enough money + power around to fill every pocket). :chug:


Balkans_0185.JPG




Balkans_0186.JPG




Balkans_0187.JPG




Balkans_0188.JPG



Balkans_0189.JPG



Balkans_0190.JPG



More hard choices :doh:



Balkans_0191.JPG




Lil' black moggy still up the tree



Balkans_0192.JPG





Lake Shkodra Resort https://goo.gl/W71Tde
 

goodie

...


Not only were the food prices very, very low, but the portions were BIG and the food tasted delicious!
I ate the local tomatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Haven't tasted tomatoes like that since my childhood.
This alone would tempt me to go back in a hurry (although, there are many other reasons as well...) :D
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Proving the point that a 250km day is a solid days' riding in the Balkans, the next day started with an EARLY get-up, leaving our base at the lake shore at 7am for what was thought as a "tootle' of a day.

Oh boy...just on 350km in the end, making the 60odd km to the ferry by 3 minutes and a bee's dick within what I thought was a VERY generous safety-margin.
Peeled the gloves off just as the ferry left the dock..... we also barely scraped back in under daylight.

But man....WHAT A DAY!!! :drool::drool::lao
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Lake Shkodra-> Shkoder -> Komani Lake Ferry -> (Albania)


Shkoder to Komani Ferry https://goo.gl/yPkztJ

map_11.jpg



Maps and links come in 2 parts for this day, there's just too much of it to try and wrap it into one.
(aside from Gmaps not accepting any route involving the Lake Komani/ Berisha ferry.


Balkans_0192a.JPG



As mentioned above, an early start to make SURE we'll be at the ferry by 9am.


The early Pink turning into another cracker of a morning....


Balkans_0192b.JPG



Emailed them and booked last night, they know we're coming... should things get tight. W-)
It's all good until "Pete's GPS" screws up and instead of shortcutting our way through the early-morning Shkoder via the SH5, I'm getting cold feet at the sight of the dilapidated Shkoder outskirts and luckily find a local in a minivan to guide us back onto some main road that rattles the memory into "base-navigation-mode" of North-South-Sun-etc.

5 mins later we're back on known tracks, having lost at least 15-20mins....something to nearly bite us on the arse lateron.

Juicy twisties just short of the SH25 turn-off....:woot:

Balkans_0193.JPG



....the road that follows the lake-shore for around 35km of kidney-bleeding potholes and whoopsies.

While the scenery is mind-blowing....so is the "road".:eek::eek:
Farkinell...SH25 (State Highway25!!) is as BRUTAL! as the stretch from Peshkopi to Rreschen a couple of days ago...:bang::bang:
The Bimmers are bouncing and crashing their way through with an ever-increasing urgency....

Balkans_0194.JPG



Balkans_0195.JPG



Wouldn't mind a roll on the mud myself right now...


Balkans_0195a.JPG



...a prayer wouldn't go astray, either



Balkans_0195b.JPG




Nearly an hour later the pain ends with a supersmooth piece of tar up a mountainside....but not before an open boomgate with a couple of uniformed guys and some shonky Shifty with a Komani-Ferry T-shirt and official manners and paraphernalia trying to flog ferry tickets at "discount prices"....exactly what the website had warned against.


Balkans_0196.JPG




Still, the surprise slows me down... the prior warning raises the middle-finger and 3. gear makes the little BM scream up the hill at 9000rpm.
6 minutes to 9am!! I just hope they run on the same clock we do!




Balkans_0197.JPG




Popping out of the tunnel... go too fast and you're in the drink.


Balkans_0198.JPG
 
Top Bottom