Today’s ride on Komoot – part 1
Today’s ride on Komoot – part 2
Another late start, but this time it was because I was hanging out with some great people. I had dinner last night with Tom and Sophie and this morning, two english girls arrived at the camp. They’d been bushwhacking across the mountains and had the scratches to prove it. The conversations were great, so it was hard to leave. Today was 60kms on a sealed road, so I wasn’t in a major hurry.
When I finally said my goodbyes and left, the uphill started immediately. I kept looking back at the surrounding mountains wondering how Tom And Sophie would find a path through them to the north.
It was unbelievably beautiful by the lake, but the road was generally ugly. The surface changed from potholed to rocky, to dirt, to perfect. This road surface cycle continued the whole way by the picturesque parts of the lake. It was either, up or down, never flat, but worth the effort at all times.
After not many kms, it started to drizzle, then rain quite hard. I hit one bump so hard that I was worried about my front wheel and didn’t notice that my sunnies had fallen off my handlebars as well.
I knew there was a cafe at around 10kms, and I was so happy to see it, but as I got closer, I realised it was closed. I sheltered there for a few minutes and saw another sign to another cafe up the road. Saved !
I went to Cafe Antoni and had some food and coffee, and got some snacks for later. It wasn’t cheap, but I’m happy to pay for the convenience out here in the middle of nowhere.
The great scenery continued as the hills gradually became smaller and the road improved. There was one great downhill into the strange feeling town of Vau i Dejës. The road through the centre of town was nicely paved but the only people around were a few old guys in a coffee shop. It felt like a ghost town, but I’ll assume it was just my timing.
That finally brought me to a busy ugly road for the last 15kms to an amazing camp, full of cyclists – all with interesting stories.
I met Anthea and Jannik from Germany and Josh and Yev (?) from Christchurch.
We hiked up to a restaurant and I had dinner with Anthea and Jannik. I really didn’t know what to expect. We were told that it’s 10 minutes up a dirt track to a restaurant. When we got there, we were amazed. It had views across the surrounding area and it was uplifting – as was the super interesting in depth conversation. I really enjoyed the evening. And again, talking with fellow travellers is always fun.
Back at the camp, we sat by the fire, and listened to other peoples’ stories.
The place is full of interesting people – french twins cycling with dog trailers and two large dogs, and other french and Swiss people. Bikepackers and touring cyclists have the most amazing stories and backgrounds and I love hearing about what they’ve done, what their motivation is and how it’s affected them etc. these last two days have been brilliant for conversations.
It’s funny, talking to travellers starts from the point that you are already friends. It never feels like I’m talking with strangers.
