Albania – Following the Ottoman trail

[louisdut]

A month ago three friends & I returned from an amazing trip. Over the next few weeks, still sorting photos! Before our memories fade, we will be posting pictures and tales of our trip through Greece, Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia & Italy.

Here are a few pictures to get things started….

Greece

Albania

Kosovo

Montenegro

Bosnia

Croatia

Our trip started in Venice, I had transported the bikes in the van from the UK, my three riding companions flew in …

Our group name was ‘KTM made me do it!’, this first came about on our Pyrenees trip in 2011, and continued on our Morocco trip in 2012 .

From left to right

Berin (Martin) KTM690, Louis HP2, Welshbird (Nicky), Dr JM (Janemarie), KTM 690’s

We all met up at the hotel Antica Fenice where we’d arranged to leave the van, spent the evening wandering around Venice.

Coming into land…

A spot of sightseeing…

The next morning we were all up bright and early, to ride 4 miles to the port to catch the ferry to Igoumenitsa, Greece.

We collected our tickets, the ferry was loaded efficiently, but they pack ‘em in tight!

Met on deck for beers

We were then treated to excellent views of Venice as we sailed along the Grand Canal..

We then had 27 hours to kill on the boat, which was really comfortable, good food & drinks at decent prices, plenty to see…

Teased by the view of the Albanian trails passing us by…

Albania on our left

and Corfu to the right

Keeping track of our progress..

Little did we know that this was the start of things to come, Dr JM changed, packed & ready for the off first! Only managed to beat her once (by dishonest means!) full story to follow.

Headed into port, where we could see the hotel we had planned to stay in that night.

By the time we unloaded the bikes, found our hotel, we were loosing the light….

Shared our tea with these two lovely creatures…

The next day was to be the first proper riding day, where we were heading up to the Greece-Albanian boarder.

To be continued….

 

[David Nimrod]

Great stuff, looking forward to the continuing saga...

 

[roadrider]

looking good, I'm in

 

[G.C.]

Stop teasing, post it up. Nice pics, what are you using ?

 

[Gazzabart]

thats no good
the pictures stopped
please fix asap

 

[Turkish]

Thanks for the thread. Some really great pics. Hope to add some of my own next year

 

[Timolgra]

Great stuff Louis

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Good start, really looking forward to the next post

 

[blueoffroader400]

Pic's look great looking forward to the story

 

[Timpo]

I'm in.
Especially as the word is that the WYOA tour is heading that way for 2014.
Keep it coming Louis lad.......

Timpo.

 

[louisdut]

Hi Thanks for your replys will get some more photos up asap

Nice pics, what are you using ?

I was using a Welsh girl with a Sony NEX-5R for my pictures as I'm not good with a camera

I'm in.
Especially as the word is that the WYOA tour is heading that way for 2014.
Keep it coming Louis lad.......

Timpo.

Timpo you have email

cheers

Louis

 

[slimpickings]

This looks like it will be a good un

 

[Dr LC8]

I know this brigde!
Albania off road was a great trip

Ciao

Nic

 

[louisdut]

The plan was to take a scenic tarmac road to my Greece Waypoint 002, then ride some unpaved roads to an Ottoman bridge and an area in the mountains with a panoramic view.

We were woken early by thunder, lightening and torrential rain, so we delayed our departure by an hour by which time it had stopped raining.

On route to Waypoint 002 on the scenic roads

As we got higher the rain started to fall again

Then we rode through the mist, with limited visibility

We had a brief rest in baking sunshine, while the storm rumbled around us, unfortunately the closer we got to the Ottoman bridge the storm was getting too close and we changed direction as it seemed pointless to head for fantastic views without visibility!!

On our detour we did spot an alternative bridge.

We then headed to our Hotel Bourazani for the night

We received a great welcome, our luggage was even cleaned for us!

Our host George, was a wealth of knowledge of the local area as his family had lived there for centuries and was very happy to help with route planning.

What a fabulous place…..

Only to be let down by British bikers!

The bikes were tucked away safely for the night

A quick check of the next days route, it became the norm to agree each days route, from the list of routes I had prepared the night before

As you soon be able to tell we were missing our two dogs so it was nice to have these two for company

This was the route we actually rode on Day 1

 

[louisdut]

We woke up to a cloudy but thankfully dry morning, with just a 10 minute ride we were at the Albanian border, there border guards seemed pleased to see us, there was no hassle we were asked to show our V5 and insurance documents and were waved through.

A further 100 metres of tarmac and we took a right onto our first unpaved track in Albania, where myself and Jane discussed steering dampner settings

The clouds lifted and we enjoyed a nice easy trail to get us warmed up

We took a stretch of tarmac road where we came across this war memorial.

We then turned off the tarmac towards the mountains

The trail soon turned very tricky and didn’t seem to be well used, I started to think that I’d made the wrong bike choice coming on the HP2

Even though they were difficult trails the views were stunning, we stopped for lunch and I suggested turning back as we weren’t covering enough ground as it was so much more difficult than expected and we had along way to go before reaching beer and a hotel in Permit! But my riding companions wanted to carry on and we all agreed that if we had to spend the night out under the stars then so be it!

The trails did start to get easier in places which gave me hope that we’d reach a hotel so I wouldn’t get a ear bashing off Mrs LouisDut

The tracks started to look unused again and we had to battle our way through the vegetation, I was please to see the loggers as they’d got up there somehow and we could follow our route down. They were pretty pleased or maybe surprised to see us too.

We turned a corner in the mountains and could clearly see a great unpaved track our route down to permit and I could breath more easily.

We rode into Permit and found a great hotel with underground parking for €10 each per night with breakfast

This was the route for Day2

 

[louisdut]

Day 3 Permet to Berat

After having to miss out on the Ottoman bridge in Greece, I had another one way pointed which also looked like it would take in some great trails to get there

We headed for Kelcyre on tarmac where we stocked up on provisions for the day as there were not going to be any cafes where we were heading! After we were all loaded we turned left on where we thought the tarmac would end as on my paper map it said only 4X4 but it was the best tarmac we had seen :cry within a few miles it stopped and turned into good graded gravel which then turned into rough gravel Just after Ballaban we turned off and climbed on a mix of rough gravel, mud and cobbles :evil

Funny where you see British plated cars :huh

It was not long before we were all ready for a quick break as riding on the cobbled section was hard going and slippery as fook but it did feel like we were riding old Ottoman roads

This road had great views as we were riding on a ridge a lot of the time

Just after this picture we made a wrong turn (well missed a turn off ) as this looked the most used way but ended up right next to someones home and stopped, they did come out and showed us the right way not before giving us lots of grapes they were still trying to load us up with grapes as we waved good bye (Sorry no pictures as the did not want to be photographed and the last thing we wanted to do if offend anyone)

We had two track log to follow now as I had made a track in google earth and DrLC8 had kindly sent me some track logs form his trip many thanks Nic

We could see the bridge coming into sight :wink:

Now it was time to sample the grapes

Great bike :wink:

Locals using the bridge

We decided the water crossing looked safer

We then climbed back up to join the only 4x4 road not sure if this would of be a camp where prisoners were sent in the past

Quick check of the map and we all agreed Berat looked a great place to head for the night

After we had rejoined the main road to Berat, when I say main road it was a rought gravel track but after the roads we had just rode it seem like a main road :evil we came across a great camper

Where we exchanged routes

So now it was simply follow the "main road" to Berat

We went into the town to find a bed for the night and met a Lorencco who told us he had rooms just on the edge of town so we followed him on his push bike even when he crossed this footbridge :huh

Yep just what you need when caring all your gear lots of steps :lol3

The bikes were locked away in his friends yard

It was great to be staying in the old town and we had a good look around as there was lots of history

We had dinner on a second floor restaurant over looking the town

Picture of the old town on our way back to our rooms

This is the route we rode

Cheers for all the kind replies

Louis

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Loving this, thanx for taking the time.

I am so much in awe of people like you doing trips like this. Makes me feel like a right wuss.

 

[Possu]

After we had rejoined the main road to Berat, when I say main road it was a rought gravel track but after the roads we had just rode it seem like a main road :evil we came across a great camper

Louis, I imagine the camper resulted in a "tissue moment" for you.....

 

[louisdut]

Louis, I imagine the camper resulted in a "tissue moment" for you.....

Yep did have to stop and look, its great for trips but very small inside

I think we will need something bigger still not sure about 4x4 or not lots to think about over the next year

Louis

 

[louisdut]

Day 4 Berat to Peshkopi

Martin made a new friend at breakfast

What a great area to have your breakfast, you can just see the barrels of raki :evil

It's only been 3 days and no-one wanted to have their boots in their room

Lorenco and his mum

All lined up ready for the off

We were not going to go back over that bridge but up to the next one :wink:

We then rode a mixture of tarmac and good graded gravel roads up to Librazhd where again it was marked on the map "only 4x4" but again it started with good tarmac :cry

You can see the tarmac ending just round the corner

Then it soon turned to a less used track

I bet this old Lady had been working the land most of her life

We were very very close to the Macedonia border

And we set about taking pictures when 2 border guards came walking down this track with fresh mushrooms in their hands

The border guards were very friendly (but no pictures) Jane gave them sweets which went down really well and they told us about the wild life in the area. They seemed really amused when we told them where we were headed over the next few days, something to do with 'very bumpy'!

We carried on the road, this section reminded us of Morocco

What a great fast flowing section

Like all over the world the children heard us coming and came down to see us

In Peshkopi Nicky had spotted the sign to a good hotel and as always the question was where are we going to leave the bikes for the night? No worries here as there was under ground parking

This is where Martin made friends with unlucky French bikers, I'll let Martin explain (no electricity and upsetting the ferry men)

This was our route

Louis