More heat, more Borders, more great roads

Leaving our fish farm digs and back onto main roads, we had some spectacular roads , good fun but you have to be careful, another border crossing into Albania and we found our roadside hotel easily. Staff were very nice and we spent the night hiding from the heat in the air conditioned bar, tough life !

Nice road

almost at our rest stop for the day.

Saturday we were lucky enough to find the amazing sh20 road, until recently it was unpaved but now its superb, plenty photo opportunities and eventually a border crossing again into Montenegro,  it was qued but the locals told us to skip the queue which we did and then just got waved through which was different from other crossings, eventually we rode into Ulcinj which is on the coast, we had seen temperatures up to 38 degs and we were wabbit when we rolled into our digs, a B&b type place with a restaurant and apartments,  the guy who met us told us to take a seat and gave us a beer on the house, it went down well!

our hotel view, not bad

sheep

a little bird told me

not too shabby

not shabby at all

coffee stop

amazing

indeed it was 

Back into Montenegro for a couple of days then back to Albania and Lake Shkodar for our final night, very very hot. Today we headed  back to Durres to catch our ferry back to Italy so I leave it there with some photos 

Nice guy at a rest stop place, talked politics, we didn't understand each other but we both agreed all politicians are arseholes .

Hot

cooling of in the lake 

Nice sunset

fiona poured a bottle of tap water over herself to keep cool

still hot

Durris was a surprise, a 5th century venetian tower

me eating ice cream,  that's about my level of interest 

all the flags but not one from the UK

a roman amphitheatre 

bod Dylan

John Lenton and Fiona singing a song 

hiding from the sun

and me 

So Italy tomorrow,  keep on keeping on 

Leaving Kosovo into Montenegro

As we had some time up our sleeve we decided to stay in Peje another night but we had to change rooms because someone had booked the posh room we were in. Not a big deal to be honest apart from later at night when there appeared to be a rave going on in the cafe opposite, unfortunately our new room overlooked it , pleased I was not !

Apart from that a pleasant day exploring the town which has a thriving cafe culture, loads of youngsters spending money on Coffee and unfortunately some begging from less fortunate people,  unlike the UK where begging seems to be a job, here it a necessity to stay alive, sad.

Nice toon

lightning,  thunder

watching the time

kids brightening the place up

In the morning a guy noticed my Norton T shirt and spoke to me, transpires he had taken a photo of a 961 at a bike meeting in England, he wasn't a biker but was interested in the bikes .Transpires him, his wife and their friend were doctors working with Refugees in Oman and they were here for a colleagues wedding.  You meet the most pleasant people when you have a Norton.

The run was mountainous,  nice, first the Kosovo exit and the probably 5 miles after the Montenegro border which was jointly manned by an Italian finance policeman working on behalf of the EU , no doubt getting Montenegro ready for accession into the EU in 2028. We bought insurance,  10 euro each for 15 days and then eventually rolled into a town for a Coffee.

Our digs for the night was in a campsite with rooms, more like a fish farm with rooms! The last 12 miles were challenging , a single track road with big drops if you got it wrong but slowly slowly, we got here safely 🙏

Once again a good choice from Mrs Rondelli

a beer to calm down

Nice place

Nice scenery 

en route

Coffee stop

I decided to update again because if I leave it too long it takes ages, so look upon this as a bonus edition, free with every packet of cornflakes 

Keeping on Keeping on 

Macedonia , Kosovo and Albania

We left our fancy digs on Lake Ohrid and headed towards the Kosovo border eventually staying in a highly recommended Hostel in a small town, circumstances were against us as myne host was nowhere to be seen , we arrived at 2 and he finally appeared at 5! We then walked to a Pizza place for beer and pizza surprisingly! On the way back we said hello to a woman sitting outside a shop , we asked if she sold beer so we ended up staying there for an hour talking with her about this and that, Chick Murray joke, I don't know much about that or this! She was actually the schoolteacher at the local school and we got some history but Fiona and I later agreed there was much more this and that that was held back.

Fiona bought a bottle of the local hooch a kind of Rakiga we had no whisky so that had to do for a nightcap, very pleasant it was too. 

Nice lake

cooling down

cheap petrol, about £1,20 

Our digs

Nice

picnic time

Happy

our booze carrier

To be honest despite the issues it was an ok place. The following day we rode to the Kosovo border, 10 euros each for 15 days. After the border for 10 miles the road was atrocious, I was thinking, " jesus why did we bother" but eventually it turned into a UK type road ( not bad but not great either) we rode into Pirzren And found our hotel with the help of a local who actually showed us a video of exactly how to get there! 

I need to say Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo people have been incredibly friendly and helpful, the cafes, restaurants and bars have been cheap and all the toilets immaculate. What happened in the UK?

Out for a beer and food later we met a couple of guys from England doing a long tour , Steve and Alex on a couple of Hondas. Later on they joined us for several beers , Alex showed me his Norton and AJS tattoo, how funny is that, I spent a while trying to persuade him to rejoin the dark side!

Meanwhile there seemed to be a bike rally on as more than 100 bikers rode by ( again and again ) A great night in good company.

old Church

old rocker 

on the sauce 

hot 

Sunday we rode out of Kosovo ( the cheapest of the Balkan states) and headed back over the border to Albania finding a nice  roadside hotel near Bajran Cuŕri , once again a gem of a find sited by the side of a river and popular with the locals, photos tell a better story. Smoking is very much a thing here, strange to have an ashtray put down in front of you as soon a you sit down. I've never been a smoker but what right does the government have to tell us what we can and can't do? 

still hot

stunning

safe parking

rain expected 

beer needed

Nice place, built over 3 generations 

thunderstorm 

Monday we left for a short run to Kukes , short mileage wise but over spectacular mountains which equated to 3 hours in the saddle. After a lunch stop it started to get dark and eventually in rained a bit but we arrived almost dry as the thunder and lightning got going.

food time

Nice view

Kukes 

outstanding Hotel

Transpires Kukes was full of UK registered cars, i suspect many of them being the Albanians who appear in our newspapers, the town itself looks stunning as you descend into it , the town itself isn't much to look at but we landed lucky by staying in the best hotel in Alabania so far, a family run hotel, very modern and the owners family couldnt do enough to help you. It was my birthday the day after so we had a bit of a party and the next day the daughter of the owner who so runs a fan̈tastic bakery knocked a bit from the bill saying the last.2 beers are on us. Super nice people, a gem, well worth a visit, the mountains surrounding are pretty spectacular and despite the bad press they trying to build up tourism, a big shout out the Baz'hur Boutique Hotel.

The ride through the hills was a a partial back track of the previous day but then heading for Kosovo, Just before the border we saw a coo, not unexpected and quite common on these roads but it seemed a bit pissed off and had a wee charge at me as I rode past, Fi was a bit freaked out so waited until it calmed down before she drove past it. A memory from William Topaz Mcgonnigal famous poem " upon the hill there stood a coo, it's not there noo, it must have shifted" new meaning " Upon the road there stood a coo, it's still there noo, for gods sake get moving we have miles to do"

And so back into Peje Kosovo to another family run hotel, one of the owners has a bike but he had never heard of Norton, staying another night to try to educate him

and that's it for now, still have a week before we head back to Italia, until then, keep on keeping on