Day 211: Dubrovnik to Sobra

Island hopping (well “Island hobbling” anyway)

We weren’t too impressed with the road into Dubrovnik and it’s only going to get busier as we head north, so we had a cunning plan. 

Why not hop from island to island by ferry?

Well its cunningness is up for debate now as we’ve only managed to go 27km so far and it’s 3 o’clock. The first ferry went fine, although it wasn’t very quick. However, it was quick enough to beat Sue, Ed and Amy who were heading for the same island in their charter yacht at the same time. No sign of them when we arrived :-)

The ferry to Sipan was pretty crowded

Loading the bikes was a little tricky too

Then we rode the 5 km to the north of the island of Šipan without any issues. It was a lovely ride through green countryside with plenty of vineyards and olive groves. Then, at Šipanska Luca in the north we were expecting a ferry to leave at 3:30 pm. We asked at a bar and were told the ferry wasn’t until 7:50pm, so we won’t be going much further after we arrive in the next island of Mijet. 

We got to have a nice swim…

…in a beautiful bay

Oh well, we’ll give it another day or so and maybe head back to the mainland if we’re not able to get going a bit quicker. 

So, we’re sat for 7 hours in a little island village by the sea. That’s not too bad. We had a swim, a nice lunch and sat around in the shade watching Le Tour de France. 

Bang on time, the ferry turned up at 7:50 and we could hop another 20km up the coast to Sobra on the island of Mljet. We arrived just at dusk and had a short journey from the port to Sobra village, where we were lucky to find an apartment still available.

Tomorrow we can jump further up the coast to Split, with luck.

Video: Albania

Riding the length of Albania, through the Albanian Riviera to Tirana and then north to the border with Macedonia.

The McNamara family are cycling from Melbourne to the UK.

Two are on a tandem, one’s called Tiger.

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Music Credit: LAKEY INSPIRED

Track Name: "Wonder"

Music By: LAKEY INSPIRED @ https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired

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Official "LAKEY INSPIRED" YouTube Channel HERE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOmy8wuTpC95lefU5d1dt2Q

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Official "LAKEY INSPIRED" YouTube Channel HERE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOmy8wuTpC95lefU5d1dt2Q

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Day 210: Rest day in Dubrovnik

My sister’s in town!

By chance, Sue and family booked a sailing holiday in Croatia for the beginning of July and, with a little bit of fiddling, we’ve managed to be in Dubrovnik at the same time. They were picking up their yacht at the marina today, so we rode down there to hang out with them.

We headed off to the beach whilst their boat was being prepared and had a nice time cooling down in the water. It is the only place to be on a hot day.

Amy, Sue and Ed come to visit

Not the kind of boat they’ll be sailing

Day 209: Rest day in Dubrovnik

Walking the walls

Kiwi and Paula did it, at least a couple of times, so we had to go and do the walk around the walls of the old city of Dubrovnik. What an amazing place - extraordinary views whichever way you look. You can see why Game of Thrones were persuaded to film so much here.

This court would make basketball a very different game

Video: Greece, Athens to Corfu

Riding from Athens across to Vasiliki to sail at Wildwind, then up to see Paige in Kavos on Corfu.

The McNamara family are cycling from Melbourne to the UK.

Two are on a tandem, one’s called Tiger.

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Music by:

LAKEY INSPIRED - Better Days

Download→ https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired/better-days

Song: Ikson - Lights (Vlog No Copyright Music)

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LAKEY INSPIRED

Track Name: "Me 2 (Feat Julian Avila)"

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Official "LAKEY INSPIRED" YouTube Channel HERE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOmy8wuTpC95lefU5d1dt2Q

License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported "Share Alike" (CC BY-SA 3.0) License.

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Day 208: Igalo to Dubrovnik

We’re in Croatia

We were only in Montenegro for about 5kms this morning, climbing up the valley road to the Montenegrin checkpoint. Then it was a fair bit more climbing before we crested the ridge and were were in Croatia.

Last flutter for the Montenegrin flag

Into Croatia

Spectacular clifftop roads

Then we were riding up through the Croatian hills towards Dubrovnik. There’s a bit of a sting in the tail before the town, with a large climb up round the cliff, before a fast descent into Dubrovnik.

The city looks beautiful, and we’re looking forward to going and exploring later.

We’re staying just outside the city walls, which made getting there by bike a lot easier. In fact, we’re staying in a Mazda dealer, which is odd. The car dealer obviously decided that there was more money in tourism round here and extended their showroom to include apartments for tourists. I like the touch of naming it “Zoom-Zoom” though. I’m not sure what the Mazda brand police would say though.

Dubrovnik, every bit as pretty as expected

That’s our apartment on the right, Apartments Zoom-Zoom, with everything for your Mazda car.

Day 207: Kotor to Igalo

Riding in Fjordland

A pretty amazingly picturesque ride this morning along the shoreline of the “fjord” that leads to Kotor. We could ride right by the water, past the many waterfront villas with moorings and sunbathing decks in front of them. On either side of the water mountains tower above us and a couple of islands house churches in the centre. 

To top it off we had a ferry ride at the end of the shoreline to get to the northern shore. Great ride. 

We’re slowing down at the moment as we’ll be meeting my sister Sue and family in Dubrovnik on Sunday, so we called it a day after 38km and put our feet up by the pool in an apartment In Igalo. We’ll make the final push in to Dubrovnik tomorrow and then hang out looking for Kings’ Landing locations for a couple of days. 

Day 206: Bar to Kotor

Montenegro is pretty flash!

Tandem, cobbles, mountains

Our first night in Montenegro wasn’t all that great. The apartment was about as bad as it gets and we had an ok meal but nothing special. So far so good-hum. 

Riding out of Bar past Soviet architeCture and without a Montenegrin flag

What’s worse, we couldn’t find a Montenegrin flag anywhere. Don’t these people like the country they made independent only 16 years ago?

However, as we moved along the coast, everything has improved - although, they made us work for it. There were steep climbs to ride up and a 32°C temperature. Neither of these were extreme, but I was sweating as much as I ever have on the ride today. 

We had a lovely lunch by the marina in Budva, we’re we’d stopped by the marina in the hope of find a chandlery selling flags. It turned out there was no chandlery, but we did get a tip that there was one 15km up the road. 

Lunch stop at the marina in Budva

Tiger and Sarina picking alternate means of transport

Unfortunately, that was the other side of a steep hill. An hour of climbing later, we could descend towards Kotor and the chandler came up trumps with two Montenegrin flags. 

We’d made a late decision to detour to Kotor today, and what a good decision. We approached the town through a tunnel, with the fjord-like river valley revealed as we emerged, a dramatic limestone cleft with a terracotta tiled stone Town perched on its bank. We had to dismount the Strawberry to make our way through the labyrinthine stone streets to get to our apartment, although Tiger showed the cruise tourists his bike skills as he made progress through the alleyways with track stands and slow cycling tricks. 

An amazing walled city, like a mini Dubrovnik I think, looking very much as if it had been built for a medieval drama. 

Entering the old city of Kotor

Through here?

Are you sure this is the right way?

The Pržun apartment, our home for tonight

Day 205: Shëngjin to Bar

We left Albania today - and I’m almost sad to have left it. It was a real surprise and we’ve met nice people, eaten nice food and seen some extraordinary mountains and bays.

Last day in Albania

Morning coffee was by a large river In Shkoder

The border was a new experience. We were able to overtake the queue of cars and we gave our passports to the guy in the booth. Then we’re shuffled on to the booth next door and our passports were passed through to a woman who stamped them and handed them back to us. It turned out the first booth was Albanian immigration, and the second booth Montenegro. Very sensible one-stop-shop.

Combined Albanian and Montenegrin border control

Now we’re in Montenegro, our 13th country. So far it seems hilly and the people are a bit grumpy, but we maybe caught them on an off day.

The hills of Montenegro that we’re hoping to skirt around

Day 204: Tiranë to Shëngjin

Another umbrella and sunbed filled beach

We left Tiranë in the Monday morning rush hour, grabbed a last “city coffee” (barista standards always seem to drop in the countryside) and then headed north west. We’re heading to Montenegro, but that will take us another day to get to, so we picked out another Albanian seaside resort to head to. 

Our morning coffee stop was a very pleasant café, hotel, petrol station by the side of the road. I decided to tighten our brakes slightly and ended up switching the pads and cable, meaning I had tools and spares spread all over the ground by our bikes. The manager wasn’t happy with this and sent one of the waiters to get rid of me. He came over and said “I’ve been told to ask you to move, but I’ll say you’re just packing up and by the time my boss checks again you’ll be gone.” He then offered to fill our water bottles and added some ice in each one. What a nice guy!

Albania only has one Architectural style - boxes

Shëngjin is the oddest seaside resort we’ve been to so far. The beach is absolutely rammed with umbrellas and sun beds and there’s a constant stream of hawkers coming past selling bananas, nectarines, nuts and just about anything you can imagine. 

Capitalism has defniteLy come to this beach

Tomorrow we leave Albania for Montenegro- country number 13.

Day 203: Rest day in Tiranë

A complicated past

We had a relaxing day wandering around Tiranë, sampling the cafés and investigating the country’s past. The most unique museum is the House of Leaves that has be created in what was the centre of technical operations for the Albanian secret police. In the museum they have the bugging equipment, manuals, procedures and statistics about how the totalitarian regime suppressed any opposition, using a network of informants and paranoid propaganda.

The array of bugging equipment used by the secret police

Concrete door to the underground bunker outside

The bars and restaurants were more appealing, and there are plenty to choose from. A few people in Tiranë seem to have become quite wealthy since the end of the Communist régime, and they like to visit smart bars on a Sunday evening.

Salt Tirana, where we had a very pleasant meal

Day 202: Golem to Tiranë

Nice country road

Heading inshore to the capital, we were able to find a nice rural road. The road surface was appalling, but there weren’t many cars and the views of the fields and hills around us were great.

A coffee stop on the way at a very English country garden kind of place

Arriving in the capital, it’s a pretty small place. we road down the riverside, which is more of a little stream, with everything feeling a bit more “country town” than “capital city”. However, this is not that surprising given the country only has 2.5 million inhabitants, and a lot of them seem to be on the coast running the expanding tourist resorts.

We had time to have a quick wander around Tiranë, and it’s a weird mixture. Lots of the old Communist era building are repurposed, but some still lie derelict. Most obvious is the grand pyramid in the centre of town. Originally the Enver Hoxha Museum, a museum to the legacy of the former dictator. However, that purpose is no longer appropriate and it lies empty and decaying. There are plans to fix it up, just as there are plans to do something with Hoxha’s former residence, but nothing happening yet.

The Communist legacy is not exactly hidden, although the art and colour livens things up a bit

The pyramid is looking a little sad really

Enver Hoxha’s former residence

Video: Greece, from Thassaly to Athens

Riding across Greece, looping down through Evian Island to Athens and to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon.

The McNamara family are cycling from Melbourne to the UK.

Two are on a tandem, one’s called Tiger.

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Music by:

Outside by Ikson https://www.soundcloud.com/ikson

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LAKEY INSPIRED - Better Days

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By The Croft by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tnV_PH26SVU

Unconditionally by Broken Elegance 🎩 https://soundcloud.com/brokenelegance

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Day 201: Vlorë to Golem

Transfer stage

Just like in the Tour, where you get some stages that just get the peloton from one region to another, today was just about getting the kilometres done. Today was just about getting another 100km up the coast.

Tiger getting ready to pull out

We did see some new sides to the country on the way. Rural communities and isolated towns that were very different to the tourist centres we’ve been in.

Country roads

What they all have in common is that every town seems to be rebuilding the town centre. Being a stonemason in Albania is a boom business.  

A part of a town centre not being rebuilt

We’d heard that the Albanian roads weren’t good, but we’d spent the first few days on a good coast road. Today we saw the other side of the roads here, with potholes big enough to worry about breaking spokes. 

The main road was better but had the disadvantage of trucks coming closer than I’m happy with, there being no hard shoulder

Still, we made it to Golem, another seaside town. This one’s mostly full of Russians. We had a nice rest on the beach and are hoping for an easy day tomorrow. We need a rest.

The perfect end to a day

Day 200: Dhermë to Vlorë

Crossing the Cesar Pass

Today was a challenge. 950 metres of climbing over about 15km up to a maximum height of 1,000 metres. The maximum gradient was 14%, way above our comfort zone, fully laden with panniers.

Still, it was the only way to get north, so it had to be done.

The road stretches up the mountainside above you as you approach inscribing an enormous zigzag up the rock face, which is pretty intimidating, especially as some of the steepest pitches were in the village before we got near the climb.

The road, scarrIng across the mountain above us

Once we were on the pass itself, it became a little easier as the engineers had obviously had a gradient they were working too and they’d stuck to it — most of the time.

Getting down to work

We resolved to stop at each hairpin bend — five in total, despite the lack of shade. We needed the recovery time and it gave us something to look forward to.

Blue StrAwberry chilling at the bend

Slowly we climbed higher and gradually the beaches below us receded. We climbed through and arid scrubland of wild sage, camomile and thyme, which at least made the aroma rather pleasant.

I’d planned on getting some water at the last village before the hill started and we were a little upset to discover the village didn’t seem to be inhabited. This meant we were a tiny bit short on water, and when we saw a roadside stall at one of the hairpins we were sure we’d be able to get some bottles. Unfortunately all he had was honey and herbs, not what we were looking for. However, he did tell us we could get water higher up.

Some rather spectacular graffiti at one corner, but now water

On we went, and a new set of roadside stalls looked more promising. We bought one stall’s entire supply of water bottles and set about rehydrating, with Coke and fresh raspberries and blackberries too.

These stalls had water!

The stallholder, a boy of about 15 years old, was very excited and wanted us to come and see his bicycle. It turned out to have had its derailleur ripped off, amongst a fair few other problems. I set to trying to fix it and ended up spending about half an hour stripping things down and trying to bend things back into shape. By the end it was functional, but I’m not sure for how long. He resolved to try to get a replacement derailleur, which would solve the problem much better.

Bike fixing

He gave us some peach drinks too, so we were well hydrated as we left.

One last stretch to the summit, and it was the steepest, but we managed to keep plodding along, and soon we arrived at the cafés at the top. Definitely lunch time.

We’ve made it to the summit

Then we had about 20km of descent to play with. Tiger and I were having fun, Sarina’s still not that happy about descending. We take it nice and slowly to keep everyone happy.

Then we’re down by the sea again, the Cesar Pass conquered.

Seaside again

…and then the bright lights of Vlorë

Day 199: Lukovë to Dhërmi

Tough day at the office

I had no idea Albania was so hilly. The spectacular mountains roll right down to the beaches, which makes for interesting cycling. 

A high five from the kids in the town

Albania spent around 60 year in isolation, and I think there’s a fair chance that’s because ever time someone thought about leaving the country, 50km later the mountains had worn them down so much they decided to go home instead. 

We haven’t seen hill like this for a long time, with regular signs indicating 10% gradients, which are a bit much for us. We were doing ok to start with, but after about 5km of hills this steep we were reduced to walking up the steepest stretch. 

Signs let us know it’s hard all the time

We’re taking it easy though, not trying to do too much and we need to save some energy for tomorrow when we go over the Cesar Pass which soars over us as we lie on the beach today with five mighty switchbacks climbing to 1,100m from sea level. Should be fun. 

Tomorrow’s climb looms disturbingly above the beach

Video: Greece, from the Turkish border to Thassaly

Riding from the Turkish border across Greece, through Thessaloniki and then down into Thassaly.

The McNamara family are cycling from Melbourne to the UK.

Two are on a tandem, one’s called Tiger.

--

Music by:

Outside by Ikson https://www.soundcloud.com/ikson

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New Happy Day by fennecbeats https://soundcloud.com/fennecbeats

Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/nAx56UPakM8

LAKEY INSPIRED - Better Days

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By The Croft by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud

Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/tnV_PH26SVU

Unconditionally by Broken Elegance 🎩 https://soundcloud.com/brokenelegance

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Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/a1N_1y4YcGo

Day 198: Corfu Town to Lukovë

We’re in Albania

A hop, skip and a jump on a ferry and we’re in Albania, country number 12 on our tour.

We have the routine sorted now - local SIM card bought, flags bought and flying on our bikes, local money acquired fro an ATM (the Albanian Lek) and we’re good to go.

The Albanian flag looks good on the bike. It goes well with the Koala of Flinders.

Sarende, iur arrival port in Albania

First impressions, Albania is super hilly! Everything is either up or down, and at significant gradient. We have a climb if 1,100m coming up soon, so it’s going to be hard. That’s one reason we slowed down today. Best to do it in small chunks and be fresh for the climbing.

The hills of Albania

Day 197: Kavos to Corfu Town

We said tearful (Sarina obviously) goodbyes to Paige and headed north up the island. Once you’re out of Kavos the character changes significantly and we soon felt like we were in an episode of The Durrells in small market towns along the way.

Morning freddo espressi were in a lovely beachfront bar with blue water below, before we set off for the last stretch to Corfu Town.

The town itself is very quaint, full of picture postcard views and a very large fort overlooking the harbour.

It was a short day today, before we jump on a ferry to Albania tomorrow, so we managed a dip in the sea at the local rowing club. Lovely place for a swim.

Corfu old town

A swim by the superyachts

Day 196: Rest day in Kavos

Just chilling

Beach, pool, rest, repeat.