2019-01-31 Day 142 Thu

Corfu was still just out in front but not so pretty without her lights. It was still raining on and off.

We stopped at Runit at the end of the peninsular and after paying out 700 leke each (A$10) we wondered around in the rain among the flooded ancient ruins. So amazed at what they could achieve. An aqueduct and carriage way across the Vivari Channel about 200 meters of channel. They abandoned a palace in 2AD because of rising sea levels! Once the rain stopped we were able to take some pictures.

 

Across the channel on the private ferry at 10€ no he did not take local currency.

We survived the ferry crossing which was not quiet as terrifying as the one at Lake Titicaca  then onto the Albania - Greek border. 

There was more interest in the vehicle (than us) leaving Albania and very little interest in either entering Greece. Here at last!!

Arriving at the first big town we were told that the vodafone shop would reopen in an hour 6pm.

Too late so we headed to the peninsular for a camp. Wounded up on top with a cattle herder. He was happy for us to stay and proudly showed us his two day old calf. We bade him good night as he left and settled down in the saddle for the night over looking the town of Igoumenitsa.

66km

Camp site

2019-01-30 Day 141 Wed

We stayed in camp hoping for the fog to burn off or blow away which it finally did. Had a chat to Chris who is already back in Canberra.

We wended our way down hill and stopped in Hillmare to buy a few things

Looking back at our campsite.

These guys were making small rectangular bricks out of stone. sitting there chipping away all day!

An interesting mural

I assume this little "cave" protected navy ships.

Drove out onto a peninsular among houses sprouting and found a little empty site to sit and have lunch. The sealed road was twisty traveling up and over all the ridges & gully’s running to the sea.

We filled at another roadside fountain.

The thunderstorm caught up with us so we were looking for a camp in the rain and during twilight. Johns first couple of camp sites were closed by a bar and security guard the other by the road being torn up. At the second was a van and some Frenchies parked for the night but no view. We chatted and found we are both headed towards Mongolia, we may meet up again.

We found a little spot just outside an open gate on the Ionian sea. Looking out at Corfu. Quite a few ships went south in the night we could hear the rumble of their engines and then their lights.

103km

Camp site

2019-01-29 Day 140 Tue

It rained a little during the night. 

The road in was quite neat lined with a type of fir. Very glad we did not get off track, as every where there is water. Tracks just leave the road and enter water. Not sure if fresh or salt

There are a LOT of what John is calling Albanian Mushrooms; gun emplacements to protect from invading forces? But we are not sure when and who built them. But they are everywhere we look.

We made it to the Apollonia ruins near by before mid day. Paid our entrance fee of 400 leke each (A$6) . A huge area and only 6% excavated. Some parts were rebuilt so we could imagine more easily how it once was. 




This well in the porch of the above church was well used.







We had to wait a while for the key to arrive to open the museum but it was well worth the wait. All of the contents were from this site, an amazing array of goods. From Venetian glass perfume bottles to oil burners, and clay jugs with paintings intact.

 




South again on the A2 highway for 30km to make some distance. The SH8 was windy and up and down. But very little traffic. The rain was holding off and affording us vista’s of the Bay of Vlore.

We turned off at the pass and drove up a narrow rocky track towards the radio towers. We camped on a switch back at 1140m altitude. Sadly there was cloud below us. We walked up further through the snow to have another view of the Ionian sea. We had a short period of visibility.

103km

Camp site

2019-01-28 Day 139 Mon

The over flow for the dam was impressive

We saw multiple herders and their animals. Yo'd drive around the corner and there they were spread across the road.

The road was sealed and much better today. We wanted to cross directly to a national park and asked some locals who said dangerous and no. I was a little relieved as it went up to 1500m altitude and two nights ago it snowed down to 300m. 
 

However... we took another white road. We had a small shower of rain which wasn’t much, but a thunder storm was forecast. This road was great for the first half hour then around the corner mud pies. I decided my hour behind the wheel was up. 
 

I didn’t get any photos of this mud which was probably the worst but John got us through. EC just dug down till she got some rock and we were through. Needless to say my anxiety rose as the road became more track like until it was a track with mud holes. 




A lot of the older houses roofs are made of chunks of slate

 

On the down hill side nearly at the bottom the dirt changed from orange to gray this was slippery when wet… We (I) did have a wee bit of concern when EC didn’t respond to the direction John wanted till very late…after the village of ??? we were back on seal.

 














 Fire wood was in short supply??










The fort at Berat was interesting but we had this guide who latched onto us and showed us around. Repeating everything 5 times. We paid him a few euro’s at the end which he wasn’t completely happy with.

We pumped up the tires and at 16:00 were high tailing it to the coast. Another very slow pot holey slumped road. We arrived at the coast about 17:30 with just a faint bit of light left in the sky. Parked about 8 metres from the sea. We checked the tides as the sea had been over the 1m high bank in the lst while. High tide in 6 hours up 0.5m. So no problems there.


149km

Camp site

2019-01-27 Day 138 Sun

We stopped at the water fountain we had seen last night and filled up with water.

 A quick easy drive to Korce.

 We thought the idea of putting the churches outline into the street was a great idea for remembering it and the past.

 It was easy to see where the flood had reached

 The yellow Road was very very slow, but interesting drive along the river.

We started seeing no canoe or kayaking signs which we thought were strange. 

Then we saw why. A dam wall was being built and the river was diverted through a small tunnel. Our road was diverted up and over the hill and we camped just above the dam wall on the down stream side in the dusk.

65km
 

Camp site

2019-01-26 Day 137 Sat

Further down the lake was a museum of “lake of Bones” . I gather from Wiki that there were many villages built out on piles and the remains of the animals they ate are on the lake bed.

 

 Came through a little more snow but the road had been cleared. We had wanted to travel across the hills to lake Prespa but the road appeared to be limited to 5m and 3.5 ton. It was also well above the snow line so we gave the crossing and the national park a miss.

Therefore we crossed back into Albania on ohrad lake. Very easy exit and only a few questions on entry. Green card needed again here.

 

We noticed a change, housing seemed less loved, and rubbish was not collected. We drove the length of Pogradec and up the hill a little then parked at the walking track symbol. As it turned out we could of driven up but we had a nice walk up. Not much of the fort left to see, so down again.

We wondered the main street looking for lunch. Most of the cafe’s had men drinking coffee and rakija as well as smoking. We bought some nice fresh veges and some strawberries. Finally found a little restaurant that would serve us lamb stew/soup. Came in a bowl with the fat cooling on the edges where it slopped. I managed to eat most of it except the chunks of fat. Not a very fancy meal, and sat rather heavily.

We traveled south east down the edge of a big plain above the snow line.

The plain was well farmed and houses had large quantities of corn for their animals

 To camp we turned up hill on a yellow and found a great spot near a quarry off the road in the snow. The potential for a good view

66km

Camp site

2019-01-19 Day 130 Sat

Still drizzling. We left about 9:15 and headed towards Kosovo. The orange road was quite windy and slow then we turned onto a yellow one. Very windy slow and rough in patches. The first half of the day was good we had some visibility then it closed in.  Most of the day was spent in the mountains in snow between 700-900m altitude. 

There were a lot of these webs on the pine trees.

The donkey was patiently awaiting his owner.

I think it would have been a gorgeous drive had we had visibility.

 

Stopped for lunch above the lake about 14:00 where I booked into a hotel in Pristina for 21^st and 22^nd nights to celebrate our anniversary. 24 years!!

We decided to head for the border. The Albanian boarder control just waved us thru. At the Kosovo border I needed to buy a different 3^rd party insurance  15€ for 15 days. 
 

A campsite was hard to find. We tried a hill top but the wet snow was discouraging. A few more km and full dark we ended up on a small road at a school. Road goes through the school grounds

A light was on but could not rouse anyone. A couple walked buy and I asked them he also tried to raise the security guard with no success, but they both said it was OK to stay here the night.

About 18:30 a car drove up yes the cops. I spoke to them they checked our papers made some phone calls said "unsafe". I said we feel safe so that was OK and they left giving us the emergency number 192 to ring.

181km

Camp site