Tirana

Having been a country sealed off from the rest of the world for most of my lifetime Albania, and especially its capital, Tirana have a faintly exotic appeal. Its tourist attractions though are somewhat limited beyond a centre comprising both fascist and communist influences. The massive Socialist realist mural depicting heroes of the Revolution overlooks a featureless central square beyond which extends Mussolini's wide boulevard's.Capitalism is forging ahead with leafy streets swanky shops displaying high priced fashions overlooked by Soviet style housing blocks enlivened by gaudy patchwork painting courtesy of the artistic mayor.

Albania, but where is Castro?

Steamy heat, elegantly distressed buildings, donkeys, veteran tractors, Mercedes cars in various states of disrepair, ethnic music pumping out, 1960's buses, palm trees, so much about this country reminds me of Havana. Not that I have been to Cuba, but I did once watch Buena Vista Social Club.

Crossed the border still with a bundle of Macedonian Dinari which the bank could not change. However a bank official took me outside and made a call on his mobile. Moments later a guy arrived in classic overcoat with huge wads of notes in his pocket. Out with the calculator and the deal was done in moments giving us over 10,000 Albanian Lek to spend.

Traveling towards Tirana brought back memories of another place - Uganda. Verdant green mountains, smoky minibuses, precarious roads winding up high passes, torrential showers and great enthusiasm about our presence here is so reminiscent of The Last King of Scotland.

Into Macedonia & the town of Bitola

"Change money?" asked the ice cream seller to let us know we were now in Eastern Europe, as we sheltered from the uninhibited curiosity of downtown Bitola. It was Saturday lunchtime cafe society on the wide pedestrianised boulevard and we were the entertainment.

Booked into the wonderfully named Tokin House, on Marks i Engels St. just off Marshall Tito St! A further Iron Curtain moment occurred in the ultra modern supermarket. Due to non-recognition by the computer I was told it was not possible to have the cake I wanted and had to make do with another flavor that was selected for me.

Not having done our homework we knew little about Macedonia, including the value of its currency. Using the ATM did not help as it just gave us a choice of various quantities of Dinari so we had to guess a value from supermarket prices. Went for a slap-up birthday meal costing a whopping 1000 Dinari which we later found out to be 12 Quid.

Enjoyed the chilled atmosphere of Bitola with its tree lined streets and setting, nestling beneath the high mountains so we stayed a second night. We became part of the cafe set, sitting outside the Jazz bar and watching the world go by. By midnight its 100% stilettos except for 5 refusniks wearing trainers, but I'm assured they will be sent for re-education so they can fit in with the post-communist world.

New gear - Altimeter

Have wanted an altimeter for ages and finally got one in Barcelona. Thought at first it was jinxed as before I had fixed it on the bike, my wrist broke. However it is well suited to Greek mountains as the tightly packed peaks mean huge amounts of up and down and spectacular results. The key figure it records is the accumulated climb of each day so although the highest point we have been so far is around 1771m we have been averaging around 1200m of daily climbing (= to Snowdon) and so our altitude gained in the first Greek week was the same height as Everest. Other stuff it records is highest point, average gradient, steepest gradient, mileage etc. It sits on my stem but all these figures are too distracting so I cover it up and have the joy of seeing how hard the day was when we finish riding. Even off the bike it was useful as, because it works using atmospheric pressure, it makes an excellent barometer.

Ten Days in the Greek Mountains

With over 550km completed and an altitude gain exceeding 13000m its been a tough but enjoyable 10 days. The weather (from a cool start) got increasingly hot reaching 30C before plunging back down again to give us rain, a cold northerly wind, spectacular hail storms, fresh snow on the road and a 0C morning. Mainly the roads/tracks have been great although we keep ignoring advice that our route is unsuitable for bikes due to condition/steepness. Constant maintenance is required on the mountain roads with frequent rock slides and many sections with precarious overhanging boulders. Hugely rewarding though with rough tracks winding up wooded passes to reveal vistas of snow capped mountains and remote villages perched on precarious slopes.

Greek Mountain Slideshow

Our Greek Diet

Our daily food intake goes something like this -
Breakfast Where possible oats and (soya) milk powder with pumpkin seeds and sultanas. However oats are now hard to find so we have been having rice pudding with honey, washed down with cowboy coffee.
Mid-morning As well as biscuits to keep us going we have some or all of spinach pie/bananas/pineapple juice
Lunch Bread, cheese, tomato and onion and maybe an orange.
Afternoon (finished cycling)Green tea for Wendy and hot lemon for me. And nuts, either walnuts, cashews, peanuts or pistachios.
Tea A choice here, its either dal and rice or tomato sauce and pasta with cheese. Basic mix is the same, olive oil, onion and chopped tomato just an alteration of the herb/spice balance.
Sometimes we have local wine and usually we have a bar of chocolate during our evening game of cards.

Cyclist Bites Dog

Used to protect farms, property and most usually goats no story about cycling in Greece would be complete without mentioning them. Having developed tactics for countering their menace I have become far more confident over the years so they have become just annoying rather than scary. However one incident did cause some alarm. Cycling along the only busy road we have been on, 4 large dogs emerged snarling from farm buildings ahead and ran behind a long fence towards us barking furiously. Why make all that noise I thought when you can't get at us. My feelings changed as they emerged through a hole right by us and charged towards me. Into attack mode I swung the bike across the road and straight at the lead dog while roaring furiously which made 3 of them turn back through the hole and the biggest to turn its attention towards Wendy who soon saw it off. What was particularly scary was that it occurred on a section of road on which large trucks were doing 50mph. Luckily it was clear but if one of those had been around...

Route revamp - The Yellow Line Tour

Finally completed the big loop from Sicily to Kephalonia picking up the bikes along the way. Eased our way back into cycling mode with a couple of rides around the island and thought about our future direction. Original plan was to do some island hopping and maybe sailing. However it dawned on us that we had reached our most distant point but had only completed 3 weeks of (excellent) cycling. So decided that islands were too small to be messing about with and would head straight to Patra on the Peloponnese and then head north through the mountains of mainland Greece, in earnest. So new route is former Yugoslavia turn left through Alps then along the French side of the Pyrenees to Bilbao. Now its head down cycling, no tourist delights, no sunny beaches just peaks, passes and and sore asses.

APRIL FLOWERS

AND THE ARM IS MENDED...