cycling6:42:12 46.99 mi (8:34 / mi) +667m8:12 / mi ahr:99 max:214 slept:7.5
Long day today. Van transfer from the hotel south along the main road from Girokaster and then up a long hill with switchbacks, reminiscent of the ride up to Joe Grant SP in a way. Saddled up at the top, wore my leg warmers, partly for warmth, but mostly for some support for my sore L calf. Seemed to work, and kept them on most of the day. Long descent on smooth road, then turned off for the Blue Eye, the pool that is the source of one of the rivers here. Armand tells us that divers have been 60 M deep in the Blue Eye and not hit bottom. Lots of water, very blue, very, very clear. Then a few stops looking for coffee, some ups and downs, and a picnic lunch next to a graveyard. Gravestones all in Greek here. Then another up and long down, encing at the ferry to Butrint. Pretty cool ferry, definitely a home made set up, run on a cable by an engine in a building on the shore. Butrint is an ancient city, re-built many times, with ancient, Roman, medieval and Venetian ruins. Pretty good sprint venue, perhaps. Then the last stretch, another 18 Km along the Ionian Sea, long ups and downs, ending in the port city of Sarande, where we are staying at the Hotel Porto Eda, right on the Ionian, beautiful view of Corfu from the 3rd floor.
Armand tells us tomorrow is the hardest day He is a tough taskmaster for a group of older folks.
cycling5:52:42 71.06 km (4:58 / km) +566m4:46 / km ahr:97 max:202 slept:9.25
I'll have some catching up to do. First internet in three days. Today we cycled from the lovely guest house near the lukewarm hot springs 8 km from Permet along the muddy river Vjosa, to the confluence with the lovely blue green Drino near Tepelene, then SE along the Drino, stopping for lunch at the Cold Springs and on the major road to Gjirokaster. Gjirokaster sits well up above the road, about a 400 M climb. Very invigorating. Showers, and then a tour of the old city, including the very large castle-prison-fortress, the ethnographic museum in the boyhood home of the Communist era dictator Enver Hoxha, and a private home under reconstruction.
cycling1:43:20 10.26 mi (10:04 / mi) +278m9:17 / mi ahr:104 max:240 slept:10.0
A climb right away out of the valley, where we stopped to look at the land Armand is negotiating to buy. My calf is screaming. Lowered my seet a bit, which helps, but not enough.
11 AM
cycling2:21:20 17.16 mi (8:14 / mi) +478m7:35 / mi ahr:111 max:246
cycling7:02:26 45.42 mi (9:18 / mi) +1265m8:34 / mi ahr:108 max:160 slept:10.0
Long day from Korce up into the mountains and through some big passes. Pastures and flowers more than the small towns and family farms yesterday. A picnic lunch by the side of the road outside Erseke. Second climb w tough but the third, up Mt Germenje was killer. First forest we have seen on the climb then a little dip at the end into the valley of Germenje and the farm we are staying at. They maintain a trout hatchery, the source of our dinner. In the dining room they display a stuffed river otter, who had apparently been taking 5-6 kg a day from the trout facility, several large concrete pens across a creek.
A hard nap in the afternoon, and then 10 hours of sleep. A niggling calf pain obtained on the last climb.
cycling5:09:05 32.41 mi (9:32 / mi) +535m9:04 / mi ahr:102 max:153
Slept hard last night and a bit better prepared for today's cycling. Left Pogradec and after about 10K came to a long hill up onto a higher plateau. Followed the plateau with gentle ups and downs through a lot of small farms. The road was in good condition, little traveled by cars. A few trucks, but mostly we saw tractors and pony or donkey drawn carts, sometimes carrying things, but usually just carrying a couple of people. We passed through many small towns, the houses built of stone. In the larger towns the houses are made of concrete. That is the primary building material, as they don't seem to have a lot of forests, and they have plentiful limestone. Albania is a primary producer of cement. They also have plenty of water. Big lakes, springs everywhere, very good water pressure.
Today's ride was 52K, to the city of Korca, where we are staying in the Grand Hotel Palace. Very nice.
This was our longest ride of the year so far, and I can feel the winter of inactivity. I can't keep up with Rhonda right now, although that was always challenging. Hope to get stronger as the tour continues. Some of the folks are going on to ride in Croatia after this tour. Not a bad idea for next time. Some others were riding in Puglia last week, and Chuck and Judy, the tour leaders, came from Portugal, and are headed to Croatia.
The local tour guides, brothers Armand and Junid, and Armand's lovely girlfriend Marsela, are good riders, or at least Armand and Marsela are. Junid is stuck with driving the van. They all speak several languages, and are quite well-traveled. Most Albanians seem to know Italian, which is nice, and I have had some nice chats with Junid.
The food on this trip is the best of any trip I have been on. We had lunch about 6K before we got to Korca at the Shaholli Restorant. All our meals have been served family style, with many courses. Today we had a salad with lettuce, onions, tomato, cucumber, peppers, carrots, cabbagge. Then sliced beets, served cold, peppers stuffed with cheese, cabbage stuffed with rice and lamb, tempura-style zucchini, fried potatoes, delicious bread, a very hot dish of different kinds of melted cheese, and when we thought we had had everything, they brought out plates of lamb ribs. Amazing! I'm sure I forgot a few things, too. Then coffee and a very thick creamy yogurt served with chopped nuts and honey.
First day on the bike in Albania, although a short one. First we rode for about 3 hours by van from Tirana in the direction of Lake Ohrid. We saddled up on top of a hill with a view of the lake, and took the switchbacks down to along the lake, riding for about half an hour, give or take, stopping for lunch. I forgot to start the Garmin in all the excitement.
3 PM
cycling1:04:45 10.4 mi (6:14 / mi) +117m6:01 / mi ahr:95 max:138
Food so far has been excellent, lots of vegetables, very fresh. This is the second part of the ride, from lunch to the hotel. the Millennium in Pogradec, also on the lake. Very nice.Beautiful room with a balcony looking out over Lake Ohrid,. Dinner included many more vegetable dishes and two kinds of trout from the lake.