10 September 2025 (hot and sunny 30C) 57km

Awake at 5.30am after a night being kept awake by the coachload of youngsters, who thought it would be good to move out of the camp and over to the beach area, and light an open fire. Did they not see the evidence of all the recent fires as they drove in? As they sat round the fire drinking, so the volume increased. 

But I can't place the blame solely on them. Throughout the night there were pairs of men, I would suggest local and intoxicated, wandering the prom with raised voices, which isn't anything new. 

Pack up all completed and slid the main gate back, to head on up the driveway and set a course for Sarande. Began the day with a 650 metre climb over the first 30km.

We could see this road carving it's way up the hillside from the campground so knew we'd be putting in a good effort. 

The best part of the climb was we had no traffic. Take Albanian drivers out of the equation and it's a huge drop in your blood pressure reading.

We were very glad we'd made the effort to set off early as for the bulk of the climb, the sun was still behind the hill and we were in shade. Still sweating buckets of course, but it could have been worse.

And of course the views weren't bad either.

About 10km up we spied an open shop so bought some yoghurt and bananas at a small shop. So then we were on the look out to eat our breakfast but couldn't find anywhere to sit in the shade to eat it.

Hauled our way up to a garage with a shop and a cafe. Enjoyed a coffee here, and toyed with the idea of asking if they'd let us eat our breakfast there, but decided that would be a bit rude.

Nice old dear served us (probably only forty two, they don't age well up here) reminded us of Julie Walter's character, Mrs Overall (check it out if you haven't seen it).

Reached Lukove at the peak of our climb and rode into town to see donkeys walking down the main road.

A car stopped dead in the middle and two girls began taking photos, while the others just waited.

Strange. They can wait for a donkey to have his photo taken on the main road, but they won't slow down at all as they approach a cyclist, either from behind or in front. 

Here, in the middle of the town square was a big ol tree, providing massive shade to two hot cyclists, just in time as the sun was heating up. By now we'd nearly done 30km and 600m of climbing so were very keen for breakfast.

There were three cafes surrounding the square and as per usual, full of men, not a woman to be seen.

Oh that's right....someone's got to do the work!

Forty years ago when I was in these neighbouring parts, it was exactly the same.

Communism may have died out here, but taking the piss hasn't. 

As we finished, two Canadian guys pulled up on e-bikes. They were on an Albanian eight day cycle tour of this lower part of the country.

They'd just slogged up the other side...

Well....is it a slog on an e-bike?

Both from Vancouver and they were finishing their tour in Himare tomorrow, which is just north from where we'd started this morning.

As we headed down the other side, we counted about twenty e-cyclists battling up the hill.

Some were looking a bit shaky and I think it's a good thing they had a support van following them with their luggage as some looked like they could soon be doing with a bit of support. It was incredibly hot by this time.

It was around this stage of the day that the traffic began to increase.

And with increased volume came a higher percentage of idiots.

By the time we reached Sarande, I was boiling hot and boiling with rage.

In fact, as we stopped to get water and a coke, I felt very unwell myself.

Apart from my body temperature being hot, I also had the shakes and my pulse was up.

Had to sit outside the shop we were at and Ju cooled me down by wetting my buff and sticking it on my head. At least I think that's what she was doing. 

Whilst not feeling good, a bloody beggar comes scrounging for money.

Hello there mate....did you not get the message from your scrounging mates up the road? Use what brain you've got in your head. Recognize the fact that we are riding bikes, not driving bloody Bentleys and PISS OFF. 

Well, we could have given the beggar some money, but we'd rather spend it on an ice cream!

Leaving Sarande

On the way to Ksamil

We still had another 10 kms to our apartment for the night. We only booked one night, in case we didn't like it and then we could move on. It was a hellish ride just because of the heat and the traffic and we gratefully arrived at the apartment at 2pm. 

Met by the man, who turned us over to his wife, who faffed around as we waited outside. 

They had our booking but for some reason they were back and forth, until finally they show us the room.

It's pretty basic.

Has air conditioning, but internet is iffy. We'll definitely look for another spot around here. 

So... a walk at 5.30pm took us down to the beaches that we've been hearing so much about. Lori beach, Paradise beach, Ksamil beach.

There were people for Africa.

All on loungers with their sun umbrellas.

The water that is advertised as being crystal clear ain't so crystal clear with all those people.

Plus....these beaches are tiny in comparison to the ones we've been frequenting.

Ju here. Again I think of Mum and a saying she would use from time to time.

Blessed are those who expecteth nothing, for they shall not be disappointed.

After seeing the photos of Ksamil, I was keen to get down here and see it for myself.

Talk about Instagram vs reality.

The sheer number of people made it impossible to see any of the natural beauty here. I could barely see the “sand”, which was actually just crushed pebbles. It wasn't the only crushed thing on the beach. Now I'm just hoping Corfu’s beaches live up to their reputation. Back to Pete.

Everyone's after a buck.

If you even look at a menu on a board outside a restaurant, suddenly as if from nowhere, theres' someone there to tell you all about it.

Ksamil may be the latest tourist spot, but we think that it will be short lived.

However, we are going to another place tomorrow, with a pool, so we don't have to put up with the masses. 

It's called Villa center and Pool, sounds like a community swimming pool, but it looks nice. 

Anyway, after wandering aimlessly around these bays, we finally squeezed ourselves way down to the waters edge, discreetly placing our gear on a stone wall, rather than the Euro 20 lounger and smartly slipped into the water.

Only stayed in for two minutes before climbing some stairs to a toilet block, where we could get changed.

Checked out some eateries for tonight then back for a shower.

Into town, just down the road and ate dinner in a little joint after walking out of the first one, because the waiter basically didn't give a rat's arse about us. Talk about offhand. 

The second restaurant had much better staff and dinner was fine (our usual risotto and Caesar salad).

Picked up breakfast on the journey home then settled in for the night.