31 August 2025 (sunny and warm 24C) 0km

At 11pm last night, the heavens opened and it lashed it down.

Thunder, lightning and loud.

Throw in the wind and driving horizontal rain and even though we were undercover, I had to get up and reorganize our outside gear and lay two chairs we've been using, onto their sides, so they didn't blow over and hit us. Quite the storm. 

All day yesterday and I mean ALL DAY, one of the workers here was using a leaf blower.

He must have recharged it a half dozen times.

After that storm last night, he'll be out doing it again today.

Using the religious phrase

"And on the seventh day he rested"

really doesn't apply in general here.

The men still frequent the Tabac and cafes, whilst the women seem to be busy.

The lady owner here has been on the go since 6am sweeping (around the bloody tent, I might add) and she was cleaning all day yesterday.

Having said that, Julia has just made a cup of tea, so I'm away to drink that.🤣 

This will be our last day here.

From the site we can see the hill climb we'll be doing in the morning.

Looks okay from here. At least the gradient to start with does.

Monday and Tuesday's weather looks fine sitting around 28 -29 degrees with the odd rain and thunderstorm.

Then the temperature goes above 30 degrees again.

We leave from Corfu to Liverpool on Sept 25th, so twenty six days to go.

It's been a helluva journey, one we had serious doubts about being able to complete.

Touch wood, the bodies have held together well, which in my line of work, just reinforces that if you put the hard work in, you really can get the results.

This weekend break has been good, if only to take a rest from the concentration required when riding these roads.

And without question, it does detract from the scenery. You just can't afford to be gazing on these roads.

With the bikepackers we follow on U tube, we had an understanding of what it might be like at this time of year.

We could have gone into the hills again on the Dinarica trail, but the water is our happy place and we really wanted to see the coast and swim in the ocean.

It will definitely be a change of temperature and scenery in England, which we're looking forward to, though that part of the journey is more about catching up with people.

Seven years since we were there. I wouldn't want to go seven years without seeing family and friends in NZ. 

Late morning we wandered to the beach for a swim, a cold shower, then a workout on our terraced abandoned building.

Noticed that the holidaymakers have thinned out a lot from our arrival (they heard we were coming) probably due to schools returning.

After lunch we were writing and researching when a couple of Dutchy bikepackers turn up.

Their names were Emma and Bruno and once they had found a pitch site on dirt, rather than the stone we are on, they came back with some beer and coke and we had a chat about our trips and the nightmare coastal road, which they are looking to avoid, by any means possible, as they feel the same way about these roads as us.... bloody dangerous..! 

Walked to the beach for a swim, but neither of us were feeling it, so after ten minutes in the sun, we wandered back.

Earlier, I had cleaned Julia's bike, so both were now lubed, cleaned and tyres pumped ready for the Albanian leg.

We have anything between 500 - 1000 metres of climbing tomorrow, depending on which way we go.

Also have a tunnel, which we're not jumping up and down at the prospect of doing, purely due to the drivers. 

This camp however has been great. Plugs to charge our power packs and phones, great wifi connection, close to beach and supermarket, good facilities and great price. 

We wandered over to see Emma and Bruno's tent. Looks very roomy and only 2kg.  It's a Bach tent which we had never heard of.

Forgot to mention a lovely chat with Briana this morning, followed by the same with Dave and San.

Rang Gary and Sherene for a chat with them about their trips and time spent with Colm.

Really love you all.xx