5 September 2025 (sunny and hot) 51km

The DJ they had on last night was very good.

Very professional with timing, lead in to other songs and apparently it was all Albanian and Romani music.

It was very upbeat. There are a lot of Romani people in the Balkans apparently. I haven't noticed especially but people we talk to have mentioned it. 

Up at 6.30am. Late start today as we're having breakfast as part of the package. Packed the bikes and pushed them around the front, as the breakfast is where we had dinner last night, across the road.

The place we stayed. Looked ok from the outside, and even at first glance inside.

Omelette for breakfast. Nice. Julia had coffee, I had orange juice.

Ju here. Felt a bit short changed with the breakfast as of course I couldn't eat any of the six slices of bread we got with breakfast and I'm picking the omelette was three eggs split between the two of us. The chef had made it as large as he could, but if I'd held it up, I could have read my phone through it. 

My cappuccino I have to concede was absolutely delicious, but I had to pay extra for that. It wasn't included in the package. Won't make that mistake again. Back to Pete.

When we were done, we rode slowly along the prom, for as far as it would allow, before taking a road that ran parallel to the motorway.

The surface was great but right next to the motorway, was far too noisy. It was also confusing as you couldn't tell if the truck noises coming up behind you were on your road or the motorway. All in all, very stressful and we were soon looking for a break.

We'd picked up bananas and yoghurt and when we spied a deserted, but what looked like a new service station, which had never had the pumps put in, we pulled in.

Inside the shop part was marble floor tiling covered in hay.

Talking about it we reckon they built the station to cater for the motorway and for some reason they've kept the old road, (the one we were riding) so all the motorway traffic couldn't get to the nice new petrol station. That's a pretty expensive hay storage shed. 

The old road was in general a nice reprieve from the busy road we'd been on earlier and had a fantastic surface. However, every now and then you'd get a speedster flying along it. Came off that road not too much further on after a car had almost taken me out from behind.

Shortly after that Ju had a wasp or something fly in behind her sunglasses and sting her repeatedly around the left eye. She suddenly pulled over and whipped off her glasses and cautiously slathered some Skin Calm ointment round her eye, ensuring it didn't go in her eye. With the amount we were both sweating, it's surprising it didn't.

Anyway the Skin Calm did the trick and she didn't even get any swelling afterwards, which was surprising.

The afternoon was spent on such a boring road. So straight, no scenery and we nearly got taken out by a truck coming towards us.

He overtook a tractor, when he could see us, and came straight at us, literally forcing us off the road.

The only good thing to liven this part up was a bunch of school children waving and shouting “Hello” out of the school bus.

Finally we rode into the town of Divjake, where Julia had booked an apartment from a guy, currently in Italy.

We have seen some cities, towns and villages in Albania, most of which we have found to be forgettable, however, Divjake was probably the tidiest. most well laid out town so far. 

Found the apartment, which was simple and stylish (and very clean!) with a view over the town square.

Art installation in the square across the road.

View from the apartment.

It's amazing what an extra $20NZ can get you. The TV, fridge and air conditioning all worked. Ok it wasn't beachfront (the beach being about 15km away), but once we turned that air conditioning on, we weren't going anywhere anyway.

Both had much needed showers as it was hot work today, with nothing to capture the imagination.

Once again, we found some lovely people and kids especially on the side of the road, or from cars, shouting "Hello" and waving us on. 

Sat and checked phones and I had a read, then out along the main drag to get some food.

A lovely lady helped us weigh some veges in the supermarket and spoke great English, which she learned in school. 

We are getting to the business end of Albania with mountain passes to come.

Sat and watched a U Tube video from two Aussies, Lauren and Scott, who cycled the route we'll probably take from here.

The climbs are not an issue, but the traffic is our major concern, as the roads will be narrow and there will be switchbacks to navigate.

Plus, we will be on the" cliff" side, so don't want some of the drivers we've had to deal with so far, up there. Hopefully they will be taking the much shorter “tunnel” road.

Checked out some accommodation for the remaining few nights as camping is limited (and expensive!), and apartments are cheap.

We may even split our week off before Corfu, into two blocks.

This area reminds us a lot of the Algarve in Portugal seven years ago. We were at the end of a trip, there was litter everywhere and the hotels were as cheap as the campgrounds.

The other thing is the huge amounts of men who sit around drinking coffee, or alcohol. 

You don't see a lot of women around full stop, unless they are working. You never see a gang of women in a bar or coffee shop, having a natter.

It was so noticeable and even as a guy, not an environment I'm used to.

From the upstairs windows, I was watching the activity outside for an hour after we got back in and it was extremely unusual to see the amount of men in groups and not a single woman to be seen. 

We are just wanting to reach Ksamil, on the coast, which we hope will be more normal, as it's supposed to be quite touristy.

Watched some bike packing vlogs on U Tube before turning in about 9pm.

Glad we've got the air conditioning as it was 27 degrees at 8.30pm. 

About 77kms to ride tomorrow.