8 September 2025 (sunny and hot 30C) 85km

Ju here.

Happy birthday sis! Obviously the first person I think of on my birthday is the person who arrived in this world fifteen minutes after me. I have told Pete many times not to bother with a gift for me as I have already received the best birthday gift ever and he'll never be able to top that.

Unfortunately, I think he stops listening after ‘best gift ever’ and has some romantic notion that I'm talking about him.

But having someone by your side throughout life, even if we're in different countries from time to time, is a great gift and a relationship I treasure. So Irena, I hope you have had a wonderful birthday as well and I can't wait to see you again and get in our first post trip bodysurf!!

So cycling 85kms in the Albanian heat, would not be many people’s idea of a great birthday, especially when it included 1000 metres of climbing, but we have the fitness to kind of enjoy it now. 

Enjoy is probably the wrong word.

But we did appreciate the great road surface we had for most of the day and much less traffic than we've been dealing with lately.

We still had the odd idiot driver to be aware of, but we also had some impressive scenery, which has been lacking lately.

And we are so pleased that our old bodies can still do this. Also very happy to find a beachfront campground at the end of the day for $30NZ which included the use of a beach lounger. This is where we are now, laying on a beach lounger in the dying sun, after enjoying a dip in the sea and reflecting on a really fulfilling day overall. Over to Pete for the breakdown.

Up at 5am this morning.

Julia's birthday and she didn't even get to lay in bed....but it was her choice. We did consider another day off but Vlore was not our stop of choice.

We were looking at 80kms today to the next place we thought we would like to be, (of course you never really know until you get there!), with 1000 metres of climbing.  So we wanted to get on the road as early as possible to beat the heat and the traffic. The supermarket opened at 7am and we planned to be there for that time to grab our breakfast supplies before heading up onto the mountains.

Had an early coffee and then got a chance to speak to Georgina and Josh.

Ju also read out some reply comments from the last blog we posted and that's always good feedback.

Managed two coffees, because the cups in the apartment were small and then had a quick call from Dave and San.

Think they were a little worried about the roads we've been riding, as have we. 

Cycled away at 6.50am into the city, to find the opening info Julia had got off their website was wrong.

They opened at 7.30am not 7am.

We weren't hanging around so we managed to find a small market, a bakery and a fruiterer all within reach, before pedalling out on our chosen route. 

Fortunately this attempt got us past the spot we had the puncture in yesterday. Now we were underway and straight into a climb.

Leaving Vlore

Once that was out of the way, we took a shortcut. We seem to have a misinterpretation when it comes to the word "shortcut" as it always seems to turn to shit surface wise and go on forever. 

Eventually after bouncing along on a potholed stony road for about 2 kms, we rejoined the main road for the remainder of the day.

This would be the test. If this was busy, chances were, it would be busy the whole way.  Climbing now was gradual as it would be for most of the day.

The best part of the situation was the lack of vehicles. Yes, there was the odd idiot on the road, but in comparison to what we have encountered, today was fantastic and we were enjoying ourselves.

The other bonus being in the mountains, was the scenery.

Pulled up at a monument of obvious significance (well...to Albanians).

The dates commemorated were 1920 - 1943 and these two fellas were carrying weapons, but no clue otherwise.

Ate breakfast on the steps leading up to the monument and watched some stray dogs up the road hanging around a car that had pulled over at the side. 

Shortly after, another stray dog, carrying pups came mooching around us. She was beautiful but you daren' t talk to them or feed them as they'll follow you. 

The mountain scenery was beginning to stand out, but it was the small farms growing various crops that caught my eyes.

Very well organised, which is so surprising because that is not a word I would use for anything Albanian.

The road surface was great all day, so we were making good headway toward our destination of Qeparo on the coast.

Stopped for a coke and some water at a small cafe in Brataj, where a small kitten kept touting to be adopted.

View from the cafe in Brataj 

Animals lovers who are tourists here would find it extremely difficult in certain situations with the dogs and cats just wandering. 

Ju here. There was a tourist attraction at Brataj that I was interested in visiting after seeing photos on Google. The old Brataj bridge spanned a river with impossibly blue water and looked very inviting and probably a whole lot colder than the tepid seawater we've been swimming in.

However, reality was somewhat different to the Google picture. Being the end of a long hot summer, the water was more greeny brown than blue and with all the surrounding rubbish, not looking particularly healthy or inviting.

To get to the swimming hole by the bridge would have added another 100m elevation to our day, and when we knew there was still 600m elevation ahead of us, we quite simply could not be bothered going to see if the swimming hole was good or not. The fact that there were also about 25 cars in the carpark also put us off.

We figured the road crossed the river several times down the track and we might get a swim up the road.

This was not to be however which was a shame as we were sweating buckets. Back to Pete.

Powering on, the kilometres were slipping by.

We knew the climb should be over by 70kms and at 63kms, I'm thinking... yes we've cracked this....until..... 

Suddenly we were climbing and I mean 16% gradient.

Tried taking photos, but they never show the gradient on film.

Let me say that it was the hardest we've worked for a while.

I would love to say that I didn't think of stopping and walking...but I did.

But...we persevered, as we have done on this trip when things got tough. 

That in itself has been one of the highlights for us.

We've always attempted to stick to our goals in life, but this trip and the terrain we've had to overcome, had us questioning if we were up for this one.

Well...we have found that the longer we've gone, the stronger we've become.

And it feels so good.

The bodies we have always looked after, have looked after us.

Thank you so much. 

We stopped for a bit of lunch at what we thought was the top, but unfortunately there was a bit more uphill to really test us before we got to relax on a 10km downhill.

Soon we were over the top and on the 10km descent. We had to stop for awhile as a shepherd herded his goats across the main road.

Arrived in Qeparo soaked in sweat and popped into a cafe for two coffees and two waters. The woman owner then ripped us off. It was a slight on the rest of the day, which was about to get better. 

Just down the road toward the beach were a few campsites.

Reached the first one and met a couple who had just checked it out and weren't impressed

That made us push on down to the beach, where we found M2 Camping.

Run by a German guy and he must have put the word out as there were a number of German campers. However for where it was, on the beachfront, it wasn't particularly crowded and cost just Euro 15 for the night.

Set up the tent and then into the sea. Spent the next two hours swimming and sunbathing, followed by a 35 minute workout on the promenade, in a secluded spot.

Had showers then over to the restaurant for delicious dinners.

Chicken and chips, pork and salad, which we divided up and shared.

Couple of drinks and an ice cream to finish, capped off a great day.