Hurricane winds, crashes, a flat tire and how I ended up in a private home with barely running water and electricity...

Going out from Gjirokaster started fine until I reached the main road I was gonna ride along. It turned out to be a major highway with heavy traffic and add a headwind that's so fierce I couldn't keep balance because it was going so slow. When I took breaks I turned my back into the wind and I had to take a cautionary step at times so the wind wouldn't literally knock me down.

When I left the road I had to get over a smaller mountain but it was on good roads so besides the rain and the wind wanting to tear the bike out of my hands and throw it down the mountain side I was fine.

Once over I enjoyed downhill for a bit, until lack of concentration and the wet road made my wheels lock and skid across the road while breaking into thorn bushes and I crashed violently, as I went through the ditch I could hear the air going out of the front tire in 2-3 seconds. Besides the bike I only scraped my knee so it began to bleed
a bit. After curses, damnation of most things, chock and getting scared, I could have gone of a cliff, I started to get my stuff of the bike and change my inner tube.

Roadside v´bicycle repair shop!

A couple of guys in a van stop and ask If I need help as I am almost done. They offer to drive me to Sarande, my goal for the day. It's getting somewhat late so I accept their offer, as we are heading towards town they stop several times trying to sell fish that they probably caught in some mountain stream. 

The younger of the two, seems to be the older guys son and the house were their private home.

One of them speaks a little English and mentions something that sounds like a hotel that a friend of his has in Kasmil, a town just south of Sarande. I think, despite them saying the price is 30 euros per night, that I can stay there one night since they were helpful towards me and if it's good I stay there more nights. It turns out to be their private home, it looks like they are preparing the top floor for tourists but it's still very questionable, it lacks electricity at the start and the toilet faucet doesn't work. I'm thinking at one point to try and sneak away as fast as I can but after they come up with food and try to cover the horrible conditions with being good hosts I decide to stay and leave fast the next morning.

At least they fed their prisoners, no seriously the mom of the house was nice and made the bed with clean linen and provided a meal that was quite ok.

I barred the door with a chair during the night...