The day of Mr Mountain as tracked by the GPS. (2/4-2013

Day 8 of cycling - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/292345397

Hotels, my view on them!

I've done the exact opposite as I was planning to do, I have hardly camped and spent most nights on hotels and B&B's. It was the right call tho, my adventure, my rules eh? No seriously the thing for me was always to see things and experience things from a bicycle point of view. Camping just got in there in the speed of things mostly because I expected accommodation to be horrible. But considering how tired I've been some nights after difficult roads, long days or both it was the right call in my book.

The only thing I regret is dragging a lot of gear around that wasn't needed however that's me in a nutshell, I always pack too much.

So, these are my views of the places I've been staying at so far just sorted from first to most recent;

Hi Skopje Hostel was quite nice even if it were cold before the handyman came and bled the radiators in addition to putting in an electric one. Good, clean bed and actually quite a good breakfast consisting of some sort of bun with herbs and some yogurt-type-thingy. It was cheap and the staff was friendly.

Hotel Hilton in Gostivar was really nice, big room, minibar (I only had a Snickers), a tub and shower and breakfast was ok in their restaurant on the top floor. Slightly more expensive of course but still I only think it was 30 Euro per night.

Hotel Srna in Mavrovo was also really good, helpful staff, clean if a bit small room. Only bad thing was no hot water so showering was done fast, beautifully situated near the abandoned church and the lake. Cozy restaurant/bar with an live fireplace.

Hotel De Lago in Ohrid was great, big room with two beds, several windows, a big bathroom and breakfast in an restaurant next door was ok, as many places here you order what you want instead of being served a lot of stuff. Helpful staff though only one of the three I saw in the reception could talk English well enough to hold a conversation.

Hotel Tomorri in Gramsh, Albania was ok, the staff didn't speak English at all but was very helpful in making sure my bicycle was safe. The room was clean and had AC, two beds and WiFi as almost all hotels do it seems, kind of weird when you think about it even if performance and coverage vary quite a lot.

Vruho B&B in Berat is among the highest rated hotels on Tripadvisor.com for that region, was it gonna hold up to the reviews? Hell yes and then add some sugar on top of that! It was hard to find but once I did, with the help of a local guy who showed me the way, I was in heaven. Nasho and, what I presume to be his wife, Patricia Vruho showed me a room with massive stone walls, really romantic and cozy. Outside was a garden with a spectacular view. The two days spent here is probably the most relaxing and best so far on the trip .Patricia served an excellent breakfast and I got to say hi to her mother. Nasho was very friendly and gave tips of a excellent restaurant nearby as well as the B&B I am currently at in Gjirokaster.

Hotel Osumi in Corovode was nothing special, the town was bleak. The hotel was clean tho and offered a decent place to sleep.

The hotel im Kelcyra, Albania was about the same as the rest, clean room, good bathroom and hot shower. I can't remember the name nor can I find it on the internet but it had a bar downstairs with strong wifi signal and good coffee and Red Bull, helpful staff even if slightly hard to know who was working there. Bad thing was that it was a ladder outside of my room and the roof in the corridor was leaking water near the ladder, no big thing tho the room was good enough, clean and with AC. A store right where you excited the hotel with good stock and a restaurant next door that was really good, see earlier posts in blog about that.

I will make a final top ten list once I am done with my trip. So far I am positively surprised about the standard of hotels here even if my expectations was rock bottom I am very happy with the general level of accommodation so far. Tho the stay in Berat beats them all in price, service, atmosphere, breakfast quality, staff and room quality.

Beer ratings!

So far my tasting of the Albanian beers have been fun, the are easy to drink and suitable with most dishes.

I rate them like this (no, don't expect a developed  language and explanations of foam crown and whatnot, I just like beer as a man do dammit);

1. Named after the capital, this is my favorite so far.

2. A little bit different in flavor, kind of a note of butter or something sneaking up on you.

3. Regular easy-to-drink.

4. Another that's easy on the pallet. 

I´m on Mars... 2/4-2013

I left Corovode with knowledge of a few things. Nasho Vruho had, and I quote, called the roads "Catastrophe". I also knew it was raining and I knew the first part (first 30-40 kilometers) of my plan for the day, to reach Gjirokaster, was the tough one.

I prefer the hard parts in the start when your energy is at least fairly high.

The road out of Corovode was shit and it became worse, it was more or less same as the road between Maliq and Gramshi with one major diffrence. This was uphill a lot more.

At the end of the day I noticed a record bad average speed for the day due to me having to push the bike most of the way. It was mud, construction sites, rocks, water up to the middle of the wheel and just when I am hoping it will get easier and I am about to clear all them climbs and reach the easier part along comes Mr Mountain. A 1000 meter mountain on roads that made you wish this country had as much love for roads as they do for cars, gas stations and car washing establishments. After what felt like hours I reached a magical place, despite that I was soaking wet, freezing and tired I shot some video of it and did a small video diary up there - below is a screen capture.

A beautiful mountain lake with green water and clouds at the same height as me.

Shortly after I continued on and I reached a place where one road went left and up and another went down and right, no signs and since the road swirl around so much on mountains the compass is just useful as a guide for a bigger perspective. I chose the one that went up because it looked more used than the other.

It turned out I was right, it rose additionally and after a while I was above the clouds, nothing was visible except a couple of car lengths ahead of you and down the slopes of the mountain the clouds obscured any visibility. I felt a bit worried, if something happens here not only will I get too cold very fast but there is none around so it could take time before I could get help.

A few hours passed with me just forcing my way onward and suddenly the road started going downhill, the brakes wore out fast due to all the mud and stuff so I had to stop and tighten the cables. I also shot a long video of the downhill ride and I am very proud to say I managed to do it without falling over, it was as close as the Downhill discipline for Mountainbikes as you can come but with a touring bike and 35 kilos of gear. I have a screenshot here.

Some beads of water on the waterproof housing, I used the GoPro chest harness for the movie.

I can't for the life of me understand how the bike holds together, much less how the panniers doesn't break. The later got plastic things keeping the firmly clinging to my bike and considering how much shaking that took place only on this descent alone, not to mention everything I've encountered before this day, it's a f-cking miracle they are still with me.

Also, my bike hasn't had a puncture yet, that too, is a miracle on par with Moses splitting the Red Sea.

Anyway, once out of the hell that was the first 5-6 hours of this day I reached a conclusion that I was gonna stay the night in Kelcyra. After coming onto tarmac I paused for the briefest of moments and I felt my body heat leaving me rapidly so I got angry, I psyched my self up as if I were to do a max attempt in a powerlifting competition. I snarled and felt the adrenaline rush through the veins and pedaled in a fury the last 15 kilometers to Kelcyra.

It was a nice town, they had rooms in the hotel and a older gentleman came up to me and asked me to follow him with my bike as he drove just a bit out of town to store my bike on their yard that had fences and a big metal gate, two kids helped unload the bags and then he drove me back to the hotel. I shook the mans hand, nodded and said thanks and the two kids got some candy I have had with me to distribute to kids.

After a scalding hot shower I went down to find some place to eat, it's weird this country, many places to eat at and nothing but good to excellent food so far but never any customers. I chose the spot closest to the hotel and wouldn't you know it, empty except a guy sitting with a bored expression on his face. When he saw me he shined up and after coming to an understanding I wanted meat, potatoes and beer he started to prepare this.

Garlic bread, wonderful fries, a salad that had something like feta cheese in it that was amazing , two pork chops the size of an elephants ear each and that lovely sourcream with olive oil - oh and Korca beer.

I'm in heaven.

Since I've had stomach surgery I couldn't finish anyway near all the stuff he put on the table but when I was done he offered to wrap it up for me. Really amazing guy and outstanding food. The place is called Restaurant Zagoria in Kelcyra, Albania and it gets all thumbs up for effort, service and quality of food.

After that I slept like someone shot me with a tranquilizer dart with a sedative dosage enough for a herd of rhinos.

Photo from Iphone of what I had the evening in Corovode!

Wonderful grilled meat, fries, salad and local Albanian beer Kaon.

Berat to Corovode! 1/4-2013

Yesterday wasn't the best. I started with another excellent breakfast and headed out a bit late. I decided that I would just go to Corovode and stay there for the night. I felt rather early on that despite having eaten very well I was lacking in energy. About halfway to Corovode I realized it was most likely too little water in my system. After filling up properly I felt better and together with great weather and me having rolled up sleeves as well as just the bicycle tights it felt good.

The Tomorri massive.

M. Cool.

From farmers and livestock the livelihood seem to circulate around stone in these parts of Albania.

I had some exciting serpetine roads that I recorded with my GoPro. Corovode was a grim town, gone where many of the helpful Albanians I've been spoiled by so far. 

Corovode.

Tho after visiting 3-4 places for food that just shook their heads when I wanted to eat I finally met a friendly face who when the language barrier was too high called her daughter to help. I managed to order fries, grilled meat, a lovely sour cream, really tasty salad and of course local beer.

Slept very well.

The day as tracked by the GPS; http://connect.garmin.com/player/291949662

I'm off from Berat!

Overslept slightly so it's a late start, Patricia Vruho, my hostess at this hotel, had made me a sandwich to go!

I will pass Corovode today and try and reach Tepelene, not sure when I will get back online tho but hopefully soon and with new interesting stories and photos!