After having a pizza and a couple of beers with Toby, Peers, and Dan I called it and, early night.
I the morning I got up with the sun and was before eight on the road. The main road out of, Shkoder was one of, the worst I've seen. Cars curving around holes and the hole thing was very muddy. I just reached the suburbs of the town, when I had a flat tire. I checked and indeed, I had the 4000km.
In Kolgliku I turned east for the mountains and at the exit of the village there was a bunch of boys shouting hello and other stuff. They also pointed one the bulding next to them, where Bar was sprayed on the wall. I just had coffee so I pushed on. Then I heard stones hitting the asphalt behind me and rolling in my direction. I turned around and saw the bunch of boys standing in then middle of then street shouting (with a less friendly tone) and throwing stones. Intentionality or not, their aim was not so good and I got away without meeting one of their projectiles.
I followed a dryed out river into the valley and then road started to go up slighy. Shortly before Boge, while I had, a short break, a white mercedes stopped next to me (b.t.w. I got the impression they have thing for white mercedes here). An older man lowered the window and asked me where I'm from and some of then usual questions. When he heard about my destination, he asked if I knew about the road and I suspected already and explanation about, why then car ride to Theth takes four hours. And he mentioned, that in Boge it will get a bit difficult and finished by, telling me; "if you arrive in Theth, you will like it there, they will take care of you. Be careful!"
Later I realized that the "if" which I took for a "when", was probably chosen knowingly and not because of a translating error.
In Boge I then saw a gravel road with lots of bigger stones and decided to go for a coffee before tackling it. in then bar I met Paul and Daniel, two austrians travelling the balkan by car. We chatted for about and hour while having loads of delicious coffee. They also had a stone-throw-story among many others.
Around one p.m. I finally took off again, followed by Daniel and Paul in their car. They did not manage to leave the village, since a woman came to their car, convincing them that they would not pass. She was absolutely right I thought half an hour later. The road made me go very slow and making it a challange to find the least bumpy line between stones and rocks.
The valley and the mountains where absolutely breath taking (combined withe the road this was a struggle to get enough oxigen into the lungs). These landscapes are so far the wildest and most complex I've seen on this journey.
After an hour I checked my progress one the map and had a glimpse at the track-stats. After I calculated the time for the remaining distance I realized, that I could, now use that hour I was chatting and forgetting about lunch. I had no more safty hour, that I like to have, since my maps don't tell me which bits are going up and which down. So I decided to push through and have only very short breaks for the remaining 3 hours.
When I reached the pass, I realized with releave that the rest of the distance is downhill. I rushed one, with bearly and hour to sundown. The it got freaking cold, me all wet, not moving much, realizing how I miss that lunch now in the shadow facing a chilly wind. By the time I put on all the clothes, I cooled down a bit to much already. I stuffed my hands in my mouth a couple of times, to get some feeling back. Then trying to go a bit faster on then rocky road, I got my second flat tire. "well catching up for then one that was missed out around 3000 km, are we", I thought and fixed it as fast as I could.
The road was steep and the serpentine seemed never ending. In a momemt when I could take my eyes off then road I saw then mountains in the red light and stopped in awe.
In was getting almost dark, when I, reached then bridge before Theth. There a boy came and he was guessing right that I was looking for a room. So he took me to his parents house helped me unload the bike and took it for a ride around the house. They made a fire and just, started then generator when I arrived. It was sooo nice, sitting at then fire warming up again. I was in the company of the patriarch of the house having a chat using sign language about the roads and mostly sitting quietly offering eachother cigarettes, smoking.
After dinner, the boy, Francescothe youngest doing all the english talking and translating, and his brothers where playing "ciao sepp" with me. I did not know that this cardgame is, played outside of my home country. It was a serine eavening. I had fun learning a few new cheats from then boys.
I the morning I got up with the sun and was before eight on the road. The main road out of, Shkoder was one of, the worst I've seen. Cars curving around holes and the hole thing was very muddy. I just reached the suburbs of the town, when I had a flat tire. I checked and indeed, I had the 4000km.
In Kolgliku I turned east for the mountains and at the exit of the village there was a bunch of boys shouting hello and other stuff. They also pointed one the bulding next to them, where Bar was sprayed on the wall. I just had coffee so I pushed on. Then I heard stones hitting the asphalt behind me and rolling in my direction. I turned around and saw the bunch of boys standing in then middle of then street shouting (with a less friendly tone) and throwing stones. Intentionality or not, their aim was not so good and I got away without meeting one of their projectiles.
I followed a dryed out river into the valley and then road started to go up slighy. Shortly before Boge, while I had, a short break, a white mercedes stopped next to me (b.t.w. I got the impression they have thing for white mercedes here). An older man lowered the window and asked me where I'm from and some of then usual questions. When he heard about my destination, he asked if I knew about the road and I suspected already and explanation about, why then car ride to Theth takes four hours. And he mentioned, that in Boge it will get a bit difficult and finished by, telling me; "if you arrive in Theth, you will like it there, they will take care of you. Be careful!"
Later I realized that the "if" which I took for a "when", was probably chosen knowingly and not because of a translating error.
In Boge I then saw a gravel road with lots of bigger stones and decided to go for a coffee before tackling it. in then bar I met Paul and Daniel, two austrians travelling the balkan by car. We chatted for about and hour while having loads of delicious coffee. They also had a stone-throw-story among many others.
Around one p.m. I finally took off again, followed by Daniel and Paul in their car. They did not manage to leave the village, since a woman came to their car, convincing them that they would not pass. She was absolutely right I thought half an hour later. The road made me go very slow and making it a challange to find the least bumpy line between stones and rocks.
The valley and the mountains where absolutely breath taking (combined withe the road this was a struggle to get enough oxigen into the lungs). These landscapes are so far the wildest and most complex I've seen on this journey.
After an hour I checked my progress one the map and had a glimpse at the track-stats. After I calculated the time for the remaining distance I realized, that I could, now use that hour I was chatting and forgetting about lunch. I had no more safty hour, that I like to have, since my maps don't tell me which bits are going up and which down. So I decided to push through and have only very short breaks for the remaining 3 hours.
When I reached the pass, I realized with releave that the rest of the distance is downhill. I rushed one, with bearly and hour to sundown. The it got freaking cold, me all wet, not moving much, realizing how I miss that lunch now in the shadow facing a chilly wind. By the time I put on all the clothes, I cooled down a bit to much already. I stuffed my hands in my mouth a couple of times, to get some feeling back. Then trying to go a bit faster on then rocky road, I got my second flat tire. "well catching up for then one that was missed out around 3000 km, are we", I thought and fixed it as fast as I could.
The road was steep and the serpentine seemed never ending. In a momemt when I could take my eyes off then road I saw then mountains in the red light and stopped in awe.
In was getting almost dark, when I, reached then bridge before Theth. There a boy came and he was guessing right that I was looking for a room. So he took me to his parents house helped me unload the bike and took it for a ride around the house. They made a fire and just, started then generator when I arrived. It was sooo nice, sitting at then fire warming up again. I was in the company of the patriarch of the house having a chat using sign language about the roads and mostly sitting quietly offering eachother cigarettes, smoking.
After dinner, the boy, Francescothe youngest doing all the english talking and translating, and his brothers where playing "ciao sepp" with me. I did not know that this cardgame is, played outside of my home country. It was a serine eavening. I had fun learning a few new cheats from then boys.
