Day 56:
One day of break in Durres was not enough - hurting legs and a lack of motivation to walk on made us prolong our stay for a day more. We spend the day with excessive relaxing, stretching our muscles and watching TV...
Day 57:
Ahead of us is a long, long day...34km along a heavily trafficked road...But in Albania we practically depend on Hotels, so we have to push it sometimes...After such a long day our tired legs really enjoy a good night's sleep!
Daz 58:
A quiet day along a smaller road - We make a little detour but it's still much better than walking along the big road.
This is one of the days where we see that Albania is a very different world far, far away from the well-ordered Europe. First we cross a river that has a milky white colour and smells heavily of sulfur (environmental restrictions for the industry seem not to exist). Later in Lezhe we saw a 17 year-old driving a brand new big Mercedes while smoking one of the biggest joints we've ever seen...
Day 59:
Again a quiet, nice, sunny day along small roads and an invitation for coffee at a small shop... In the evening we indulge in burgers and fries - what a great day!
Day 60:
Another day along a big road where nothing really happens...
Day 61:
A short day to Shkoder, the biggest city in the north of Albania. Supposedly it's the most beautiful city in all of Albania...and we think this is right - beautiful churches and mosques, nice cafes, an old fortress and even a pedestrian area!!!
We find a nice hotel that even has a BATH TUB!!! - After improvising a plug (out of a bottle cap and a meter of tape) we enjoy the hot water surrounding our body from ALL sides - What a pleasure for our tired legs!
Day 62:
Again a daz of break that we use for sightseeing, internet research and Co. Tomorrow we are heading to Montenegro. We are really excited what awaits us there....
2011-01-20
2011-01-13
At the Adriatic Sea - from now on we are heading NORTH!
Day 47:
Finally on a small road again....and within the most beautiful landscape! We make good distance because the longer we hike that day the lower we can sleep....The lower we sleep, the warmer is the night!!!
Day 48:
The road becomes a little, rough trail - this lack in infrastructure is our gain! Just us and the mountains! Great!
When it is time to find a camp site we are in the middle of a steep canyon which after a few kilometers opens up....to make way for an army camp...and then the road starts climbing up the hill again which is completely against our plan to sleep as low as possible. When we are finally out of sight of the army camp....we come to a village! When we finally find a spot to put our tent it is dark and we have covered a daily distance of 32,5km!
Day 49:
When we bake bread for breakfast on the banks of a small river we meet a nice old lady. After telling her our story (with hands and feet) she offers us her donkey to take our load for a while. After we refuse she brings us a big bag filled with home made bread, cheese and olives! Wow!
In the afternoon we reach Gramsh, where we find a great and cheap Hotel where we enjoy the luxury of TV, heating and a hot shower!
Day 50:
Such a great hotel room we had to enjoy one more day! And our legs can need the break anyway. We also finally manage to do Kevins Dreads and shave his head again.
Day 51:
Great weather and amazing landscape - that's when hiking is really fun! In the afternoon we come back to civilization again and have to cope with albanian out-of-control-driving (with 150km/h through a village on a bumpy road can't be safe and controlled!) After a long day we make it to Cerrik where we sleep in a hotel we usually wouldn't even bother to ask for a price. But Albania is really affordable. Besides that the camping situation in Albania is somewhere between shitty and impossible...
Day 52:
On some days (especially those along a big heavily trafficked road) there is absolutely nothing of interest happening. Also our dinner that day is very meager - Soup was the only thing we could order (or rather the waiter could manage to explain us). It was really good but not nearly enough for two hungry trekkers. So aditionally we had to dine on part of our breakfast that we bought for the next day...
Day 53:
...and the street gets bigger and heavier trafficked yet...and then after a long day we can't find a hotel in the city we hoped to find one...We finally find one a few km outside of town and cook some pasta in our hotel room - After a day like this we are not keen on another soup experience like the evening before!
Day 54:
In light rain we head for Durres, the second biggest city of Albania. And after a long day along densely populated and heavily trafficked roads we finally make it to the city center. After the stresses and strains of the last days we enjoy a pizza and some beers in the evening!
Day 55:
Finally a day of break where our tired legs can get a rest! The schedule for today: relax, eat good food, do some sightseeing and spend an incredible long time in an internet cafe...and in the evening we will treat ourselves on pizza and beer again!
Finally on a small road again....and within the most beautiful landscape! We make good distance because the longer we hike that day the lower we can sleep....The lower we sleep, the warmer is the night!!!
Day 48:
The road becomes a little, rough trail - this lack in infrastructure is our gain! Just us and the mountains! Great!
When it is time to find a camp site we are in the middle of a steep canyon which after a few kilometers opens up....to make way for an army camp...and then the road starts climbing up the hill again which is completely against our plan to sleep as low as possible. When we are finally out of sight of the army camp....we come to a village! When we finally find a spot to put our tent it is dark and we have covered a daily distance of 32,5km!
Day 49:
When we bake bread for breakfast on the banks of a small river we meet a nice old lady. After telling her our story (with hands and feet) she offers us her donkey to take our load for a while. After we refuse she brings us a big bag filled with home made bread, cheese and olives! Wow!
In the afternoon we reach Gramsh, where we find a great and cheap Hotel where we enjoy the luxury of TV, heating and a hot shower!
Day 50:
Such a great hotel room we had to enjoy one more day! And our legs can need the break anyway. We also finally manage to do Kevins Dreads and shave his head again.
Day 51:
Great weather and amazing landscape - that's when hiking is really fun! In the afternoon we come back to civilization again and have to cope with albanian out-of-control-driving (with 150km/h through a village on a bumpy road can't be safe and controlled!) After a long day we make it to Cerrik where we sleep in a hotel we usually wouldn't even bother to ask for a price. But Albania is really affordable. Besides that the camping situation in Albania is somewhere between shitty and impossible...
Day 52:
On some days (especially those along a big heavily trafficked road) there is absolutely nothing of interest happening. Also our dinner that day is very meager - Soup was the only thing we could order (or rather the waiter could manage to explain us). It was really good but not nearly enough for two hungry trekkers. So aditionally we had to dine on part of our breakfast that we bought for the next day...
Day 53:
...and the street gets bigger and heavier trafficked yet...and then after a long day we can't find a hotel in the city we hoped to find one...We finally find one a few km outside of town and cook some pasta in our hotel room - After a day like this we are not keen on another soup experience like the evening before!
Day 54:
In light rain we head for Durres, the second biggest city of Albania. And after a long day along densely populated and heavily trafficked roads we finally make it to the city center. After the stresses and strains of the last days we enjoy a pizza and some beers in the evening!
Day 55:
Finally a day of break where our tired legs can get a rest! The schedule for today: relax, eat good food, do some sightseeing and spend an incredible long time in an internet cafe...and in the evening we will treat ourselves on pizza and beer again!
2011-01-04
In Albania!
Day 40:
It's f**** cold!....and an icy wind maked hiking really unpleasant! In Arnissa we hope to find shoe glue or new shoes for Marita because her boots start to fall apart. But everything is closed and the only open supermarket closes right after our visit... We find a nice grassy area near the lake where we can camp and make a fire - if it just wouldn't be so cold!!!
Day 41:In the morning our tent is frozen solid and we have to defrost it over the fire to be able to pack it... and we are headed to higher elevations still. From Kelli, which is at about 1000m it finally goes downhill again! The cold doesn't decrease though... We camp near Vevi at about 700m
Day 42:
SOOOOO COLD it has never been before on the whole hike -in the morning the tent was frozen still, the sleeping bag covered with a layer of ice and even the water in our pot that water was almost frozen solid. While we are packing the greek border patrol pays us a visit. After making sure we are not illegal immigrants from Albania they even speak english and wish us all the best and just say: "You are CRAZY to camp in this weather!"
We decide that they are right and hitch a ride to Florina which is 20km away to find a hotel and make plans on how to cross the mountains. Between us and Albania there is a pass with 1550m...
We hitch a ride with Toni and Natasha who offer us to celebrate the New Year with them in their village what we of course embrace! After buying new shoes for Marita in Florina (we even find a pair with goretex and vibram sole!) we go to Fanos with Toni and Natasha. We celebrate the old year with a hot shower, freshly washed laundry, coffee and good food. At 10.30pm we are sound asleep - we completely overslept the new year....
Day 43:
After a hearty breakfast we head (with the car) up a mountain where we have a nice little walk and a coffee. It's amazing how fast a car is in comparison with walking....
In the afternoon we make a big birthday BBQ for Kevin in the garden - yummy meat and greek rezina!!!
In the evening Toni and Natasha decide spontaneously to visit her family in Albania an doffer us to take us over the border (and the high pass) We agree, not without the promise to ourselves to come back and make those missing 80km from Florina to the border on foot one day.
Day 44:
We get up early and pack our stuff. A few hours later we are in Albania. Our friends help us to find a hotel, invite us for lunch and then give us a hearty goodbye with tears in the eyes of Natasha that just doesn't want to let her new "daughter" go!
Thank you for everything Toni and Natasha!!!!
Day 45:
Albania is really a completely different world! Balkan pure!
We walk the 27km from Bilisht to Korce almost without a break, because it is just too cold! In Korce we take a hotel - without heating but cheap and still warmer than outside!
We enjoy a cozy evening, wrapped in sleeping bags with typical albanian food (bread, cheese, sausages and beer) and watched Austrian!?! TV - a crazy feeling, indeed!
Day 46:
We actually wanted to continue our hike to get to lower regions, but with a cold camping night at 800m in sight we decide to make a day of break in the hotel - watching TV, going for a walk, surf in the internet and enjoy civlilisation....The next days we will be far away from all that....
Christmas in Greece...
Day 29:
In Asprovalta we connect to the world again and buy sausages, apples, wine and wet wipes at Lidl. In the evening we wet-wipe ourselves (more body hygiene is not possible at those cold temperatures) and enjoy an amazing dinner and drink greek wine for better weather.
Day 30:
It was a good decision to choose the northern shore of the Volvi Lake...Little traffic, great landscape and friendly people that stop to give us 3kg of fresh oranges. We camp at the lake where we have our first "shower" since Alexandroupoli!
Again one of those days where making good distance is easy...and out of necessity we even make a few more because the supermarket of the village we wanted to buy dinner at is closed....and also in the next village everything, except the butcher is closed. He has a pity on us and shares his dinner with us. Greek people are amazing!
Day 32:
There are more crazy guys that hike long distances. Short before Langkadas we meet a british guy:
He: "Hello, where are you two headed?"
Us: "Austria!"
He: "Oh, that's where i just come from!"
Us: "Cool! And where are you going?"
He: "Istanbul."
Us: "That's where we just come from!!!"
Day 33:
To walk through agricultural areas is no fun at all - it's boring and there are no places to camp at. After a break Marita realizes that she has lost her cap. Kevin RUNS back to get it! After 20km of hiking he runs 6km extra! That's REAL LOVE!
Day 34:
In Prochoma a dog makes friends with us (or the fresh bread we have in a bag on the backpack) and joins us for a few kilometers. At a picknick place near the Axios river he finds a new pack.
We camp at a pretty grassy patch on the shores of the river
Day 35:
Christmas! Early in the morning we head to Koufalia and buy yummy food for the Christmas days. Then we head back to the river where we celebrate christmas eve with campfire and good greek wine. A hunter gives us a freshly killed snipe - now we even have our mini-christmas-turkey! ;-)
Day 36:
Freshly washed laundry, freshly washed Rucksacknomaden, sun is shining....a perfect christmas day at the river!!!
Day 37:
Fruit cocktail and Coke for breakfast...and then we hit the road. We are lucky and find a lot of fresh vegetarian roadkill: 1 onion, 1 apple, 1 orange and 2 tangerines - vitamins for free!
In the afternoon it starts to rain - the first time during daytime on our hike so far!...and then we canno't find a proper campsite either...Before it gets dark we crash on a patch of grass in an area that could be straight out of a psycho thriller - Well, it can't be idyllic all the time...
Day 38:
Again all the shops are closed in the small villages - so we cook what we have in store in the backpack - instant mashed potatoes. Kevin finds a few apples, that someone dumped in the roadside ditch...
Day 39:
The apples where not particularly yummy...so we football them! An apple flies in thousand pieces, when you hit them hard with a trekking boot. *hehe*
Even though we wanted to make short day....we make our 20+km....yet once again....
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