Shkodër (AL) to Bar (ME)

April 26, 2023

Today was a day of firsts - a new country, finally camping, and the first proper hills we've encountered for the trip.

I was worried the road out of Shkodër would be as bad as the way into it because it showed up in the same colour on the maps, but thankfully the channel and most of the traffic had disappeared. It was a nice, smooth, 15km ride to the border with a quick stop for coffee and an outfit change for Tobias who had leaked through his nappy and was "all done bike". The border crossing was fine. We got waved through a separate line and our passports inspected and passed along. It will never stop surprising me how you can cross a line drawn on a map and everything feels a bit different. Montenegro seems to have less farms and more bush and our ride so far has been really pretty.

We stopped a bit late for lunch and definitely over ordered because we were hungry. After a run around on the playground and way too much fatty food we loaded Tobias in the trailer for his nap and tackled our first proper hill for the trip. It was just a 10km climb on a very reasonable gradient. I hit the granny gear, but was able to keep going with a reasonable cadence. The road was quiet and very pretty with spring wildflowers everywhere.

Tobias conveniently stayed asleep until just before the descent so we stopped for a coffee and put a few more layers on since it started clouding over. The outlook over the ocean and towards the seaside towns was stunning, but it was over too fast and we were climbing back up at a much steeper gradient to our campsite above Bar. This was too steep with all the stuff and I ended up pushing at a few punchy points, especially when I had to stop to yell at the dogs chasing us. We weren't much sport for them, the pace we were going.

Our campsite is lovely, just the kind of place we like (read, no cars or campers). We have a beautiful view towards the mountains. Unfortunately Tobias has taken to pushing his physical boundaries pretty hard these days which meant we didn't have much chance to relax until bedtime. He really wants to ride his bike along the stone walls and down the steps. We were certain he wouldn't actually do it, but after he face planted down a few steps we had to divide the setting up camp and minding toddler duties. It feels like he's going out of his way to hurt himself these days, although perhaps it's just because we are travelling and every day there are new things for us to be aware of. Like the live "earths" in the power plugs in our apartment last night that made James' fingers tingly. Or it could be because he's going to turn 2 in a month, and that's what 2 year olds do.

There is one other person in the camp tonight, a Dutch woman cycling a similar route to us back towards the Netherlands. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her because I was too busy chasing Tobias, but perhaps we will have a more chill kid in the morning.

I'm curious how our night will go. I'd love a good night sleep, but our camping experiences with Tobias so far haven't been great. This is the first time he's actually gone to sleep on his own at the start of the night though, so here's hoping. The route tomorrow has more steep hills and no way to avoid them, but we will be staying 3 nights in Budva which should give us a chance to recover.

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Nearing the top of the climb. Tobias is actually in the trailer and not slumped in front of me, that's just his helmet.

The first thing Tobias saw at the camp bar was the ukelele (guitar) which he commandeered for the evening.

He was trying to ride down the steps on the right. It didn't go well.

Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 438 km (272 miles)

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