April 23, 2023
Tirana to Fushë Milot
We started with another early morning thanks to Tobias. At least it gave us plenty of time to get on the road! The first day of a trip is always a bit of a mess sorting out the panniers, no matter how organized you are ahead of time so even though we woke up at 5:30, we didn't get underway until 9. Our hosts came down to see us off and we rode out through the streets of Tirana.
The first thing we discovered is that although there are separated bike lanes in the city, these aren't really suitable for a trailer so we had to go on the road where they were too narrow. After 10 hectic km we stopped for feta and strawberry sandwiches up a side street on the outskirts of Tirana. After a hectic highway section we got out of the city and into quieter roads around the airport where Tobias was very excited to see plenty of planes taking off and landing.
At about 11:30 we started getting closer to a busy road so stopped on a random dirt road shortcut for lunch of pea and feta fritters. Tobias was hardly interested in the lunch and just wanted to ride around on his balance bike. Fair enough, he spent the whole morning sitting while we got to ride our bikes. He's improved dramatically since we've been away and loves to take all the tricky lines into the potholes. He took one pretty big tumble but got up and dusted himself off and carried on. It's a bit silly really, adding an extra 3kg to our already heavy bikes, but so far I'd say it's been worth it for the amount of joy he gets out of having his own bike. And we got to actually sit and rest at lunchtime rather than having to walk around holding his hand. We stopped for about an hour to eat and to give Tobias time to run around before setting off with him in the trailer to sleep.
The road got crazy busy after lunch so it's good Tobias was in the back. First on the highway where traffic was backed up so we were going past on the shoulder, then through the town of Fushë-Krujë where all road rules ceased to apply and it felt a bit like we were riding in Vietnam again. After the town we turned off onto the quiet(ish) road we would follow for the rest of the day. It was pretty decent condition, just came with evil and invisible judder bars which launched the trailer if James didn't see it.
Tobias woke up right on 40km where we had to decide if we wanted to stay in a hotel with terrible reviews, including by cycle tourists, or if we wanted to carry on another 20km for more options. It was only 2pm, which is a long afternoon in a shitty hotel so we decided to push on, even though Tobias only napped for half as long as usual. He is pretty good at communicating now which is mostly great, except when he says "all done bike" and you still have an hour to ride, you have to do a bit of reasoning. We stopped for a drink and he asked to go in the trailer for the last bit which was interesting. I had assumed he'd only want to be up front while awake, but perhaps he was feeling tired.
Our quiet(ish), judder bar riddled road continued with a few small rises and descents until we passed the deserted phosphate factory near Laç and turned towards the highway to find hotel univers. I'm glad we pushed on, the hotel has a huge jumble of play equipment, including 5 slides, which kept Tobias occupied while I sorted a room and the luggage and the bikes. The trailer is pretty useful for lugging bags to the lift, though dividing tasks means one person has a lot of luggage to shift.
Because we are sharing a room with Tobias, we basically have to get everything sorted before he goes to bed at 7pm, unless it can be done on the balcony or in the bathroom. Luckily we've done it a few times now so it's not a surprise, but I still miss getting off the bike at the end of the ride and being able to relax. We had quick showers while the other person tried to stop Tobias from pulling everything in the room apart, then headed down to the restaurant for dinner. We ordered 2 pasta dishes and a risotto, then added a salad as an afterthought. All 3 of us were famished. Then rush back upstairs, Tobias to bed, and finally we get to relax on our balcony. Although it's facing the highway so the traffic noise is pretty heavy and we forgot to turn on the light and it's dark.
At lunch we spotted another 2 cycle tourists coming on a much lighter set up than us. They were a couple of friendly Danish guys who started in Turkey and were on their way home. Later in the day we were getting Tobias up after his nap and spotted two well loaded cycle tourists. They were a German couple who have been touring all through Europe, and then through Mexico during the winter. As we were saying goodbye to them, the Danish guys arrived after taking a longer break than us so all 7 of us had a break together.
Since we covered more ground than planned we only have a short day for tomorrow. The plan is to break out the camping gear, so this might be a good thing! Though there are some thunderstorms forecast, so we'll have to see how we go.
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Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 317 km (197 miles)
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