Today’s ride was one of the easiest, but one of the best (there’s that strange convergence again). The ride begins by continuing downriver from Gjirokaster along the Drino, until it merges into the the Vjosa at the north end of Bureto Mountain. From there we double back to the south up the VJosa to day’s end at Përmet. It’s an essential flat ride the whole way, but for occasional modest rises and falls.
The scenery, both physical and cultural, is phenomenal the whole way. It’s remarkable to have such a flattish ride through the middle of such a dramatic landscape, with ranges rising thousands of feet on both sides.
This country is a very close cousin to the Zagori Villages we visited two weeks back - both the Drino and Vjosa rise in northern Greece, in the mountains surrounding the villages. It would make a wonderful short cycling vacation to do this as a loop, maybe starting in Ioannina and looping north to Gjirokaster and then back into Greece through Përmet.
Përmet is a charming small town, and very modern in appearance - it was almost completely rebuilt after World War II. We’ll be here for two nights, so we’ll see more of Përmet then.
This is the main highway to Tirana from the south. The two goatherds held the sheep at the side of the road until there was a large break in the traffic, and then hustled their charges across at double speed. Like school crossing guards.
We crossed the Drino on this rickety bridge to test out a side road to avoid the highway for a few miles, but it was so gravelly we just turned back. Rachael is rolling her bike gingerly because there are big gaps in the roadbed.
Just south of Tepelene the Drino merges with the Vjosa River, at the end of Bureto Mountain. We left the main highway here, crossed the Drino, and turned back south and up the Vjosa. We’ll follow the Vjosa all the way to Përmet.
And especially nice that he stopped for a chat and a few poses. He spoke no English, but wanted to know our Facebook account (we don’t have one) so he could see himself on the Internet.
Not sure now what I was pointing at, but I think at the rear of the horses. It occurred to me that maybe I’m posing on the wrong end and might get nipped.
Too scenic to resist, we stopped at this restaurant riverside hotel for lunch. The creek that sources the waterfall runs through the middle of the hotel.
And it’s a good thing we stopped here. Within five minutes of sitting down, it started sprinkling. Five minutes later we were in a deluge, with deafening thunder crashing around us. We stayed here almost two hours waiting out the storm, and nearly decided to stay here overnight.
Finally we moved on, making good time to Përmet in hopes that we’d escape another cloudburst (which we did). Still, there’s always time for a photo or so. This guy is on the cellphone as he walks his cows - maybe phoning home from the office, asking what’s for dinner.
