Author: sheenalydon
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Croissants, campfires and communist memorials….
I’m going to be brutally honest here, Albania has some roads that are quite seriously beyond shite and they nearly got the better of me today. Imagine the surface of the moon, now imagine someone has lobbed a few sticks of dynamite at it, throw in someone dodgy mercedes driving and then you get an…
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Punctures, punctures and bunkers.
When we arrived back at the petrol station/hotel/coffee shop after visiting Gjirokaster yesterday, one of the guys working on the pumps came over gesticulating wildly at our bikes “Goma, goma!” He proclaimed. Goma indeed, Sam’s tyre was flat again and so this morning, we had yet another repair to carry out. Once that was done,…
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Albania – castles, crashed planes and drug lord villages.
Albania is a strange creature, it is very different to a lot of the countries we have visited so far in a variety of ways. On of which is their petrol stations. In most countries, petrol stations are a good bet for a little shop where you can pick up a cold drink and a…
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A day trip to Tirana
Our initial planning for Albania indicated that cycling into Tirana would be a behemoth task, rumours of over congested ring roads and maniac driving led us to take the decision that, as much as we might wish to, we would skip touring the capital. In this instance, our long recovery from food poisoning had a…
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Sickness, side roads and Skanderberg.
George Kastriati Skanderberg is somewhat of a national hero in Albania, his person floats somewhere between true life hero and mythical tales that tell of his fearlessness and reputation as a fierce warrior and leader. It’s impossible to travel in Albania and not hear him mentioned or notice his legacy, there are Kastriati petrol stations…
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The Ferry from Koman to Fierze
We had read about the ferry ride from Fierze to Koman that runs through a series of connected reservoirs on numerous websites. The issue was that they had all been written several years ago and we could find little information that was up to date or that we could consider 100% reliable. We had decided…
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The Top 10 Things To Do in Sarajevo- A list of what you must see!
Sarajevo is a city steeped in history, and a cultural melting pot in Bosnia and Herzegovina. For a city of less than half a million residents, it has a buzzing heart and a plethora of things to see and do when you are visiting. Within a stretch of a few miles you will see old…
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Gjurakovc To Peja and the Rugovë Gorge
One of the great things about our cycle touring is meeting new people, not just people from the places we travel to, but also those travelling and visiting places themselves. It really blows my mind how many ways there are to travel. We’ve seen lots of people travelling as we do, they’re easy to spot,…
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Crossing the Border between Montenegro and Serbia
I’ve never seen so much rubbish through a landscape as I saw today. And worse, it’s through a really beautiful gorge with dramatically dropping sides and the road giving glimpses to the green, unfortunately plastic filled ravine below. I’ve said this previously, but here towards the Montenegro-Serbia border,no one has bothered to let them know…
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Cycling from Mojkovac to Berane
Leaving Mojkovac was surprisingly hard. It hasn’t got much that you could consider a proper draw to it’s higgle piggle centre, but there’s something really endearing about it, the weird old soviet buildings, the friendly people or maybe even the chaotic driving. I’ve got a wee touch of a cold too, which made me reluctant…