Croatia, Montenegro and Albania

Coming out of the mountains of B&H, the road into Dubrovnik was a bit of a shocker. Narrow and busy, we were sandwiched between a rock wall and speeding traffic with no shoulder to speak of. It was stressful but thankfully short, and just reaffirmed that we’d made the right decision to spend more time inland and less on the Croatian coast.  We got settled into our guesthouse with a wicked view of the Old City and the Mediterranean beyond.

We spent two days exploring Dubrovnik, wandering in and out of narrow streets and climbing thousands of steep crooked stairs. The entire city is built on a hill and is probably the least bike friendly city I’ve ever been to, on account of all the steps. It’s quite impressive however, with towering walls and imposing turrets and ramparts. We managed to find some Game of Thrones filming locations which was pretty fun, and we eavesdropped on a film crew discussing future scenes and where they would set up the banners and cannons! We also spent a few hours sitting outside the castle walls by the water, drinking pocket beers while we listened to the waves and watched the sun sink over the sea.

 

Riding out of Dubrovnik was a bit of a challenge; the same busy road we’d come in on, as well as a mega headwind which gusted up to Iceland levels at points, blowing us off the bikes and making any forward movement nearly impossible. It was the start of a big storm, which fully opened up on us the next day after we’d crossed into Montenegro. As we rode into the Bay of Kotor we got absolutely drenched. The wind swirled around from all directions and the rain flew across the sky in sheets, the drops hammering the ground so hard that they were bouncing back up into the air. We bought ferry tickets to get to the other side of the bay, and the ticket attendant asked “What the hell are you doing on bikes in this weather?” Our answer was laughter tinged with a bit of insanity, “We’re not very smart”. He laughed and said “Good Answer.”  as he handed us our tickets.  At least we had a good reply.

 

The Bay of Kotor is a pretty stunning place, a huge body of water with a narrow opening out to the sea, protected from the ocean and tucked back among huge mountains on all sides.  The ride in was extra exciting because of the weather whipping us around and spraying us with sea water as waves smashed against the shore. The city of Kotor itself is much like Dubrovnik, with old stone corridors, and steep steps, but with a more rugged feel. It has more of an old maritime vibe and feels less like the polished up tourist destination that Dubrovnik has become. It also has tall walls protecting the old city, but these are a bit rougher around the edges and nestle right up against the cliffs behind, all overlooked by an old fortress looming high above on the rocks.  From these rocks, on either side of the city walls, karstic springs surge thousands of gallons of fresh water out and around the walls for a short trip to the sea.  These springs form a natural and beautiful moat around the city.

 

The sun came out for our departure from Kotor, which meant we could climb up into the mountains! We’d been eyeing up the Kotor Serpentine road, which climbs the cliffs directly behind the city, weaving back and forth up 25 switchbacks and over 1000m of elevation gain. Most of the road is only a 5% grade though, so it’s totally doable without exploding your legs. Each turn presented more wicked views over the Bay and, as we got higher, the ocean beyond.  At the top of the Serpentine we opted to continue climbing into Lovcen National Park, taking us along more quiet forest roads and up to our new trip high point at 1429m! 

 

We had one more wonderful day of riding in Montenegro, following quiet and scenic roads with great views of lakes and mountains. This country has amazing potential for riding and it would have been great to spend more time here. We didn’t have the chance though, because then another nasty storm moved in, hammering sideways rain into the cuffs and collars of our rain gear until we were literally soaked to the bone.  We rode through this misery most of one day, hunkered into the tent for a wet stormy night, and woke up to more rain the next morning.  Throughout the night, lightning lit up our tent and thunder rumbled so close you could feel it inside you. This storm was the last straw after a hard winter; we were sick of being cold, sick of being wet, and just rode as fast as we could for the Albanian border, hoping that somewhere south of us the weather would be better. 

Unfortunately, we really didn’t give Albania much of a chance to win us over. We spent quite a bit of the time on busy highways, running from more bad weather and hammering out miles, trying to get to Greece. Motivation was pretty low by this point, which we’ll get into more in the next post.  We had a few totally uninspiring days in muddy farmland and suffered through more days of soul-destroying rain.  It wasn’t all bad though! There were peaceful stretches riding through ancient olive groves, some thrilling climbs and descents through a national park, and some downright gorgeous coastline. The stretch between Vlore and Sarande was especially pretty, though we were a bit too tired and rushed to really enjoy it. Everyone we met was friendly and helpful, especially when we’d roll into town looking for a place to stay, drenched and muddy. In Fier, we rolled in just before dark and stopped at the first place we saw with “hotel” on the sign. The young guy in charge didn’t bat an eye quoting us a great price for the night and bringing our filthy bikes inside his lobby because they would be safer there. It was only after we’d checked into the room that we noticed the hourly rates posted on the back of the door, and the 6 foot mirror mounted right beside the bed! Suddenly the dark, discrete entrance with a single red light over the door made sense. It was actually one of the nicer places we stayed, and extremely clean!

As with Montenegro, it would have been nice to have spent more time in Albania. I’ve read many other trip reports that rave about what a great country it is for riding, but we missed out on much of it, mainly due to the weather. After a short rest in Sarande to recover from our last push (and to let the flooding subside), we struck out for the Greek border, hopeful that the worst of our storms were over.

The Roundups!

Croatia (Dubrovnik)

ODO start: 3488

ODO finish: 3541

Total kms: 53
Actual country name: Republika Hrvatska

Days in country: 4

Birthdays celebrated: 1

Montenegro

ODO start: 3541

ODO finish: 3738

Total kms: 247
Actual country name: Crna Gora

Days in country: 6

Highest pass: 1429m

Most kms in one day: 58

Ferries taken: 1

Number of stray dogs who tried to adopt us: 3

Albania

ODO start: 3738

ODO finish: 4167

Total kms: 429
Actual country name: Republika e Shqipërisë

Days in country: 7

Highest pass: 1035m

Most kms in a day: 114

Flat tires: 1 (Steve)