When the Balkans was shuffled about in the 1990s Bosnia was given nine kilometers of pretty useless coastline. I don't really know very much about the country and as I cycled through in 20 minutes I'm none the wiser. It looked pretty nice and I didn't have any trouble other than some friendly banter at the border.
In my earlier post I said I'd go from Croatia into Albania. It took a couple of days for me to realise I had another country, albeit a pretty new one in the way. Montengro was spectacular with mountains dropping straight down into the sea. They also seem to love tunnels so fairly easy if not particularily pleasant cycling. Go through the hills rather than over them. One tunnel was 4.2 kilometers, smoggy, dark and narrow. I maanged it without a hitch though the traffic police seemed a bit surprised to see me at the toll booth the otherside. I don't think cyclists were really supposed to go through - bit late to send me back.
Onto Albania. I was a bit intrepid about this. I've heard some pretty mixed reports on the country and of course I've read the Daily Mail / Express's (fountains of knowledge) views on Albanians... Its was pretty intimidating crossing the border. The last town in Montenegro, Tuzi has a real edge to it. The 15km up to the border was completely deserted and just a few burnt out houses and the occassional battered Mercedes going the other way. The crossing itself took an hour or so but it was relitevly trouble free and none of the expected 'taxes' or 'presents' I'd expected to be asked for.
The first 25km of road were terrible. They had been tarred in the past but was now more potholes than anything else meaning that all the cars and me had to swerve in and out of the the whole time. The weather was and still is pretty... autumnal. Its been either raining heavily or drizzling for the past three days and gets pretty chilly at night.
The combination of a heavy thunderstorm and distant gunfire (apparently a wedding celebration!) make for a pretty stressful nights sleep. The tent and the panniers have however held firm and kept most the water out. I'm told better weather is on its way. I hope so as I'm struggling to find being damp and chilly for days on end a great deal of fun. So this morning I adopted the Albanians solution to this - have a large Grappa (local whisky) with breakfast. Proberbly not the best solution in the long term but certainly helps knock the chill off the first few kilometers!
The saving grace has been the Albanian people. They have been fantastic and are so hospitable. They are only too pleased to have you camping in their garden and will bring you out coffee, bread and of course a large whisky for breakfast. Everytime you stop to escape the rain in a cafe they will be competing to buy you drinks and try and make conversation with you.
Conversations are usually pretty hard work and slow going as the only words they know are Manchester Uniter, Liverpool and Chelsea. Occassionaly you will bump into someone who speaks a fair bit of English - picked up in an Italian restaurant in Surrey (proir to being caught on the train and sent packing) or the big cheese in the Range Rover who says laughingly that he exports things to England. Nice chap, bought me a beer, but suspect making enough money to buy Range Rover in Albania through legitimate means is pretty tricky...
Don't beleive the newspapers. These people are marvelous and I feel very safe and welcome.
On the Albanian exports notes - I've heard terrible reports of attratcive young things being picked up off the street and sent to earn a living in the UK. I've managed to avoid detection so far and shall pedal hard to make sure I evade capture!
All the best
gfwmxx