We are now in Albania, the home of one of our girls, Linda Bardha. More climbing today but not as much as the past few days and quite a bit of downhill today. We did 34,476 feet of climbing in Greece. That is a lot. In just the past three days of riding we did almost 19,000. It is a good thing we get a rest day tomorrow. We are in Sarande which is a beach resort city, part of the Albanian Riviera. The ride was nice and not too difficult. About half way we came to the border. We stopped there, had lunch and waited for everyone to catch up so that we could all cross the border together. Crossing was very easy and once across we headed to Sarande, but of course, first there was a major climb. The climb was not enough though, we had major headwinds. And this reminds me, every day there are things that I mean to mention in this blog but by the end of the day I am tired and they just slip away. The wind is one thing I forgot to mention. On the last four days of riding, as we approached the tops of the mountains there were winds that were so strong that it was difficult to keep the bike straight. Mostly they were cross winds but sometimes headwinds that made riding very tough.
Another thing I wanted to mention was that yesterday, as I was coming down the second mountain I was certain I was hearing banjo music. I was in the middle of the forest and there was no civilization for miles. I kept slowing down to listen and gradually I approached a pond with frogs making sounds exactly like banjos. I have never heard anything like it before. I was really wonderful to listen to.
I am sure there are other things that I wanted to mention but I can’t think of them now but if I remember I will add them to future posts. Tomorrow is a rest day but it appears unlikely that we will get any beach time. The weather has been very windy today and raining on and off all day. No one is on the beach. It’s ok though because I can lay in bed and look at the Adriatic out my window.
