Bicycle Touring Europe: Albania, in Pogradec

Cycling Europe, heading for Greece, my latest bicycle touring update from Albania. In Pogradec. I’m in so much pain now. It even hurts to cycle! Although when I’m peddling, I’m not too bad. But as soon as I stop and put a foot down, that’s when the pain really starts! And I’m now finding any excuse to stop, although I don’t know why, as I’m in more pain off the bike than I am on it!

So I’ve decided to stay put and rest today. Apart from resting, I’ve been looking at my options for finishing my ride sooner! I’ll decide for definite tomorrow. I’ll see how I feel when I’m cycling. There are about fifty miles to cycle before making that final decision. I just need to pull myself together and get finished!

Although why I want to go home, I don’t know! Apart from seeing family and friends, which is always good! But I just know that I’ll be in a lot more pain once I am home! But at least I can get some stronger pain killers, which will hopefully help! And maybe I’ll have to try and get this sorted out, once and for all!

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my route across Europe to Athens
• Tour page: Ride overview

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.

Bicycle Touring Europe: Albania, Elbasan to Pogradec

Cycling Europe, heading for Greece, my latest bicycle touring update from Albania. Elbasan to Pogradec. 54 miles. Much of today was spent riding up through a valley, following a river, which has been nice. I always like to be near water, as most of my previous rides prove! Although I have been struggling with my leg, which is a real pain, literally!

Disappointingly I had my first puncture of the trip today! Just as I went around a bend and started to go uphill, it went bang! Well, that’s a pain, I thought! But hey ho, I can’t really complain. After all, I’ve done over 1800 miles! So nothing else to do apart from fixing it. As I could not find the puncture (through being impatient), I replaced the inner tube with a new one! Sorted, now all I had to do was put the wheel back on the bike and load up.

I’d only turned the pedals a couple of turns when it went bang again! I’d checked the tyre and couldn’t find anything in it. That’s normally the first thing I do! There’s nothing worse than fixing a puncture and getting another one straight away! Oh wait, that’s what’s just happened! Surely I didn’t run over whatever gave me the puncture in the first place, did I? Again, I pulled over to fix the puncture! But this time, I did find the puncture. It was a great big hole which was too big to fix! So back to the original inner tube and find that hole! After a bit more patience on my part, I did!

More Trouble

While I was pumping the tyre back up, I noticed a split in the tyre’s sidewall! And the inner tube was starting to bulge out! Well, at least I found the cause of my punctures! Luckily, I always carry a spare tyre, so it wasn’t a major problem. Apart from removing the old tyre and inner tube for the third time! But then, to top it all, the bloody pump broke! The plastic casing had become brittle over time and just snapped! But I managed to bodge it together with some gaffer tape. It didn’t work fully, but at least it allowed me to get enough air in the tyre to cycle on it. That little episode must have taken nearly two hours in total.

On My Way

I cycled on for another hour or so and left the valley. Now, I was on a wide plateau with a vast mountain looming in the distance. I was hoping that wasn’t where I was heading! But as I cycled nearer, I could see the road winding its way up. Yep, it certainly was the way I was heading!

That mountain turned out to be a 1000-metre climb, with most of it at a 10% gradient! At the top of the climb, there was a hotel, and I did contemplate stopping. But in the end, I just had a beer, something I never do while cycling! But I felt I’d earned that one! Going down the other side was good fun! And it wasn’t too long after that that I stopped.

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my route across Europe to Athens
• Tour page: Ride overview

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.

Bicycle Touring Europe: Albania, Bushat to Elbasan

Cycling Europe, heading for Greece, my latest bicycle touring update from Albania. Bushat to Elbasan. 80 miles. And there I was saying how bad the hotel was yesterday. Yet I had the best night’s sleep I’ve had for ages. While I’m not sure whether it was because it was cooler. But my leg didn’t keep me awake either! Calm before the storm, I think. I’m in chronic pain again tonight!

Nice flat ride this morning all the way to Tirane, although according to my map, I wasn’t there. Before I knew it, I was in the centre of the city, lost! Eventually, I found my way out!

The weather’s not been too bad today. I had a shower first thing this morning, and one really heavy cloud burst this afternoon with thunder and lightning. I can still hear it rumbling all around tonight.

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my route across Europe to Athens
• Tour page: Ride overview

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.

Bicycle Touring Europe: Sveti Stefan, Montenegro to Bushat, Albania

Cycling Europe, heading for Greece, my latest bicycle touring update from Albania. Sveti Stefan, Montenegro to Bushat, Albania. 69 miles. Well, I left the hotel this morning and wished I hadn’t! It‘s been another wet day, and by 4 o’clock, I’d had enough and checked into a hotel.

At the hotel in Sveti last night, a rather large family had checked in. Not too sure if all the children were from the same family. But there was about six of them running around screaming! Which didn’t bother me too much. It made for some entertainment! However, I did get a bit annoyed when I found a couple of them playing near my bike! My bike was in a courtyard/storage area in the hotel, so there was no need to be in there. After seeing them playing in the room, I went over to see what they were up to. And have a bit of a go at them. I checked my bike over but couldn’t see anything wrong. Not until this morning anyway! The little !*!@%? Had taken my dust caps, hardly the crime of the century, but it still annoyed me!

Should I Stay or Should I Go

I did um and ah for quite a while this morning whether to leave the hotel or not. The weather wasn’t great, and although it wasn’t raining constantly, there were plenty of showers around. But I couldn’t face another day sitting around the hotel, watching TV! Or those kids! So I took the plunge and left and almost instantly regretted it when the first shower started! And that’s how the weather has been all day, one shower after another! No sooner would I dry off from one storm than it would start raining again!

It’s a rough old hotel tonight, but the shower was nice and hot! The sign outside says they have a restaurant. They don’t! When I asked about the restaurant, I got directed to the petrol station across the road, and the little supermarket! But for €15 for the night, I don’t mind cooking my own dinner. After all, it’s not as though I can’t.

Tour Information

It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:

• Photos: See my photos on Flickr
• The route: View my route across Europe to Athens
• Tour page: Ride overview

Follow My Bicycle Touring Adventures

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.