A Blue Eye of Wonder

Montenegro had been a series of highs and lows. The highs had been lovely – Lovcen, Cetinje and parts of the coast. But the lows had us seriously questioning the viability of full-time travel in this part of the world.

They say you learn a lot about yourself when you travel but I never felt I was learning much whilst we were in Africa. Looking back, I now realise that was because we had everything we wanted and you learn little when you’re so happy. Now we battled against the weather and felt that the wilderness was a million miles away – where were the stars we had grown so used to falling asleep under? We were starting to learn a lot.

It was in this rather downbeat mindset that we tried to decide where to go next from Durmitor National Park. Having walked around the Black Lake there was nothing else to stay here for with the snow and ice making walking or even driving around impossible. We needed to get back down to warmer climates quickly.

Following the roads east towards Albania would bring us to the Tara River bridge but it had been under renovation for years and was closed to trucks over 3.5 tonnes. Furthermore, the canyon road from there was closed to all traffic, also due to construction works. We wanted to see the river, the canyon and the bridge but it could be a long way to go if there was no way through.

We dithered, less than motivated to do anything much, but in the end decided to give it a go. And we were so pleased we did

The bridge was quite impressive

We decided against doing some rafting in the cold but discovered there was a zip wire over the river so had to try it

It was only a short ride but the views over the canyon were beautiful

We chatted to the owner of the zip wire and found out that over a million people had zipped across here in just 15 years.

And even better still, he told us that the canyon road was passable in a truck like ours, we just needed to do a bit of off-roading to get through the construction works.

So off we went.

The road follows the Tara canyon and it was beautiful

We stopped by a small waterfall for lunch

Passed through the construction works without skipping a beat

And arrived at the Biogradska National Park early that evening

We could park-up overnight at the visitor centre right by the Biogradska Lake and it felt as though we were back in our natural environment again

The lake was full of toads

And later than evening we saw dozens of them making their way from the trees into the water. This was a female carrying the male on her back

And this poor lady had two males hitching a lift

Soon after I took the photo she rolled over and literally scraped one of them off!

We were back down at 870m above sea level here and it was much warmer, lifting our moods once again. We decided to stay two nights and allow ourselves to relax for a while before pushing onwards out of Montenegro.

We did a lovely walk around the lake, far easier than the treacherous Black Lake

At around 4pm we lit a fire and sat around savouring a rare evening outside

I even opened the bottle of Gewurztraminer my sister had bought me for Christmas and got a little tipsy

Just like at Lovcen, we started to feel at home here and could have stayed for much longer. But we were keen to say goodbye to Montenegro and move on to Albania in the hope that it would be more relaxed, more natural and easier to find what we were looking for.

So the next day we packed up, said goodbye to the toads, and set off back to Podgorica where we had one final pizza at our airstrip

Before heading back to our old park-up place on the coast in Sotomore. It was 27 degrees down here so I sat outside working on our Albanian plans whilst James set about giving the solar panels a much needed clean

We were right on the border with Albania and planned to cross the next day, which made the fact that I still had a lot of planning to do a little worrying. I had never been so unprepared for a new country before – it seemed as though I never had enough time these days.

So we left Sotomore very late the next morning to give me time to get at least the first few days sorted out. The border crossing was very easy – in fact it was so easy we didn’t realise we had been checked in to Albania until it was too late and found ourselves driving into the country without an entry stamp in our passports. This could potentially mean problems when we tried to leave but we decided that was a problem for another day.

We didn’t know what to expect from Albania. Many people still refer to it as ‘off the beaten track’, undiscovered, untouched. But that image seems to be at least five years out of date and in those five years Albania has gone through a huge change. The Albanian Riviera used to be a rustic but beautiful coastline untouched by human hands, now I was seeing images like this all over the internet

The beaches have been taken over by Beach Clubs who charge high prices and some of them won’t let you in at all unless you look like you’ll spend a lot of money during the day on food and drinks.

Outside of the Riviera there are many touristy towns and cities, but I had heard there were still parts of the country that were authentic. Did the real Albania retain its own culture, built on millennia of eking out an existence in remote, mountainous landscapes, followed by decades of authoritarian, isolationist communism?

Well, no, actually!

After a gorgeous drive through the Albanian countryside we arrived at the town of Shkoder on the Albanian side of Lake Skadra to find a clean, modern, almost metropolitan town just like any other you might find across Europe

Albania plans to join the EU in 2030 and is a prosperous European country full of life, colour and self-confidence. For all we may have been disappointed to find ourselves still in an all-too familiar culture, there was something about Albania that felt much more comfortable than Montenegro.

I found it hard to put my finger on exactly what was different but Albania just seemed far more welcoming, genuine and relaxed

There were a few other noticeable changes. Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro share the same language and we had started to pick up quite a lot of it – I had even taught myself the Cyrillic alphabet, using the road signs as daily practice

Albania has its own very unique language and does not use the Cyrillic alphabet at all. So we were starting from scratch with the language but at least the letters were more familiar.

We spent an hour or so walking around Shkoder and seeing the eclectic architecture

As well as the busy bars and restaurants

Then drove to the edge of the lake where we found a beautiful meadow to park up in for the night

It was gorgeous and very peaceful – three people on horses and two in cars drove past on the bumpy dirt road during the afternoon but after about 5pm we saw no-one at all

The next morning I walked up to the lake and looked out over the water

There were a few fishing boats bobbing up and down but other than that it seemed deserted

We headed back through town to visit Rozafa Castle where we spent a lovely couple of hours poking around the old ruins

And admiring the views

But there wasn’t much in the way of information so we didn’t learn a great deal about it.

On the way back to our meadow we discovered something else very typically Albanian – the parking! Whilst the driving itself was a little hair-raising at times, the parking was absolute chaos everywhere we went

Cars double parking all the way down the main road entirely blocking one lane, parked on corners, on roundabouts, very often simply in the middle of the road blocking the entire route whilst they go off to do their shopping. It’s madness!

But we wiggled our way through it all eventually and arrived back at our meadow in glorious sunshine

We sat outside again and started on our next very important piece of admin – storage. We had just five weeks left before we flew back to the UK for our next visit to friends and family so we needed to find somewhere in Albania for BigMog to stay whilst we were away.

It took surprisingly little research to find the perfect place – a campsite just outside the capital city who offered secure storage for a very reasonable price. I made contact and within a couple of hours we had all the arrangements made.

Albania, like Montenegro, has some very high mountains which are supposed to be the most beautiful part of the country but which are also very weather dependent. There is a famous hiking trail from the small village of Theth, 8-10 hours across the high peaks of the Accursed Mountains to another small village called Valbone. Once you’re in Valbone there are only two ways back to Theth – 2 days on public transport around the mountain range, or walk all the way back.

I’m not sure we would have done it even if it were the height of summer but we didn’t need to worry about that – the trail is impassable until June because of the snow and it was only April. But Theth itself is in a valley between the peaks and is supposed to be lovely so we thought we would try to make it up there. As always, our mantra is ‘if you don’t go, you don’t know’ so we decided to give it a shot – it could be another Sedlo Pass moment but it could be worth it.

But not just yet. We still had a few things to do down in the warmer climate and the longer we waited to climb higher again the easier it would be.

So we stayed in Shkoder for the day to see a few more cultural sites.

We had planned to park back at the Stadium but when we arrived it was full so we ended up parking Albania style!

As we climbed down from the cab we had three people calling over to us admiring the truck and wanting to know how much he was worth – a question that had become very common in this part of the world. But no-one batted an eyelid at where we had parked.

Our first stop was the Site of Witness and Memory – a small museum dedicated to those who were killed under the authoritarian regime of Enver Hoxha

It was fascinating and sobering in equal measure

Thousands of people were imprisoned and killed by his government simply for disagreeing with him. It was also illegal to attempt to leave the country and thousands more were shot trying to escape across the border.

To cheer ourselves up we headed for the Mesi Bridge – a beautiful Ottoman bridge built in 1768

It was very impressive – apparently the largest surviving bridge from the Ottoman era

We walked across it and then down to the river

Albania was turning out to be a very beautiful country.

We had now seen everything we had wanted to see in Shkoder so jumped back into BigMog and drove some pretty but rather narrow roads through lots of little villages towards Kantini Mani – a local winery which offered wine tasting and dinner.

The whole area is famous for its vineyards

And it seemed to be one of the wealthier areas with large houses and pristine gardens

When we arrived at the winery we were shown to a small campsite in the middle of the vines

The views all around were lovely

That evening we were treated to an amazing home-cooked dinner and lots and lots of wine

Our hosts were incredibly friendly and very generous – topping up our glasses with whichever wines we particularly liked.

We sat outside on the terrace looking out over the vines

And even when the sky darkened and the rain started it didn’t dampen our mood

In fact we loved it so much we stayed for two nights, spending the day in between doing very little

They had a number of cats and dogs and one very cute cat took a liking to us

I named her Harriet and she spent all day with us, curled up on my knee as I read my book

She howled outside the truck all night wanting us to come out and, when I finally did, I found her standing on the top step by the door. She curled herself up on my training matt and ‘helped’ as I did my workout

She very nearly got hidden inside the truck as we left…

We were now ready to start our journey up into the mountains towards Theth. We expected the worst but hoped for the best and our hopes were well rewarded – the roads were absolutely spectacular

We wound our way up the narrow mountain pass to the top of one of the peaks

Then wound our way down towards the valley

Some of the switchbacks were so tight that we had to do a three point turn to get round, but there was little other traffic and we were in no rush, we just enjoyed the journey.

When we arrived at Theth it took our breath away

This was by far the best part of Albania, everywhere we looked was stunning

With the turquoise blue river running through the middle and soaring mountains in every direction

We seemed to have come just in time as well, there was a lot of construction work going on and we heard that they were building hotels and holiday homes. This whole area will be very different in a few years’ time but for now it was perfect.

Our planned park-up place on the banks of the river turned out to have been washed away and we had to drive a very long way down the tight road before we found somewhere wide enough to turn around. It was all a big hair-raising as the road really wasn’t wide enough to pass cars coming in the other direction and we had a few close calls.

But eventually we made it back into the village and found a car park by the bridge where a few other motorhomes were parked.

We wasted no time in exploring the village, we walked to a lovely restaurant for lunch then carried on to see the small Kisha e Thethit church

Then on to the ‘Reconciliation Tower’, otherwise known as the ‘Lock-In Tower’ where males members of a family involved in a blood feud would hide until the feud was resolved

On the way back to the truck we stopped off for ice cream and decided that Albania was suiting us very well

The next day we wanted to go and see the Blue Eye of Theth – one of two deep, very blue and crystal clear pools in Albania. This one is the more difficult to get to and therefore less touristy.

But the difficulty getting there was causing us more problems than we had expected. A taxi would take us for 40 Euros, a price which we were reluctant to pay for a 6.5km drive. The road to it turned out to be the road we had got stuck on the day before and we didn’t want to risk BigMog down it any further than we had already.

That left walking and whilst the 6.5km road to the car park was steeply downhill, there was a further 2.5km hike up a rocky trail to reach the Eye itself. And then, of course, we would need to walk all the way back, this time 6.5km steeply uphill.

We met a Hungarian couple who had done it the previous day and said it had been very challenging – and given they were about to set off to try the Theth to Valbone hike we figured they were pretty hardcore so we would have no chance.

Feeling a little deflated, we decided to walk to the Grunas waterfall instead. This walk was a 6.5km round trip and mostly flat, it was 29 degrees and the sky was blue

We had a fabulous day

Half way along the trail we crossed a small bridge over the river and had to scramble down the rocks on the other side

The waterfall itself was pretty

But the beautiful walk had been the highlight.

Back at the truck, the sun was too strong for me to sit outside, my nose was already starting to go bright red despite wearing sun tan lotion – clearly the months of snow and ice had reversed all the good work I’d done in Africa getting toughened to hot sun

James spent his afternoon fixing a new angle onto the front mud guard to reinforce the corner where it had split when we had driven too close to a snow drift

And that evening he had a brain wave. He has an ebike and whilst I had never tried it, I have ridden push bikes all my life and ride a motorbike – how hard could it be? He suggested I took his bike to the Blue Eye and when I got back he would take it himself.

I thought it was a brilliant idea and early the next morning I was all kitted out and ready to go

James gave me a quick lesson on the various settings and off I went.

I hated every moment of it! I don’t like going downhill, I never feel in control even if I’m on foot, never mind on an ebike I’ve never ridden before and which seemed to have a mind of its own. By the time I arrived at the car park half an hour later my hands were red raw from clinging onto the handle bars for dear life and I was shaking.

The lovely car park attendant offered to look after the bike for me

And off I set, up the long, steep hiking trail to the Eye. Within minutes all the stress from the bike ride had vanished

It was glorious

It took me about an hour to walk, climb and scramble up the rocky path

But eventually I arrived at a beautiful lake which I assumed was the Blue Eye

I took lots of photos, soaking it all in

Climbed onto a rock, got stuck and had to be helped down by a kind stranger and then crossed over the little bridge to the other side

Just as I was sitting on a bench looking out over the view, a local came over to me pointing at the pool and saying ‘No Blue Eye, Blue Eye up…’ He pointed up another track and kept gesturing that way.

So I climbed up the very steep track to eventually find the real Blue Eye hidden away in the trees

Although when I say hidden, there were plenty of people who had found it!

There were some people swimming but most were sunbathing or just looking

To be honest, it was lovely but it wasn’t one of those ‘wow’ moments. Maybe because there were so many other people there, or maybe because the whole area was so stunning – it was just another beautiful part.

After a few minutes I set off back down the long trail to the car park, regretting not having James’ strong and sturdy hands to help me down some of the trickier bits. But I made it in one piece and was feeling on top of the world by the time I reached the bike.

But now I had to cycle the 6.5km back up the mountain and was dreading it – coming down had been bad enough, just how much worse was going up going to be?

In fact, not worse at all. Just as I am perfectly capable of climbing up mountains but can’t get back down them again, so it seems I am fine at cycling uphill – the assistance of a very capable ebike being a definite bonus!

I peddled furiously, a big grin on my face, the wind in my hair and loving every minute. By the time I reached James and BigMog I was full of excitement about my day.

Whilst I had been away, James had had some wild visitors

And once and I was back he decided to go the other way up the mountain and had his own adventure in the sun

We made an early start the next day back up the mountain towards Shkoder before the traffic started getting busy. It was a good decision and we hardly met anything coming the other way as we plodded up the mountain pass.

We stopped for breakfast at the top

And sailed into Shkoder well before lunchtime.

We had spotted something called Zog’s Villa on Google maps on the other side of the town and found that Zog was the first and only King of Albania in the early 20^th century. We were fascinated and wanted to go and have a look.

As we drove towards the villa we realised we had found the touristy part of Shkoder

It was actually very nice, with restaurants along the front and little boats moored off the piers

It was a steep hike from where we could park to the villa itself and we must have taken a wrong turn as we found ourselves having to climb over a barbed wire fence to get in. But once we were through the villa itself was worth the effort

It was built in the 1920s but the King and his family only lived there for a few years before he was deposed and exiled by the Italians

It may be in ruins but you could see it must have been impressive in its day.

We treated ourselves to another wonderful lunch in one of the lakeside restaurants then tried to find somewhere to park-up for the night along the beach. But, like most of Albania, the place was full of construction works and there was nowhere to stay so we headed back through town to a war memorial where we could park-up away from the hustle and bustle

So far, Albania was living up to all our hopes and we already felt very much at home here. We had only just scraped the surface, the rest of Albania beckoned and we were excited to see what more we could find. Our travelling heads seemed to be back on at last.

But would BigMog and his gearbox problems allow us to keep going? He was getting increasingly difficult to drive, all these mountain passes were excruciating as he clunked and ground through every gear and now his clutch was slipping with a teeth-clenching screech. We had been into Mercedes in every country since Bosnia trying to find a solution but in all honesty we had had our heads in the sand. We didn’t know whether it was the clutch or the gearbox or both and finding out would cost us an absolute fortune before we even started thinking about fixing it. We had just kept on going, hoping it would magically sort itself out, but that was no longer an option. The time was coming when we would have to face it, we just didn’t know exactly what it was we were facing….