This is the distilled story our trip driving from the UK to Iran, written in more traditional (chronological) form, and with the emphasis on our driving and 4WDing experiences for our Land Rover mates in England. If you're viewing this on email and would like to see the videos as well as photos, view the post in your browser by following this link: http://elveysbigadventure.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/escapades-in-east-part-2-albania.html
The day dawned bright and clear, which was a distinct contrast to the previous day's steady, miserable rain (one of the very few days it rained on the entire trip). It was also Mrs E's birthday. We'd woken up in our 3-star hotel, and headed down to our Albanian breakfast, which was sort-of close to an English, substituting the bacon for grilled capsicums, and the mushrooms for tomatoes. It was important we had a good start to the day, as we were going to need that energy later on.
I'd already had an inkling that Albania was going to be a great destination for 4WD adventures, and so we headed off for our first day of 4WDing in this poor, curious and much-forgotten land. As we headed out of the city and into the countryside, we discovered that the roading infrastructure was split between pot-holed, crumbling sealed roads, and rough, rutted dirt roads. We were again following a 4WD enthusiast's trail, which saw us turning off onto the most minor of rural roads, which meant the least formed! Very quickly we had the diff-lock engaged, as the preceding couple of days of rain had made the clay-based track particularly treacherous.
Early on in the track
This and the video below are still the "easy" bits!
It was all pretty fun while the track was fairly level, but before long we came to our first significant hill on the track. It wasn't THAT steep, but with the wet, heavy clay, we did a fair bit of slipping and sliding as we clambered up towards the top, delicately feathering the pedals to scratch any available grip. As we crested the top, I was buzzing - Mrs E was smiling nervously. This was what we brought the Land Rover for! My euphoria was short-lived though, as we came around a corner to find another hill, steeper than the first. Given the struggle on the first hill, I really wasn't sure that we'd be able to summit this one. I put foot down to give it a go, but reached only half-way before grip ran out. We carefully reversed down, and decided that Mrs E should hop out for the next attempt, to slightly lighten the load (and given that one side of the track was a steep bank, ensure one of us was kept safe/secure). The second attempt made more progress, but still was unsuccessful. For the third, I reversed to get the maximum amount of momentum, and made an all-guns-blazing attempt to beat the clay. Half-way up I thought it was another failed attempt, but somehow between the sideways jiggling I managed to keep the tyres biting, the Disco moving, and a few LONG seconds later, eased my way over the crest - just! A big shout of relief, and Mrs E joined me to carry on, albeit slightly paler in the face.
The challenges weren't over for the day though, and on the next (slightly smaller) hill, after the first attempt failed, we slid into the ditch on the reverse back down. There was no way we were driving out of our position, so it was out with the recovery gear, and the hi-lift jack was put to use. After jacking it up and getting some stones under the "ditched" wheel, we were able to drive out and on up the hill successfully.
Another stop to put some stones in a washed out ditch to cross, then we arrived at a hamlet of a few houses. By this stage we were pretty stuffed, so stopped to have a bit to eat. Before long, a curious girl came out to meet us. Amazingly for how remote we were, she could speak a few words of English, but I do mean literally just a few! The following hour was an amazing encounter of the local, rural Albanian people. You can read more about this encounter in a dedicated blog post, here: http://elveysbigadventure.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/generosity-universal-gift.html
We finished off the trail, which thankfully became a bit easier and more relaxing/enjoyable. In the village at the end of the road, we stopped to wash all the mud off the Disco. The place was a garage as well, and a few days earlier we'd lost the grill from the snorkel, so I asked if the mechanic had anything to make a new one. Not only did he have some perfect scrap metal, he proceeded to carefully cut out a piece for the snorkel, paint it, and screw it securely in place. To boot, he didn't want to take any payment, but his care and quality of work was such that I insisted on giving him a generous payment for the work.
Albania continued to surprise and excite us, especially with the dramatic, mountainous scenery, which was absolutely first-rate. A couple of days later we decided to take a track up into the mountains. We climbed a significant height, but this track was very different to the first outing, being rock based and subsequently pretty easy going (albeit steep in parts). We still had our share of excitement though, as we took a detour off to follow an old section of the road, rather than the newly formed part. There was a clear reason the old section had been decommissioned, with a giant erosion ditch running in the middle of the track, meaning we had to carefully zig-zag our way up the tricky track. That night we camped high up in the mountains, the only night we wild-camped in Albania, but one of the best of the trip. The next morning we headed into a mountain village where we got a taste and tour of village life from the one English-speaking resident of the village. As we headed for the border with Greece (back on tarmac), we continued to enjoy the stunning scenery in it's many shades of Autumnal orange.
Landy!
The contrasts of Albania!
The road up into the mountains
The "old" road on the mountain track
Video of the same track
Albania in Autumn glory
Proper wild camping
I'm tempted to start a rival company
Visiting the village school
My kinda lunch - meat, bread and cheese!
Albania really surprises
We arrived in Albania knowing absolutely nothing about the country or it's people, and we left with a desire to return again, hungry for more of it's great people, amazing scenery, and challenging roads. And while the poverty certainly can't be hidden, there is enough development to enjoy a luxury holiday, if that is your preference, at bargain basement prices.
