With Albania and some hard riding days imminent we took the opportunity to use the morning to stockpike on protein and fat (commonly referred to as eggs and bacon) washed down by numerous cups of coffee. Henley made an appearance shortly after 9 looking a half % better than yesterday and with 50kms under his legs and a pulse still evident he is heading in the right direction !
With bags packed and repacked (we managed somehow to cram everthing into carry on bags) we took the longish journey (2& 1/2 hours) along a series of dual carriage ways and motorways to Gatwick Airport. The journey may have been long but it was not without plenty of entertainment as in following Pommie Kev & Julia in our hire car we soon learnt that indicators were an optional extra in the UK ! After leaving numerous cars hedge bound after maneouvering at the last minute to keep up with K&J we decided it was safer to break out by ourselves on this beautiful Bank Holiday weekend.
The entertainment continued when I nearly stalled in the middle of a 14 lane roundabout (it seemed as much) but it was Kev still suffering from his Royal Brunei cold that won the play of the day by asking mid journey what the ever changing instrument on the cars panel was - "looks to be some sort of distance measuring aid" said Kev. After a theatrical pause I turned round and said it was in fact the cars on board clock !
Entering Gatwick Airport we still had more moments ahead having to first do one lap of the airport in an attempt to refuel before returning our hire car and then do another after we mistook the car rental return sign with the passenger drop off sign ... around we went again !
Checked in and reunited with Pommie Kev and Julia, we caught up with the 5th of our 6 reuniting group members Pete Robinson who'd journeyed down from Sheffield in the mornings traffic mayhem caused by a shocking overninght multiple fatality crash. It's been over 6 years since we last caught up with Pete in London doing a city cycle and it was a delight to once reunite with this affiable giant !
3 hours later we finally departed on our British Airways flight to Tirana Albania, a 2 & 1/2 hour training exercise in how to become a magicians contortionist assistant on a plane absolutely jam packed - this felt almost identical to flying on one of the many cheap and nasty budget airlines that proliferate this part of the world !
On landing our journey to our Tirana hotel provided brief glimpses of a heavily industrialised area but a not too austere outlook ! In fact our midnight walk to the nearest open bar (as one does when arriving in a new country) for a couple of pints showed that Tirana could almost have been anywhere in Europe with well dressed young couples walking the well lit streets.
All it takes now is to touch base with the 6th member of our Tibet 2010 troupe Kiwi Pete Dilks, also my companion on the 2016 Spitti-Leh Indian Himalayan cycle expedition. Pete had earlier reported in from Tirana indicating that weather conditions were not dissimilar to Christchurch NZ at 33c (obvious bullshit but not likely to be corrected with the Kiwis 2-0 up in the Rugby over the Aussies !) Pete though did indicate that the real highlight so far was discovering a plethora of Gelato shops in town !
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