I might have been grateful for the extra 30 minute sleep afforded to us this morning (I didn't have to wake Henley up) but I wasn't when the news arrived that unbeknown to me i'd ridden the previous day with 3 broken spokes ! After interrogating the other EFI contenders suspecting that there may have been some foul play afoot i spoke to our tour leader who suggested that with a true wheel and some good roads ahead I'd probably make the days destination without having to become a uni cyclist!
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| The mornings brief ! |
The day starred like normal, sunny, Henley still on the bike (even if others were fast succumbing to his germs) and climbs seemingly around every bloody corner !
Our regroup phase 25kms down the road was a little more eventful than others after Kirk readjusting his pick up sensor, failed to see the direction that our group took at a cross road and started his own little private adventure tour of Albania. Found and back in tow with us and after our customary coffee and coke stop, we continued on to lunch joining a pretty busy main road that at least came with a damned good verge.
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| Kirk has gone missing ! |
Our experience with Albanian drivers has been mainly positive but the worrying sign for all of us has been the hundreds of roadside memorials that litter the country indicating that Albania's short lived freedom has not translated itself into safe driving on road.
With a stop for lunch and another opportunity for Henley to acquaint himself with his mortal enemy (cucumber!) we took off on the main road again this time with a strong tailwind that helped us quickly knock off the remaining kms averaging 30-35kms an hour.
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| Henley & Cucumber ! |
Our last climb for the day was a steep 2kms into the old township of Gjirokaster a UNESCO listed township and the birthplace of Albania's former reviled communist leader.
Our rest period of 45 minutes was taken up by having a shower and working out how to use the hotels door key before we went out on an interesting walking tour of the town including its immense castle (complete with military exhibits) requiring of course more bloody climbing this time up hundreds of steps but at least with its fair share of views !
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| Tour time |
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Lovely Gjirokaster |
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| Castle of Borshi |
From here we staggered to a nearby open air roof top bar decked out in Albanian scarves and the like supplied by our super friendly and soccer mad driver Juli to cheer on the Albanian team in their world cup march against neighbours Macedonia. !
Sadly for us and Juli, Albania could only draw 1-1 although it did at least allow Henley to do a war dance when Albania scored first !
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| Cheering Albania on ! |
With the match ending we dragged our way back to our hotel with the prospect of another dead mans sleep ahead before getting up 7.30 a.m. to do it all over again !!
Sent from Samsung tablet
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