6 October Koman – Fierzë - Hotel at Dardhe

Host Klodian prepares my breakfast and makes absolutely sure my bicycle and luggage is safely secured on board of this peculiar ferry. It is a basic metal boat with on top the welded frame of a bus, plus the diesel engine of the bus. The steering and gas-pedal have stayed like if it were a bus.

host Klodian

 










On board there are some tourists, but mostly local people and of course the mail and all kinds of luggage. I meet with a French family, the two Germans and an 87 and 85-year old English couple who are accompanied by an Albanian tour-guide. He ‘s taking care of them, their hotels, food and travel. What a spirit to undertake these kind of trips at this age!


http://youtu.be/esIxwtQYy94

Every now and then the ferry makes a quick landing to let some local people off and take on some children, who must be on their way to school. Today is Sunday and they will be away for the week from their parents. The mountains are pure grey rock at the top and from the shores up covered by woods. These are the remote parts of beautiful Albania. This is a trip I will not easily forget. This boat is local ‘public’ transport, for some people who live on a 2 hour mountainous walk from the shores of the lake, somewhere high up there. The range is around 2000 meters high and once they set off on their ascend you can’t see them anymore after 10 meters.

At the next damn, we arrive in Fierzë, where the two real big car ferries lay ashore as stranded whales, rusting away.They used to transport many Kosovo cars, but since recently the new highway opened, these ferries went out of business.

I begin my bike trip at 12.15 not knowing yet what I am up to. Google maps and my paper map are just not good enough. I decide to eat first and at one p.m., I eat the best trout ever, grilled in the skin, accompanied by some fried potatoes and a sour salad. A good decision, because only 15 kilometers further and 600 meters higher, there is the first local bar.

Refreshed, I go for what I think will be a two-hour climb and 30 kilometers. I plan to arrive at 3 p.m. What a mistake that proofs to be! These are the heaviest 30 kilometers I've ever biked. Ascends very regular of 10% and then cutting back into the mountain 90 degrees, with some descend to cross a small river from a valley and turning 90 degrees at the bridge and climbing again. And this not once, not twice but at least 10 times. After asking several times how far my hotel is still away, I receive different answers. I am feeling insecure and am loosing my strength.

Giving in is something I don’t easily do, but at half past three and feeling exhausted, I flag down a Mercedes minibus. The man tells me that it’s another 9 kilometers to my designated hotel. I give in and ask him to drive me there. It costs me, but I am proud I made this conscious decision. As a 55 year old the mountains have beaten me, but God the ride was fabulous and made an impression! I will never forget it, as I won’t the rest of the day.

The hotel has Internet, food and a room and the prize is reasonable. I realize that after four tough days, for my relatively un-trained status, my body is short of energy. Salads, potatoes and meat are not giving me enough carbohydrates. My gluten deficiency does not help, because I can’t eat their bread. So after thinking this over, I am asking them to prepare me just bowls of rice, with some goat cheese and honey. I decide to have this for breakfast as well and will insist on repeating this. One can only come to the full appreciation of riders in the Tour de France after this experience. The amount of energy they burn during a day is so large, that you just can’t eat enough to meet the begin level. So it’s no wonder some riders loose 5 or more kilograms of body weight during the three weeks the Tour lasts.

The locals all go to bed early and I do too.
A rough estimation of this day is that I biked 30 kilometers, ended at 900 meters, coming from 150 and with all the ascending and descending the number of meters climbed must be somewhere around 1800. After realizing this, I collapse and at nine p.m. I am sound asleep.