April 26, 2023
Day 70: Elbasan to Prrenjas
First rainy day
“RidewithGPS takes us on a couple of these side roads that I don’t think we need to do,” Patrick points out on the map. We decide to just stay on the main road. “It’s nice not to have to stop and continually check the navigation,” he adds. Looking at the threatening skies we put our heads down and cycle the flat hill. The elevation gain today is almost a thousand meters.
A thunderstorm came through at night and it poured, when we wake it is still raining softly. We dress in our raingear and waterproof socks: gear that we have carried for 10 weeks and not needed before now. The hostel owner agreed to have breakfast for us at 7:30 instead of the posted 8-10am time. As we sit at the table, we watch hens with baby chicks pecking in the grass; she brings us a plate of food. She indicates: fresh eggs, the bread she made herself. Andres, the German cyclist also comes out for breakfast. He too is setting off today in our direction and while we ride out first we expect him to catch up with us soon.
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The road is only two lanes and seems to serve as a main trucking route. Traffic is heavy but for the most part we are given plenty of space. A nuisance is a 6” wide trench that was dug through the asphalt about 18” from the edge of the road. Probably for a cable. The paving repair was done sloppily, it is either way proud of the pavement, or has already fallen apart leaving a nasty groove that could easily grab your front wheel and throw you off balance. We constantly have to decide to try and ride on the 18” left on to the road edge and deal with the gravel and debris, or ride further in the road and slow down traffic.
Andres catches up with us and goes on ahead. Then the graupel starts and heavy rain for about 10 minutes. We catch up with Andres as he is putting on his raingear. We pass him again and will not see him again.
The Shkumbin river is raging and brown as we continue cycling upstream. The rain lets up. Patrick debates whether to take his rain pants off, “I hate cycling in them,” he says, “but I don’t want to jinx us.” At about 16km we stop at a café for coffee and eat the left over cookies from the Durres breakfast.
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We have intended to check-out a hotel just past the town of Prrenjas, but as we ride through the center we see a new looking hotel building. Patrick goes in to check on the price and is shown a 20 euro room on the rear of the building where we can roll the bikes right it. No stairs or elevator tonight. We decide to go no further.
After we quickly deposit our gear in the room we walk back to a restaurant to eat lunch. We are cold and starving. The restaurant has only one meal on offer, but it is a nice beef stew with mashed potatoes and bread. Together with a beer it takes the edge off. A hot shower does the rest.
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For dinner, we walk to a restaurant Patrick has researched. As the evening passes, we hear the call to prayer once again.
Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 2,489 km (1,546 miles)
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