Sarandë To Himarë Day 8 Cycle Albania

Sunset at Himarë Beach

Sitting on our balcony with a beer and some Albanian mixed nuts, looking across to the beach where we have just had a swim and chilled. Lovely afternoon. The public beach had lots of sun loungers with rattan shade awnings, all free, and a couple of bars. Everyone very relaxed. The beach is pebbled and glad we had our swim shoes. The sea felt cool at first but very refreshing and as the beach banks steeply down we did not have to go far to tread water. Unlike yesterday the wind is very light and the swell was comfortable to bob about in.

Our ride today was quite hilly lots of ups and downs. Riding predominantly along the coast but with one (initial) long climb on the landward aspect of the ridges leading down to the sea. That was nice as we rode though old olive groves, saw some cows munching on the leaves and young olives – illustrates how dry it is as am sure they would prefer succulent green grass. Not in much supply here at this time of year!

Key memories of today,

Lots of traffic as we rode (uphill) out of Sarandë. Not my favourite part of the ride but we are in the Albanian Rivera and we have been spoilt with county roads free of traffic.

A restaurant that had harnessed the natural spring at into cascading pools in their back yard. It would have been nice to stop there for a coffee rather than just traipsing in to take photos and out again without giving them any custom!

A much needed coffee at the top of our first hill. I thought we had time as the Albanian Angels (our US non e-bike contingent) had a big hard ride up the hill without power. As it was after chatting to the (Greek) cafe owner for a bit and getting my coffee it was nearly time to go.

Giving a hug to Andy at our ‘real’ coffee stop. I haven’t had the cash on me at our previous stop to pay for our coffee so he lent Mike the funds. This was the favour he asked for. Lovely man.

Repeatedly passing a group of road cyclists, we were nearly on first name terms with them by the end of the cycle. They definitely had a much harder ride than us.
Seeing a Shepard grazing his goats on the side of the road. They were well spread out and as we were descending round steep hairpins I was quite cautious in case a car coming the other way swerved to avoid one.
Great views from the balcony at our first coffee stop. Very rustic, charming. A mussel farm in the distance.
Taking off my, bike shirt and wetting it under a fountain along with my arm protectors at our next regroup to try and keep the chilled feeling going. It worked!
Cycling down into the bay where we had lunch. It was the site for the ex Albanian submarine fleet. Saw one place where a sea tunnel disappeared into the cliffs. Looked like a place where the subs entered into the protection of the natural headland.

All in all quite a nice tough day especially with the heat. However we both felt strong and having the climbs interspersed with sweeping, and in some places technical descents, broke it up and I enjoyed the ride even though I got very hot. The story of this week!

One final note the beach resort we are staying at tonight has a really relaxed laid back vibe. A nice place to come. So many places on the coast are over developed, restricted access to the beach and not calm places at all. This is totally opposite and after 8 days of cycling it is nice to have some time to relax and unwind here ahead of our last day which promises to be the hardest of the week.

See opposite for a screen show of our ride.

See below for a video of our ride. Note to see the full controls click on the < control on the progress bar. This will allow you to watch the video full screen.