Albania - 2 weeks, 2 up.

Pacific

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I shipped the bike out to Bulgaria in August last year and then spent two weeks exploring Albania with my wife on the GS.

I'd highly recommend Albania as a riding destination.
The people are friendly, the food is good, the weather was perfect for us and the views are spectacular.
It's also cheap once you get there.

I made a couple of videos of the trip:

Part 1: Sofia - Skopje - Ohrid - Gjirocaster - Ksamil

Part 2: Ksamil - Sarandë - Vlorë - Skhoder.

Cheers

Mark
 
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Who did you ship bike with? And what was the cost if you mind sharing. Thanks :)
 
Very good Mark.

Completely agree about Albania, fabulous place, a bit different and very cheap once you're there.

The coast road to Vlore-Sarande is quite something.

Heading there again this summer :thumb
 
Who did you ship bike with? And what was the cost if you mind sharing. Thanks :)

I used www.bulgariabikeshipping.com - their UK depot is near Preston. Cost was £400 each way. So not cheap. But probably a similar cost to riding if you factor in accommodation, fuel and food etc for two.
Return flights Manchester to Sofia were just over £100 each.

It enabled us to spend the full two weeks in Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Interesting ! Looks very scenic :thumb2 I rode down to Ancona and ferried to the Peloponese at the south end of Greece last year and bits of that look similar :thumb2
Q if I may ? How did you folks fare language wise ?
 
Enjoyed that and given me some food for thought for a future trip.....thanks for sharing!
 
Interesting ! Looks very scenic :thumb2 I rode down to Ancona and ferried to the Peloponese at the south end of Greece last year and bits of that look similar :thumb2
Q if I may ? How did you folks fare language wise ?

Pretty much everyone in the towns and cities spoke really good English including most of the filling station attendants.
Many also speak German and Italian. So no issues at all with language.

Mark
 
Thanks :thumb2
What temperatures were you folks looking at while you were there?
 
Thanks :thumb2
What temperatures were you folks looking at while you were there?

Typically around 30 degrees during the day. Max we had was 36 from memory, down to 18-20 at night. Pretty good for riding during the day.
We only had one day of rain, which was the second day of the trip leaving Skopje, Macedonia.
 
Enjoyed those 2 thanks. Great accompanying tracks too (or top choons as the kids would have it)
 
Enjoyed those 2 thanks. Great accompanying tracks too (or top choons as the kids would have it) - Thanks Mongoose!

Taff - I used iMovie on iMac. I'm working on part 3 using Luma Fusion on an ipad, so I can can do it mobile in future.
 
Theth

Part 3: Skhoder to Theth.

This was one of the highlights of trip for me, but I wouldn’t recommend it 2up. It’s only about 70kms and Google maps suggests that it should take 4.5 hours. But 2.5 hours in, we still had 4 hrs to go.

There are long 1st gear climbs, with some tight and steep hairpins to negotiate. The suspension on the bike worked really well considering the load. I had the ESA preload set to max/double mountain and the compression damping set to soft. This limited our speed, going faster risked bottoming-out the rear shock, but stiffening the damping risked seat-bouncing my precious rear cargo and some serious ear ache over the intercom. And there are only so many times you can say ‘hang on there’s a bumpy bit coming’!

Anyway, it’s a fantastic road and well worth the effort.

I hope you enjoy the video: https://youtu.be/2VkGfFxDW4A

Mark
 
Another GSer punching above his weight in the wife stakes :D

Nice videos Mark, particularly liked the fact that that your wife operated / controlled the camera rather than having the same view from your helmet or handlebars for the entire journey. And the road bits were mercifully brief with frequent changes. Way to go :thumb

I've ridden in Romania & Bulgaria before, enroute to Turkey, but I'm thinking I'd like to include Albania too next time. Doesn't look nearly as 'backward' as we're led to believe. Imagine that :rob

But I am surprised your wife put up with those 70km to Theth :clap
 
Albania is a fantastic place to travel - highly recommended ;)

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