Ballsh to Memaliaj

As we continued into the hills although the going was hard the scenery dramatically improved. Gone were the heaps of rubbish and rusting oil fields. In their place were stunning hills and wide gravelled river beds, empty in the summer drought. The terrain began to become more remote and the horizon was no longer dotted with concrete shanties. Mid morning we encountered a Czech cycle tourist slumbering beneath a tree. We woke him to share fruit and tales of the road performed in a mixture of bad mime, German, English and lukes only two words of Czech. Our rest break over we packed up to leave and realised to Callie's dismay that he intended to accompany us up the hill. She needn't have worried as his enormous collection of panniers, rucksacs and bags strapped to his bike must've weighed even more than Luke's luggage and slowed him down so that she could easily kick his ass up hill. His whole mismatched ensemble had the aura of bag lady about it and the fact that it threatened to topple at any moment also reduced his speed. Our superiour bikes and suspension also enabled us to take the potholes and ruts in the road much faster than him. After an afternoon of riding with us the poor bloke seemed shattered, and he looked very relieved when we stopped for a well earnt drink and a bowl of chunky lamb soup.
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Total Distance Cycled : 4273km
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Daily Distance Cycled : 52km
Ascent : 530m
Time Cycling : 4h 03
Journey Time : 7h 10
Average Speed : 12.7 km/h
Hotel : N 40°20'58.2" E 19°58'28.6"
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