After breakfast we walk to the center for a second intent of getting a bike. This time we have found a place on the internet that has a review from two days ago, so the probability of it actually existing is high. And indeed, it exists and after calling the number a young guy shows up to give us two bikes from an underground parking lot. After asking three times and some waiting we even get a lock for them.  The bikes are very crappy. The changes don’t work or work unwillingly, the sizes don’t fit us and the saddles hang backwards. The quality of the lock is so good that…

We get up around 8 and I still feel destroyed but we are leaving Shkoder today. After breakfast at the hotel we walk to the center where the busses to Tirana stop and get into one of them. The drive is hot and very slow. The road connecting Tirana with the north seems to be completely blocked with cars. After three hours we arrive in Tirana and get into another bus that would take us further south and to the coast. The bus to Vlorë finally leaves the station at 1:30 and has no air-conditioning or maybe it’s just very weak. We sit in the front row and get a…

In fear of the long hike from Vusanje back to Theth, we had organized the same transfer in the morning as all the others from the groups. It would take us in Jeeps around 6 km into the mountains and save a few hundred meters of altitude gain. Partly because of sparse space and partly because of fun, half of us have to ride in the back of the pickups which is mildly bumpy on the dirt roads but also lots of fun. Half way there, we stop to see another blue eye. It is a little smaller than the one we saw in Nyderlyse and there is no waterfall…

It seems like the better I sleep, the more tired I am in the morning. I sleep well tonight and stand up for breakfast at 7:15. This is the second time we’re staying in the same place for two nights. Today we get a transfer to Grebaja valley from where we will do a relatively short round trail and be back in the afternoon. The drive is not longer than 20 minutes and we pay the same entrance fee for the national park as yesterday (this is Montenegro, so everything seems more organized).Grebaja valley was supposedly the most beautiful valley in Tito’s Yugoslavia. Today it’s in Montenegro and the moon-shaped…

After a relaxing night with soothing background river-sounds, we get breakfast at 7:30 and take off shortly after 8. The breakfast is impressive and this place’s service keeps being amazing. We get 3 baked eggs each, two baked peppers, plum Marmelade, cheese and meat. For the lunch packs there is salami, apples, bananas, cucumbers, tomatoes and more eggs. We are skipping the piece of the trail that would have been next and a bit of the next one so the guesthouse owner drives us in a 4×4 minibus towards Plav and further up into the mountains. Plav is a real village and we are overwhelmed by so much civilization, but…

I had slept pretty well even with the incredible cold that had obliged me to cover even my head under the blanket. It’s time to move on.The usual procedure starts and we are ready around 8. Time to say goodbye. To Manuela, who goes on towards Milisevc (also my original plan) and to my mum, who will stay here for another day and then get a car ride to the valley and from there take a ferry and another ride back to Shkoder. The weather is nice and sunny and we climb the hill right next to the guesthouse through the blueberry mountains (in German: Heidelbeerge. Haha). With some wayfinding…

When we wake up after a cold night in the hut, it is still foggy. There are gaps between the logs of the construction and the cold mountain air had been coming in but it feels more or less dry. I don’t really want to stand up (but do anyway of course). The fire is already burning, the shoes are half dry from yesterday’s fire action and most of our stuff can stay here today as we are coming back in the evening. Today we are supposed to climb Gjeravica peak, the highest mountain in Kosovo. My mum’s ankle is still swollen and hurts but she refuses to get a…

We manage to start at 8 again and leave the group behind in the Guesthouse. The weather had been supposed to be rainy but until now it’s mildly cloudy with a perfect temperature for climbing the hill. The path follows a dirt road out of the village for almost 5 km and the elevation is moderate and steady so we do much better than yesterday. As the path leaves the road and starts climbing through a nice forest we are great in time. Lots of raspberries and especially blueberries along the path that can be picked and eaten while walking make the time pass quickly and make up for the…

Today we are extra smart and start at 8, before everyone else, to avoid the big groups. And it works out. Until 1 pm we see no other humans. The first part takes us through the rest of Valbonë along the road. This village is a pretty good preview of what Albania has planned for the next years. There are many completely new houses in the style of swiss alpine architecture, huts like in center parks and it is very clear that they are preparing for the big touristic boom, which is undoubtedly coming. The only thing missing for the big plan is their capability of dealing with waste. There…

The plan had been to start the day early in order to avoid the big heat and have enough time for the 12/14/16/19 km, but of course we don’t succeed with that. We set off late after breakfast shortly past 9 and walk through the village of Thethi until the beginning of today’s trail. At that point I realize that I had forgotten my food in the hostel and have to walk the 1,5 km back. I get my food and a ride back by some Albanian guys I stop on the road but this way we start the actual hike around 10:30. Today’s elevation profile is very straight forward:…