Day 8 – Wednesday, August 13, 2025

I left a bit after 7 am and did a final round in downtown, even visiting the hotel I had stayed in 2012 – not only out of nostalgia, I wanted to know if there was a better road towards the south than the busy one I had ridden on back then. They were not sure – so I started riding out of town. The morning traffic within Shkoder was not bad, but as soon as I left town, I got into a huge traffic jam, with construction going on on a bridge. Poor car drivers – they were stuck for at least 30 minutes, the line hardly making any progress. There was a castle outside town I did not visit back then, neither now, but I took some nice shots of it.

Castle at Shkoder

Luckily, the traffic situation stabilized itself and it was an OK road for a while – nothing all too exciting. After a couple dozen kilometers, nearing Lezhe, the road got crowded again, with more construction going on and traffic from all directions showing “red” on Google Maps. Not for bikers – I could whizz past the queue. I got onto a roundabout, serving as a fork in the road. Lezhe is home to the monument of Iskanderbej, the famous Albanian ruler; as I had seen that before, I decided to skip it for now..

My plan was to bypass Tirana (also been there) and ride through the mountains – but I had no information about these whatsoever. I did spot a road heading south, but it was still quite far and a challenge to reach.

In the busy (and jammed) town of Lezhe, I bought some fruits and plenty of water and set off on a small road towards Milot. It was quite busy and narrow for a while, but the further I got out of town, the less the traffic became. The road ended in a bridge over River Mat that was closed – at least for cars. I was pretty sure I could cross it by bike – and I was right. In Milot, I merged onto a rather busy, but very wide road, the A1, apparently called the “Highway of the Nation.” Well, the section I was on was just a regular road, not a highway, lots of cars, but we did not bother each other. In addition, I was on this road for only 7 kilometers (back when I was riding, it felt longer).

Anyhow, I got to a petrol station just before a junction and told the attendants, “Hey, I am a flower that is about to wither.” There was general laughter and disbelief, but I really wanted to be sprayed with fresh (or maybe not so fresh) water. It was a great feeling, and I felt energized afterwards. I chatted with the young girl tending the station; she had never been outside Albania and was eager to hear some of my stories.

I veered off in the direction of Burrel, heading southeast, not really knowing what was ahead – and somewhat wary of the road, as a dozen years ago I had trouble with the remote (and not-so-remote) roads.

“Back to US, back to US, back to USSR” – “Back to aha, back to aha, back to Albania, you don’t know how lucky you are” – I could paraphrase the Beatles song, even though this does not rhyme, but whatever. It was an amazing road, near the top of the nicest ones on this route, following River Mat and the shores of Lake Shkopet. If you want to experience some unspoilt nature in the midst of the Balkans, I can really recommend it.

It was like arriving to another universe altogether. There was hardly any traffic on this road (SH6 is the name), and the views were amazing. I wanted to bathe at the beginning of the road but decided to do that later. I rode some 10 kilometers; it was slightly uphill, but not a tough ride. I found a restaurant next to the river, changed in the bushes, and had an amazing swim.

A wonderful swim

Later, I spotted a really cool wooden hanging bridge.

A cool hanging bridge

At one point, the canyon took a turn along with the road, and then there was a small descent. Then came a brutal climb. It was around 3 pm, the sun was burning me, but what else was there to do but push on? Memories of 2012 came back, when I found quite a few turtles on the road – out of courtesy, I placed them to the side of the road, not to be hit by cars. I recall that one turtle in 2012 that peed on me – I learned out of this and held their sides carefully.

One of the few turtles I had encountered zig-zagging the road

I was now in central Albania, with some high, barren mountains on the horizon and green forests mixed with grassland nearby. The settlements looked relatively new and prosperous. Then came another smaller gorge, with a river trickling below, hardly any water. A guy was laying on the side of the road, in a mixture of languages he greeted me, wanting to present me with small fishes he had caught. I thanked him, saying I do not eat fish. He introduced himself as Muhammad.

Not a lot of water in this river

I reached the town of Burrel around 6:30 pm. A guy greeted me in perfect English and asked if I was with the race. “What race?” I asked. “Ah, there is a group of bikers heading from Spain to Romania.” So I definitely was not the only (crazy) biker.

The town was not the prettiest, with “socreal” architecture (Socialist Realism), and it used to be a mining town. It has a famous native, King Zog, the first king of the Albanians, who ruled in the twenties and thirties. Behind the main square was a park with children playing and adults loitering around. At a local restaurant, I ordered a cevapi to go, as it was getting late.

An architecture typical of communism

There were signs proclaiming a campground would be 10 kilometers away. Most of this was a nice descent, then a more or less flat road. Towards the west, with a view of the setting sun, I saw something really weird on top of a hill. I could not decide whether it was a water container, a launch site for space shuttles, or maybe some aliens had landed? I took quite a few pictures and decided to research it later.

Copilot told me: “Ah, I know exactly what you're referring to — it’s the Maja e Gropa Monument. This striking structure near Burrel, Albania, looks uncannily like a landed alien spacecraft [author's comment: yes, indeed, I can attest to that], thanks to its massive, dome-shaped design and remote mountain setting. It was built during Albania’s communist period as part of the country’s military surveillance infrastructure. It is now abandoned, but its eerie, futuristic appearance has made it a favorite among urban explorers and photographers.”

A relic from the cold-war era - well done, you engineers, good job at making it look futuristic

Not long thereafter – without aliens abducting me – I reached the campground after a short but hard climb. It was mostly empty. There was a solitary German motorbiker and three Czech tourists – that was it. Not even the caretakers were there. It was getting dark, so I pitched my tent at the foot of the bell tower – yes, there was a church within the premises. I finished the cevapi, which was actually quite good; the only thing missing was bread, they must have misunderstood my order. A hungry cat was rather glad to get a small piece of my meat.

The caretakers arrived, and I introduced myself. They asked if I would celebrate with them, as it was the owner's birthday. I got a really good homemade cake (and was not shy enough to ask for a second serving). We chatted in English, together with the elderly couple from Holland, who had been friends of the family for about ten years.

I took a nice shower, then went to sleep.

I made pretty much 100 kilometers this day, with an ascent of 1,128 meters.