OK, a little more of an update on what we've been up to. We reached Athens, capital of Greece, towards the end of January. We met up with some friends who, conveniently, have a yacht. We went sailing with them for a couple of weeks. A nice little diversion and a break from cycling in the cold.
Moored up at Ermoupolis, Syros.
At a random bay off Kea in the northern Cyclades Islands
Then we cycled away from Athens, across the Corinth Canal to the west coast. Really beautiful once we were away from the built up areas, and finally some much warmer weather.
Very windy, near Corinth
Big suspension bridge near Patra
Lazy morning in the sunshine after camping in an empty beach bar
Last night in Greece, camping on the beach north of Igoumenitsa
Then into Albania. It's a beautiful country, but amazing how it's like stepping back in time, or back to Central Asia. No doubt it's developing quickly, but it feels a long way from western Europe. I like it a lot here. Our first couple of days along the coast were similar to the Greek coast, then we started climbing and heading slightly inland. Not massively high mountains, but up to over 1,000m from sea level.
Between Sarande and Vlore
Up to the snowline. Our bad luck, we climbed this pass on one of the only days we've cycled in the rain for a long time!
Some very rural roads and quite poor towns slightly further north. It's clearly one of the least developed countries in this part of the world.
We're into Tirana now, the capital, where we'll stay for a few days. It's got that fast developing, cosmopolitan feel of central Asian cities like Almaty or Baku, while still being quite rough around the edges. Old men in flat caps on rusty bikes riding past brand new Mercedes SUVs driven by twenty-somethings in wrap-around shades.
Complete change next week - ferry over to Bari in Italy.