Albania 2025: Mountains & River Beds

I'm back in Britain again after some 11 days of riding. Most of the riding was across the mountains of Albania, with an added 1800 mile ride back to the UK as a bonus.

After driving two bikes down through various countries in Europe in a van, which took a gruelling 30+ hours. We arrived in Tirane around 9pm at night. We stayed in a hotel there for the night, then did some stuff like SIM card purchases, cash runs and some basic shopping. Then it was off to Gramsh to sort out somewhere to stay for a couple of days to get our bearings. 

Gramsh is a small town in a roughly central part of the country. It's a very active place with up and coming tourism and plenty of local night life. During the day, old men play checkers in the park, there is a market place and people wander around swapping local gossip all day long. At night, the main street becomes a sort of walkway. Everyone seems to do loops up and down the main street. Stopping to chat to each other, parade around as young girls or lads chaperoned by families, all doing the same thing. It's entertaining to watch the byplay of characters, whilst sitting with a beer. We made up all kinds of stories and dreamed up loads of questions as to the why this, that or the other. 

Riding day 1 was an attempt to get to the summit of Mount Tomorri, 2384m, however, we ended up getting to the base around 2pm after traversing a lot of hillside trails and small hamlets on the western side of the Devoll River and the Sotira waterfall. I'd had problems at a cash point early in the morning and needed to visit the bank before it closed, so decided to head back to Gramsh to sort this. We rode back down the river bed for a couple of hours as it was the shorter route, but it was rough in parts and the route was a "make it up as you go" type. Good fun though.

The staff at the bank were great, really helpful and my problem was sorted with a cancelled transaction and the money returned to my account later that week. Dinner that night was excellent in a local restaurant called Taverna Beni. 3500 Lek or 35€ for two course each. Huge portions and so tasty!

Riding Day 2 took us over the mountains to the south east of Gramsh. We followed a GPX route which I'd found on Wikiloc. It started out on wide gravel roads, then after a detour around some major road works installing a new water pipe, we ended up on the summit of a peak, before dropping over some vague trails into the next valley. That valley took us up and over again to the five lakes of the Valamara area. Some of this was rough ground, but the trails were obvious to follow. Once back to tarmac, we needed fuel, so the nearest was in a small village Lozhan. The old lady here was lovely, her daughter was an English teacher, so we ended up with a translator and also coffee. The ride back was through a thunder and lightning storm, which was pretty impressive. Some very heavy rain that turned the roads into mini rivers. 

Riding Day 3 saw us with panniers on the bikes for the first time this trip. We headed back towards Tomorri. We found that the TET route took us to the base of the mountain via gravel roads and the river bed again, so this saved us some time. At Gjerbes, we had ice cream and a drink before following dirt trails to the top of Tomorri. 

At the top, the view was fantastic. 360 degrees of mountain and valleys in every direction. There is a monument to the Bektashi religion there. A guy called Abbas Ali was supposed to be entombed there and it had become a pilgimage site, where sheep were slaughtered in their droves in some form of honorific rite. People burned candles at the base of the mausoleum there and a guardian kept an eye on the place, living out the back of his trusty Land Rover.

Our descent, was straight down the hillside instead of on the dirt road. It was pretty rough, with plenty of long grass, hiding lines of limestone bedrock, and a limestone quarry at the bottom to traverse. Once back on the sealed road, the temperature in the valleys climbed much higher. We found a very bouldery, bouncy road down into Polican. Another fuel stop, then it was over to Dardes Reservoirs and a wild camp at a picnic spot, where some goats came for a visit that night.

Riding Day 4 saw us stopping at the reservoirs for photos, before breakfast at a great little cafe, where we met and had a good chat with an Austrian lady who had been touring Albania for around 18 years. Breakfast was a bread dish, made with butter and some side cheese and a boiled egg. Once back in the valley, we found more fuel, then literally bounced up a river bed to an old 1990's war time political prison site. That was an uncanny place, like something out of an old film. From there we headed up to Holta Hot Springs and canyon. Thee is a campsite there which we used for the night. Great food and a load of Czech riders to talk to. 

Riding Day 5 saw me heading north to Lake Shkoder for an exploration of the lake shore. What a fantastic place. Some truly beautiful parts of this lake, that is split by the borders of Albania and Montenegro. I toured more of the southern side, where I found a place that was truly magical. A ruined fishing hamlet, where one house was being restored. So peaceful and the views were stunning. I met a French guy at a viewpoint called JC, (Jean-Christophe). He was riding an old BMW GS1100. One million miles on the clock. Three engines, two gearboxes and multiple other replacements and still running around the world. We shared 20 mins of chat and philosophy of biking around the world and then went our separate ways. 

Riding Day 6 took me through Montenegro and into Croatia, mostly on tarmac, but with the odd detour into the hills and surrounding coastal dirt roads. The coastline was pretty busy, lots of fast traffic, which the 50 mph limit I put on the 450 engine gave me some heart stopping moments avoiding crazy drivers. My tyre and mousses were looking a bit haggard by now. They weren't new when I arrived in Albania, so I was pushing my luck with the type of riding I was doing now, and with full luggage. Hey ho... 

Wild camps were fairly easy to find, so I just kept riding and filling up with fuel. 125 mile range means plenty of stops, which is a good thing when you have a truly awful enduro saddle which has virtually no foam on the tail piece where I tended to sit a lot! Side saddle technique ruled this ride!

Riding Day 7 saw me continuing on the long coastal roads of Croatia. The northern section is beautiful. Really good tarmac, perfect bends and almost no traffic. Every now and then, it was off the mainland and onto an island, using some very magnificent bridges. That stark contrast of blue sky, white limestone and blue/green Adriatic was mesmerising. I stayed on a campsite that night. Time for a shower and a beer. I met up with a German guy from Bavaria with his Toyota 4x4. He was in his mid sixties at a guess and what a character. He offered me a cold beer and we sat by the sea watching the sunset and swapping travel stories. His wife popped over for five minutes, but soon left again. Harry, pointed me at several places in the Italian Alps for both passes, dirt roads and great pizza. 

Riding Day 8 saw me pass through Slovenia and into Italy. I was more seriously hunting for tyres now. I still had about 3mm of rubber left of the rear tyre and the mousses seemed to be holding up, despite both the miles and the heat. The mountains of Slovenia, saw me putting on extra layers for the first time and once past Udine in Italy, I encountered a heavy thunder storm that soaked me completely. I rode several Alpine Passes that day. My favourite was the Pass of the Lost. I rode it both ways, it was such good fun plus I had a detour up into the trees for the dirt version Harry had told me about. I found it, but it was pretty steep and overgrown and alone, with a lot of luggage and virtually bald tyres, I decided to play it safe for once! I camped in a posh campsite that night. Ate a great pizza, drank some lovely red wine and had a chat with two older German bikers who took the mick out of my little tent asking if it was a Harry Potter version, so much bigger on the inside than outside!

Riding Day 9 didn't start too well. There was no one at reception to pay for the camping and they had my driving license. I waited half an hour, texted the mobile number and eventually a gardener said no one would be there until 9am, some 3 hours later. So, I left them a message to say contact me to sort payment and headed off. I now need to replace my driving license which is the same price as the camp fees! I tried multiple bike shops for tyres en route today, with no joy. The earliest I could get some was three days, the longest was two weeks. So I just kept riding. Several more Alpine Passes and a random train ride in Switzerland which was totally unplanned and a bit surreal. 

I took a wrong turn misreading the twat nav. This took me through an electric barrier gate that closed behind me. The lady at the pay booth said "good morning" and asked me for 21€. I paid by card, slightly confused and thinking I had just entered a toll tunnel or something. In the vehicle queue, I still had no idea where I was going or what was happening. On the wall though, was loads of quotes in multiple languages. The English version is very apt these days I thought!

Then next up, the cars started moving forward and a guy stopped me and issued a load of instructions in Swiss German. Seeing my confused face, he looked at my number plate and then repeated in English.
"Stay on your bike, put both feet on the ground and hold the front brake". We then drove onto the train! 

I got childishly excited here. I'd never been on a train on my bike before. Let alone an alpine one going to some place I knew not. This was gonna be fun! After a few minutes, the train set off. A sudden judder, some shaking around and we were off. My initial thoughts were " oh shit, what have I done!" The first sudden jerk, threw me and the bike sideways. I caught both myself and the bike, which was lucky. Then it all went dark and the train picked up speed, hurtling downhill with the odd flashing wall mounted light the only illumination as we went. Some twenty minutes of descent, a change in air temperature and a steady slowing down alerted me to the fact we had arrived somewhere. Then it was unload time and figure out where the hell I was. I was near Landquart, we had descended from Klosters, just north of Davos apparently. 

Switzerland has no dirt biking to speak of, so no chance of tyres. So aiming for France I set off again. My route took me through Lechtenstein and towards Freiburg, then onto Nancy. I camped in a field and had many fruitless stops at bike shops again. Still, fresh Pain au Raisin, hot coffee, french beauties and rolling countryside made up for the dearth of tyres and eased any worries. 

Riding Day 10 saw me traversing northern France. I love this part of that country. Aiming for Calais, I rode through quiet villages, vast fields and WW1 war memorials. With coach loads of veterans paying homage to the fallen. A sad sight of thousands of graves, but somehow also uplifting with people showing their humility and respect for these fallen souls.

In one part of my mind though, the graves and memorials are really a reminder of the stupidity of the human race. Pointless arguments and egos that cost over a million people their lives, yet we seem doomed to repeat the same errors again, both in 1939 and now, with how the world is currently trending.

At one point, I came across a line of cars stopped in the road. Three dogs were running around, with a guy trying to catch one of them. It turns out they were strays and the beautiful chocolate Labrador had been clipped by a vehicle. The two Corgi like dogs, were soon caught and popped into the back of a van. A council guy had his hazards on and was making calls to alert the local police/dog catcher etc. A lady got out of her car to try to help the guy catching dogs. No one seemed able to catch the Lab as she tried to nip anybody who went near her. I had armoured kit on, so I jumped off my bike and went and knelt at the grass verge. She came over to me and proved to be a beautiful, calm, one year old ish bitch. I fluffed her ears for a bit, calming her, then started to check her over and sure enough, she tried to nip me again and again when I went near her rear right leg. In the end, I managed to pick her up and get her into the council guys van. He and the other van driver took them away and the traffic moved on. Good job I didn't have the Landy, that chocolate Lab would have been in there 'toute suite' and off the vets with me! Such a beautiful, well mannered dog. Made me want a dog again!

So Calais arrived. My tyres needed to do three more hours of riding, then a trailer drive home was calling. The ferry was £77 one way with DFDS. A ferry full of screaming teenagers and absent teachers. I met two British bike lads who were caught in the same storm as me in the Dolomites it seemed. They lived at Lancaster and Darlington. So a similar journey north to get home. 

Once back in Britain. A motorway ride at 50mph saw me back at the Landy and trailer. I then had a truly nightmare drive of 17 hours to get home. Second time this year! 

Yet again. UK Highways closed every major north bound road around Oxford, Birmingham and Derby. The M40, M5, M6, M1. All of the A roads out of the listed cities with almost no detours in place unless they took you into the city centres and the "Clean Air" rip off zones. At one point, around 4am somewhere doing loops around villages in Derbyshire, I was screaming in anger at the utter stupidity of the UK road management system. If I'd have gotten my hands on the planners of that lot, I'd have gone to prison at that point for some sort of horrific murder scenario. What a stupid fecking country the UK has become. How many miles across how many countries, no hassles, no issues, yet here in our 'First World' country, I can't even get home in a sensible time. 

Anyway, now I'm back home, still frustrated, but at least I've slept now. Time to service the 450, which has performed so well with all the stuff it has been asked to do on this trip. Bloody good bikes these KTM EXCf's. Them tyres and mousses showed some awesome lifespan and never missed a beat. 

Albania 2025 - Dirt Bikes and House Hunting

After the trip to Tunisia earlier this year, I called into a mates place near Portsmouth on the way home. Vague plans were talked about to visit Albania with dirt bikes. The main reason was Gareth wanted to go house hunting and also wanted to play in the mountains there. At the time, this was just a chat and I came home, got back into work/life mode and generally forgot about it. 

In April, Gareth & I were talking again and the Albania trip came back up, so a plan was set in place for the last couple of weeks of June. Various options were thrown into the pot, 1. Ride two 690's there and back, 2. Put 690's into Gareth's van, drive there and then ride around. At about the same time, a 2013 KTM 450 Six Days came up for sale not too far from me and at a reasonable price. So I decided to go check it out. 

Why? I have been asking myself the question again as to how I should travel around the world. The options in my head are; KTM 690, KTM 500, Land Rover Defender, Sail boat. All very random and each with their own issues, challenges and pleasures. As part of my options tick box process, I decided to buy the 450, (which has the almost the same engine design as a 500, but there is more of them), and ride it for a bit on a longer trip. This also saved me having to strip down the nav tower off the 690 as it won't fit into Gareth's van with it on. 

So further discussion with Gareth, we eventually settled on taking my 450 & his 300 two stroke to tour around Albania for two weeks in his van, he can then go house hunting and we have some spares to hand and a back up if anything untoward happens. 

Once that was decided, we started looking at Albania itself. I re-read all my blog posts about the trip Lucy & I did back in 2017. This provided a good backdrop and so route planning went into action. Loads of GPX files were downloaded from Wikiloc, online research showed a lot of beautiful places and a vague plan started to come together. We downloaded the latest Trans Euro Trail file and cobbled together a route plan to tour the country. Further discussion outlined Gareth's house hunting criteria and the plan was sorted as much as it can be. 

We booked the ferry to France and got to servicing the bikes and sourcing spares, tyres etc for the trip. As always, the main costs are the transport to the country and the spares for the bikes. Once there, food is cheap, fuel is about the same as the UK and as we plan to wild camp for the most part, so accommodation will be cheap. But it's cheap enough anyway there. 

Our final plan is for me to drive to Gareth's place with my 450, we load both bikes into his van, drive to the France ferry. then share the 24hr driving to Albania. We'll get into the country, find somewhere to park up, sleep, eat, then go biking/house hunting for two weeks, before returning to the UK. 

Whilst we will have access to the van, and thus some riding without the luggage etc. I'd like to trial the idea of living on the 450. I've written another post about the actual bike itself and where things have got to so far. If things don't work out, I've learned something and I can sell on the 450 without too much hassle, especially now it is fully serviced and set up correctly again.

At this stage though, I'm only doing the things needed for the Albania trip. So additional items like a powered Garmin GPS cradle, 5v USB charge point, luggage attachments and some under bar mirrors have been added. For a longer trip though, it'll need a better saddle, the suspension serviced, the headlight replaced, a bigger fuel tank and a small screen/nav set up. All things which have already been done to the 690! 

The main reason for considering a 450 is the weight and ability of these bikes over the 690. Simply put, for the hassle of changing the oil more regularly, I get to travel through more wilder places on the smaller bike because of its set up, durability, weight and its capability. 

These bikes are more rugged than the 690 and less complicated in terms of electrical components. They are also so much easier to pick up and recover. The engine is well proven with several people riding them around the world. Although to be fair, it will require a rebuild at some point which is a significant cost. But now, the 690 is at that stage too with its high mileage and history. 

Hey ho, we'll see. There is still a whole summer to go of distractions, contracts and commitments before I'm forced to make a decision either way.

Going For a Little Ride...

So for many years now, I've been wanting to ride a motorbike around the world. It almost happened a just before Covid, but got put on hold for various reasons, the majority of which were other peoples ideas and plans that I agreed to at the time. It felt right at the time.

I reckon, so far, I've travelled to around 56 countries. Mostly for work, sometimes for fun and others just to tick a box in my head. There are 195 countries in the world apparently, so I'm a third of the way through that list. 

Since 2024, (and the end of the whole world closure because of the very dodgy Covid situation), I've been working towards selling up everything in the UK and finally setting off. I've almost completed all of my contractual obligations at work. I've handed over all of my volunteer roles to others and all I have left to do is decorate the house and choose my mode of transport. My thinking is that my family history shows most of my family passed on around their mid 60's. With modern processed food, (ie full of preservatives that I've been eating for years now), I reckon I might scrape it out until mid 70's ish. So that gives me around 15-20 years left on this little blue ball. I've worked pretty much since I was 12, so a long time. Its time to go have some fun. 

Of course as I write this post, we have an orange twat in the US trying to start a war with Iran/China/Mexico and everyone else in between. We have Klaus Schwab and his multi government cronies trying to lock down the entire world for their personal gain and to satisfy their horrible globalisation ultra control needs and we have the UK being sold off to anybody with a ounce of coin, whilst its society sinks into the mire of radicalism, racism & selfishness. So world stability isn't the greatest and if any of the above come to desired fruition, I've no doubt I'll end up stuck somewhere unplanned and maybe even with restrictive funds, which could seriously hamper having any fun!

Meanwhile, in the land of hopefulness and positivity, (in my head I mean!). I've been researching and making plans. I have a vague route in my mind, which I've committed to map images below, mainly for reference as opposed to reality. I also mapped out the No Go areas in the world at the moment, (Red = No Go, Orange = No roads), and I've been collecting a lot of country by country info into one really big Excel file aptly named 'Overlanding Stuff' (Last count was 67.5GB of data). 

Within that file, I've split the world into continents, then countries. Then for each country file, I've downloaded GPS map images, visa/permit info, places to visit, real time blogs/reports and Facebook based info that is relevant to whatever country. I hope to use some of the many off road routes available o the internet, such as the Trans Euro Trail, the Trans Morocco Trail and whatever I can find.

Sticking points at the moment are the idea of a Carnet de Passage. This is a worldwide vehicle insurance scheme. Its really expensive and only needed for certain countries. Kenya & India are two examples. There are two parts to the insurance. One part is the bond payment, usually a fixed amount and based upon your vehicle value at purchase. This is held by the issuer and you get it back when you shut down the Carnet, provided they haven't had to use it. The other is the cost for each country you add to the Carnet. Now, for Europe and a lot of Africa. You don't need one. You buy third party insurance at the border, which is often worthless, or you do without and travel as carefully as you can. 

Another sticking point is one that has a lot of variables. Which vehicle to take.
My last trip was in my Landrover Defender. This was a deliberate choice. I wanted to see what travelling for a long time in a 4 wheeled vehicle was like as its been a long time since I did that. It's easier than on a bike in a lot of ways, but more expensive at borders etc. (It's the same price for the Carnet as my bikes and the Landy all cost roughly the same amount at purchase). It is also more restrictive as to where you can go, even with a 4x4.

Bikes give you more freedom. That sense of freedom is important to me when travelling. You experience the world first hand. The wind, the temperature, the rain, the smells etc. Its more dangerous and exposed, so it heightens your awareness of your surroundings. Bikes are also easier to fix or get them to somewhere to be fixed. You also carry a lot less kit.

Measured against that thinking is questions about fitness. Riding a bike takes effort. It takes an amount of fitness that you do not need sat in a metal box. Your responses need to be sharper, you need to be mentally stronger, you need more stamina and you need more control over your emotions. Things like navigation, problem solving etc, there are no hiding places to chill and relax whilst you try to sort something out. You can't carry as much food or water and fuel capacity is much smaller. All of which mean you have to stop more often. That leads to interaction with locals. This is both a positive and a negative. But either way, it takes energy. 

So, the final question actually becomes a simple one. Cost vs Practicality. A bike makes absolutely no sense when all the variables are calculated. The positives of a 4 wheeled carriage outweigh the difficulties of a 2 wheeled vehicle every day. 

Yet a bike would still be my choice. That sense of freedom and the effort required are some of the reasons why I want to do it that way. My innate stubbornness, the need for that sense of freedom and the idea that I'll be a stronger person because of facing those difficulties, actually makes me choose the more difficult path. Life is rarely easy, when it is, most of the human race loses focus, forgets the why. I'd rather not follow the trend I see around me in this so called 'civilised first world civilisation'. So, bike it will be. Now which one. The 450cc, 115kg version or the 690 150kg option?

I have the rest of this summer to decide, but at the moment, the 690 is winning in my head as I've already done a lot of trips and miles on it and know it intimately. It is also already set up as I want a travel bike to be. But 115kg bike weight is a powerful incentive as picking up 150kg + luggage is a painful experience multiple times a day! 

KTM 450 EXCF Six Days 2013

Yet another project bike to play with. I've been thinking about a KTM 450/500 as an adventure bike base for awhile now. I tossed up for a long time between the KTM 690, 500 & 450 before eventually settling on the 690. I've now completed 60k miles on that 2014 690, so I can say quite easily what its pros and cons are. 

The 500's are really hard to find and when I have found them, they have sold within a week, usually before I can get to go see them. Their selling price also seems to start at around £4500. Whereas 450's are much more common and cheaper. 

On the KTM forums and in general chat, the 450 has a shorter bore stroke and as such is a bit more punchy/revvy than the 500. They are also raced a fair bit in the UK, so finding one that hasn't been thrashed to within an inch of its life is a challenge. 

The one I've just bought seems to have been reasonably looked after upto its last owner. He didn't register it and says he just rode it with his son in the local woods. Who knows for sure. The bike showed some of its lack of short term care with some kind of sticky clay/chalk stuck to all the metal and a generally grubby look about it. But underneath that, it looked pretty good and at £2500, seemed a sensible price given what it needed.

Once I got it home and stripped down, I found the following; It hadn't been serviced, washed or fettled for maybe the whole year of his ownership. It had the wrong air filter in, both brake discs were heavily worn, the rear calliper piston is missing its ceramic cap, (the bit that butts against the brake disc). Both brakes and clutch haven't been bled in a long time, so the fluid is knackered. The front wheel has a hell of a ding in it and the rear shock lower bearing had gone. 

However, the engine & suspension was sweet. It started on the button, it soon warmed up and sounded nice. It felt perky and responsive, which made me think that the recorded 220 hrs might be about right. The suspension clearly needs a service, but it was plush, with both rebound and compression feeling about right for my weight. The plastics weren't in bad condition for a 2013 bike and were the original ones. Engine and frame numbers all matched to the V5 and no dodginess was found with an online vehicle check. 

I had to buy some of the parts for this service which cost around £250, but things like discs, fluids, replacement bolts/nuts and various other parts, I had in a box from the days of owning the 350 EXCF's. I ended up taking about three weeks to strip, clean and sort each problem out. I changed out all the fluids, filters and replaced the missing air filter cage and installed the correct oiled air filter. A fresh spark plug went in out of habit. Next up was to strip out the swing arm, check all the other bearings and re-grease as needed. As I stripped down the wheels to replace wheel bearings and brake discs, I found the front rim with a slight buckle. The tyres and the mousses were in reasonable condition though, so no cost to replace these, just re-lube the mousses. 

The lower rear shock bearing was next. After a good hammering session to get the old spherical bearing out, the shiny new one that replaced it made the suspension even better. At the same time, I cleaned and checked the rest of the shock out. At some point, I'll send both front and rear suspension off for a proper service, but it can wait for now. I'll just change the fork oil for some fresh stuff. 500 ml of 5w oil and an air gap of around 120mm apparently for my weight. 

I took it for an MOT before replacing the rear shock bearing and it passed with two advisories. the dink in the front wheel and the rear shock bearing, no surprises there then. 

Next up is to change the fuel pump filters, the rear calliper piston and seals and the fork oil. Then I'll get it insured and taxed and off we go for a play. I have a 15 litre fuel tank in the shed for this and whilst it was stripped down, I tried it on. It fits really well. So long range trips are sorted already!

The plan is to make sure it is all sorted, then do a couple of weekends of trail riding with maybe some camping/touring in the Lakes. Then a Wales weekend camping trip and in June a trip to Albania with a mate who is house hunting over there. So we'll see how it goes and what mods I do to the bike to test out whether it will be a good platform for longer trips.