Had the pleasure of hiking the south Albanian coast this summer, not far from the Greek border in the Drino Valley. The idea was to hike south to Sarande, following the coastline as much as possible. This isn't always easy, as the coastline is volcanic in nature and consists of incredibly sharp serrated rock.
The forecast was rather good, clear blue skies and temperatures well into the 40 degree Centigrade range. So I'd be needing plenty of water to drink and frequent cooling off dips in the Adriatic. A friend of mine, who had sensibly chosen to do a more circuitous tour of Albania on a Ducati offroad bike, would meet me in Sarande, 9 days later, for the ride back to the airport.
I also wanted to try out the SeaPack desalination kit that claims to supply half a liter of drinkable water in about 6 hours. It did. No prize for taste, but it is supposed to be a life saver, not a refreshing drink to lift your spirits.
The coastline is dotted with deep caves and thick pine forest. I had done this once before, so I decided to travel light and only bring a wool blanket and a lightweight tarp for sleeping. The tarp was mainly used to keep the sun off of myself and sometimes as protection from getting brained by falling pine cones the size of mangoes. Cricket sound pollution also made me head for the caves. The caves provided a cool, quiet and mostly dry place to sleep.
Knife wise, I brought a multitool, a Mora 510 and a Mitchell Muntjac that I wanted to try out. Although probably perceived more as a hunting knife, I like the Muntjac for general purpose jobs as it is compact and lightweight and has a versatile blade shape.
The Mora had to do most of the work, as I did not want to expose the desert ironwood on the Mitchell to salt water...
The 510 pried limpets off the rocks and coped with all other tasks without a hitch, just a bit of staining and pitting on the blade, which cleaned up nicely once I got home.
I still have homework to do on Albania's geological past. I saw channels cut in the rock that must have been there for a very long time and were clearly man made geometric patterns.
The nature is quite stunning and still devoid of tourists. I had beautiful blue lagoons all to myself and it was nice not to have to worry about being scolded for lighting a fire. Progress was very slow in the heat of the day, but I did make it to Sarande in time and managed to secure my ride back to Tirana.
My daughter supplied the tiger for good luck and company. It worked.
The forecast was rather good, clear blue skies and temperatures well into the 40 degree Centigrade range. So I'd be needing plenty of water to drink and frequent cooling off dips in the Adriatic. A friend of mine, who had sensibly chosen to do a more circuitous tour of Albania on a Ducati offroad bike, would meet me in Sarande, 9 days later, for the ride back to the airport.
I also wanted to try out the SeaPack desalination kit that claims to supply half a liter of drinkable water in about 6 hours. It did. No prize for taste, but it is supposed to be a life saver, not a refreshing drink to lift your spirits.
The coastline is dotted with deep caves and thick pine forest. I had done this once before, so I decided to travel light and only bring a wool blanket and a lightweight tarp for sleeping. The tarp was mainly used to keep the sun off of myself and sometimes as protection from getting brained by falling pine cones the size of mangoes. Cricket sound pollution also made me head for the caves. The caves provided a cool, quiet and mostly dry place to sleep.
Knife wise, I brought a multitool, a Mora 510 and a Mitchell Muntjac that I wanted to try out. Although probably perceived more as a hunting knife, I like the Muntjac for general purpose jobs as it is compact and lightweight and has a versatile blade shape.
The Mora had to do most of the work, as I did not want to expose the desert ironwood on the Mitchell to salt water...
The 510 pried limpets off the rocks and coped with all other tasks without a hitch, just a bit of staining and pitting on the blade, which cleaned up nicely once I got home.
I still have homework to do on Albania's geological past. I saw channels cut in the rock that must have been there for a very long time and were clearly man made geometric patterns.
The nature is quite stunning and still devoid of tourists. I had beautiful blue lagoons all to myself and it was nice not to have to worry about being scolded for lighting a fire. Progress was very slow in the heat of the day, but I did make it to Sarande in time and managed to secure my ride back to Tirana.
My daughter supplied the tiger for good luck and company. It worked.
