Day 25.

Vlore to Saranda, Albania

Considering we had slept in a carpark on the seafront we had a very peaceful sleep.

Rain was threatened for midday so we took Meg for a last walk along the beach and sought out another ATM – we had tried a few that kept asking a trick question. No matter how we answered the transaction was cancelled. I was looking round for the ‘candid camera’ team but they didn’t seem to be behind this anomaly.

As luck would have it we found one outside an exchange that didn’t ask the trick question and we were able to draw out some more LEK. We had bought a data card in Montenegro for €15 for 15 days but it ran out quick while we were roaming in Albania. There was a Vodafone store near the ATM and we have now bought a SIM (tourist) for 15 days for LEK 16,000 = £12.57. Not sure if it will work in Greece but we’ll just have to buy another if it doesn’t.

Leaving the car park, we tipped the kind attendant and waved goodbye to lovely Vlore. Making our way back up to the very nice motorway we were on yesterday, the van’s satnav got a bit confused and told us that our 3hr journey (Google maps estimate) was over 5 hours! It turns out there is a new road to Saranda that our satnav didn’t know about. Thank goodness for Google maps otherwise we would still be driving!

Today’s road trip took us through a lush agricultural area. On the sides of the roads are vendors selling fish in tanks, fresh fruit, fruit juices, olive oil and strangely strawberries. Then we saw the polytunnels and realised that they are picked fresh. Sadly there was nowhere for us to pull over in our big van (had we been local, in the middle of the road would do, so it seems ) meaning we didn’t get to sample any.

There were still these odd hotels in the middle of nowhere – obviously we don’t understand the demand. What was lovely to see, as we climbed higher in the mountains, were water fountains pouring out fresh mountain water and a queue of locals at each one, filling up their drinking water bottles – I mean bags of them.

We stopped at one which was opposite a posh hotel, built on the side of the river. A very pretty spot. The gardens were landscaped and had waterfalls running to the river. That was good vision from someone and it looked very popular.

We have stopped just outside Saranda for the night, a very tired campsite with disappointing services. There’s not much choice around here and had it not been for the fact we needed to empty, we would have tried to park as we did last night.

One plus for it though is you can see Corfu! It looks closer than the Isle of Wight looks from Pompey which immediately set Gareth off looking at ferries .

There’s a beach for Meg and some friends for her to play with. One of the dogs has 10 day old puppies and is very protective over them. She didn’t like Meg getting too close so we hot footed it on to the beach.

We made the mistake of giving the other two dogs treats, meaning that when Meg wanted to get close to us they started warning her off . She had a rest in the van and we tried again later, no treats this time and she had a good play with one of them. It was lovely to see him having fun with her.

The sunset was glorious tonight.

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