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10-21-2012, 10:36 AM
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#1 |
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...soon or later
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: Manchester...but from Rome!
Oddometer: 588
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My off road trip in the Land of Eagle
Hi Guys,
Last June, as per yearly tradition  , my friends and I set for our 8 days off road trip. Since the situation in North Africa hasn’t been the best over last couple of years we decided to go for an alternative destination: Albania the Land of Eagle! None of us had been there except for one. The core of the group was the same as usual, but this year it was reinforced by some late but first class additions for sympathy  , spirit of adaption …and certainly some of them for off road skills .So try to put together 7 Italians (of which: one sold to Albanian Mafia  , one from Milan-if he can be called Italian!-who do marketing development for Yamaha, rides KTM twins and has settled in the land of freedom and joints and other drugs …and one sold to the British Crown  ), two Dutch who has never put a wheel of road and one that self defines: “half Italian, half Dutch, totally confused and in the wrong country for the right answer […] the product of a clash of Europe’s extremes : Latin versus Germanic , hot headed versus easy …” Ducati versus BMW ending for getting rid of both ☺So see what happen… Some of us set from Rome by bike to make Bari to catch a ferry across the Adriatic sea, riding through the south Italian central Appennini. Others who don’t have enough strength brought their bikes down to Bari on a trailer…two more flew directly to Tirana from Amsterdam shipping their bikes on a truck.  The bikes  The lads  The first day we went wrong! Following tracks downloaded from the web and this guy directions…  …we end up in a narrow stony path that…wasn’t really what we were looking for our first day! David   Marco   Erik  Giovanni  Marco and Erik  Fabrizio  …at least the dinner was nice!  The second day we left Tirana heading west through the mountains. This was a nice stone street with great views     When we thought we would have died of starvation we meet this young…  …healthy lad…  …who took as to his mate for a basic lunch by the lake…                   From there we followed a stunning but bloody narrow canyon       Up to reaching this little village on the side of the canyon…where this little kids were amused by the bikes.  That night, after having lost E&E (The Yamahas) along a dark unpaved street and having Alessandro riding on his rim due to a puncture we finally made we arrived to Berat. The following morning we went up to the top of the hill visit the old town   Leaving Berat we ahead off towards south looking for the Ottoman old Bridges. To reach the bridge there were several cool river crossing to take       And here you are the Bridge     Stop for some food (usual chicken and chips)    The following day we end up doing one of the special stage of the Rally of Albania…along with the actual rally. Albanian organization ☺    …and then I understood that some times sunglasses might confuse you on the state and nature of the terrain ☹    The following day we visited the Greek (and subsequently Roman) Archeological site of Butrint in the amazing bay which takes name from it.     And then, as promised from the beginning of the trip…seeking for a beach to chill for a whole afternoon after some nice fresh fish…but at usual took some trails to get there…  …getting there…        The chilled evening and the sunset by the see wasn’t bad at all!   The following day we start our rise back towards north following the coast. We aimed to get back to Durres to catch our ferry that night. A long stretch we some great views…   So when we reached Valone we pulled onto the beach for trip closure in perfect Dakar style…      However also the old XT’s clutch decided that its trip was over!  Still we managed to get out of the beach pulling for some few kms…    …until a better solution came across…  From there on there were just some 160 kms of boring, straight, bumpy and life threatening tarmac road to get us to the pier where a ferry would have take us to Bari in Italy. Bari to Roma was a 6 hours motorway journey. E&E left the bikes to a support truck that followed the Rally and was going back to Holland. Despite sadly started with David having to leave, the whole trip was great. Someone who was with us for the first time said: “it has been the most intense week of my life…but definitively one of the best”! Plans for this coming year trip are in the pot… Ciao Nic
__________________
Explore Alps Off Road: www.over2000riders.com Road 2012 Ducati Multistrada 1200 2008 KTM LC8 ADV 2010 KTM 690R Trips:Europe,Africa,Asia Dr LC8 screwed with this post 10-21-2012 at 10:44 AM |
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10-21-2012, 02:13 PM
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#2 |
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In a rut
Joined: Apr 2007
Location: Stourbridge, UK
Oddometer: 511
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Brilliant Nic, just brilliant. What a great looking country.
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02-11-2013, 02:06 AM
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#4 |
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Studly Adventurer
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Worcestershire UK
Oddometer: 587
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Great stuff
 Your pictures are great looks like you all had a great time  We are just in the planning stage of a trip down to Albania for this September (1x Hp2 & 3x Ktm 690’s) got loads of unpaved roads planned so far Louis |
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02-11-2013, 11:07 PM
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#5 | |
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...soon or later
Joined: Jul 2005
Location: Manchester...but from Rome!
Oddometer: 588
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Quote:
Ciao Nic
__________________
Explore Alps Off Road: www.over2000riders.com Road 2012 Ducati Multistrada 1200 2008 KTM LC8 ADV 2010 KTM 690R Trips:Europe,Africa,Asia |
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02-12-2013, 10:12 AM
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#6 | |
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Studly Adventurer
Joined: Feb 2008
Location: Worcestershire UK
Oddometer: 587
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Quote:
Cheers Louis |
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