//Day 57 /7-05-22 /Schröder-Virpazar

The hotel I stayed in Schröder yesterday was not the best hotel I stayed in the last 2 months. The shower was not really useable, the only light was a bright light which belonged in a lab, no coat racks or cupboards,…the lady-owner asked although to leave a good review…..Anyway.When I woke up it was raining, luckily not cats and dogs. It continued raining the first hours I was cycling…

I bought some food as I did not expect to find a lot of options today and left Schröder city around 7.30.  My plan was to cycle to Centinj, 107 K away and 2360 meters of climbing. I had also prepared an alternative route more along the coast with less meters to climb but eventually I decided to go for a route which would take me along Lake Skadar and the surrounding national park. Today was also my last day in Albania, which is a beautiful country with most of the time friendly people.I really liked visiting Tirana and enjoyed the often the great vistas. Would be great to spend some more time in the Albanian mountains.I was not so fond of Albania’s sea resorts, to much concrete, to big and touristic,…Maybe some, nice,  smaller sea resorts exists but I personally didn’t encounter them.

Crossing the the Albanian - Montenegro border was a piece of cake. Do not expect friendliness of both the Albanian and Montenegro border police. On both sides chain smoking, grumpy old men. I had spend my last Albanian currency before I crossed the border on chocolat and chocolatcookies. Montenegro is using the Euro, although non member of the EU and Eurozone.I hoped to find an ATM after I crossed the border….Reality was that the border was in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing. In addition I was send directly off the main road….Maybe I would find an ATM later….

The first 50K I had to climb 3 hills, each of around 450 meters. Afterwards there would be a stretch with smaller climbs ending with a big climb to 1050 meters. My plan was to end my day in Centinje somewhere in the middle of the big climb… I needed to start climbing directly, luckily it had stopped raining, based upon Komoot the steepest climb of the 3 hills I had to take first. Often above 10% even some stretches 14%. Initially I doubted I would be able to climb to to the top…One stretch I had to push Black Horse by hand as I was not able to climb, to steep….Eventually I made it to the first top ! On my way up I passed a mother and son herding some cows. I can imagine that for them cycling up a steep mountain is only something idiots may do.

Although cycling up this steep hills it was quite rewarding, The views were just fantastic. The sun came out, almost no people on the small roads…I often stopped to take time to enjoy the views and recuperate….I passed little villages, which were clearly not ATM-size. During a stop I had seen that I would pass somewhat a bigger village located at Lake Skadar with some shops and and even a hotel. I checked the hotel on internet and it looked quiet agreeable….

When I arrived at Vipazar (the village with a hotel) it was sunny, in the village there were some (2) bars, a restaurant and the hotel. The village is used a starting point to do boat trips on the lake. The village also had an ATM but after trying seemed not to be working. I found the hotel and the owner (also owner of the restaurant and some boats) asked me if i was interested in a room….He was quite a salesman but in reality I did not need a lot of convincing, I had cycled 70 K and had climbed 1400 meters, the sun was shining and the nice room with breakfast came at 24 euro…and VISA was accepted. I checked in, ate the lunch I bought in Albania and had a shower. My plan was to read and maybe do a boat trip on the lake.

The hotel owner made me a proposal and together with a Russian and Polish couple spend a nice 2 hours sightseeing the lake. The views from the lake were as beautiful as from the hills above. The nice Russian couple had flew over Istanbul, into Montenegro and were on 10 vacation…I did not mention the war. When we returned to land it started slightly raining but soon the sun appeared again. 

Tomorrow I will cycle to Kotor. Some 85 K and 1760 meters of climbing. Kotor is a fortified town in a bay at the Adriatic coats near to Mount Lovcen. Heavily touristically and a stop for cruise ships. I understood that a visit is pleasant at the moment there are no cruise ships…We will see. Kotor is also know in the cycling world for the P1 a narrow serpentine road, with 25 hairpins, some 8,5 K long,….Luckily I will go down, as i have climbed the mountain from the other side.

There are also quite some campings near Kotor, so if weather permits I plan to camp…..

Lessons learned : 

• Great to take an unplanned stop. 
• Climbing went reasonable wel but remains a challenge. If return I definitely pack less gear.
• Virpazar has one of the best salesman ever. 

Song of the day : Climbing to the moon - Eels