The mountains

 Early start, quick make of sandwiches from breakfast things and along with another couple from the hostel we boarded our minibus for the mountains.  Today's adventure was to Theth, the gateway to the Albanian Alps.

Originally we didn't think that a day trip was possible, but the man in the hostel said it was so we booked.  After picking up a few more people we headed up the mountain.  What a spectacular drive.  We got to 30 mins before our destination and we stopped at a restaurant.  It's very common as a side business for the drivers to make deliveries on route.  So a few essentials were also dropped off. 

Eventually we got down into the town.  There are many hikes to do.  Most people come here, stay overnight then catch a taxi to valbone and hike back..it's a good 8hr trek , if we had both been in better condition this would have been the plan but instead we settled on a trip to the blue eye.  

You could walk 2 and a half hours there or take a bus.  We opted for the bus and it just so happened there was one there ready to go.  So a quick transfer of bus and off we went.  I got to sit in the front fold up seat was great views! 

The hike to the blue eye was around an hour ..first of all on the flat following the river.  It was an amazing sound to hear the rushing of water for the whole time.  The path then headed up including a bit of clambering! 

I have to mention at this point I started the walk in trainers, with a taped up ankle being sensible! After about 20 mins I was in a lot of pain, a lot so I took off the trainer and sock of my bad ankle and put on my 🩴... Just the one..in seconds the pain had gone..lesson learnt.. Flip flops are the way forward.. obviously I did get some funny looks and and odd comments but I didn't care. 

Actually when we were nearing the blue eye an American couple said that we weren't far and when we get there go up and over the bridge and keep waking.. spectacular! Ok I'm so not good with remembering instructions but we did what she said.  At the bridge a lot of people stop and get in the water.  I mean don't get me wrong it was amazing so clear with this amazing turquoise colour, but the lady said continue, so we continued.

The path carried on for maybe another 10 mins, up and then down to reveal an amazing pool of the clearest turquoise water id ever seen.  There was also a waterfall, spectacular was definitely the word.

A quick change into our bikinis and in we went, diving off a rock in to this fantastically freezing water.  I mean joder it was cold...I stayed under for a while and swam a couple of strokes across and back and I was done.  You could feel your hands and feet going numb.  Even just sat with your feet on the side was impossible!!! It did chill our beer nicely!!

We sat around for a while watching peoples reaction to them getting into the water, whilst enjoying our cold beer.  We talked to another teacher from London who gave us a few tips for our trip down south and then decided to head back. 

We walked to the end then decided to have our pizza that we bought the day before.  I do have to say I'm impressed with our snackaging !! We waited for a while to get the taxi back to the main village after giving the drivers some lessons in manners 🤣

Another sight to see in the village was the church, as we were wondering in which direction to go we bumped into the other people from our hostel, who had just come from the church so pointed us in the right direction. 

After a 15min walk we saw the church, breathtaking.  A small church with the back drop of these huge mountains.  It was beautiful, there was also a sign that read peace on earth ...it read correct!! 

A steady walk back and we still had an hour to kill.  We headed to the restaurant where we treated ourselves to a bottle of water.  Whilst sat drinking there was a guy on a push bike about to start his journey...I kind of just rocked up and spoke to him.  He had very impressive lightweight kit.

As he was leaving we noticed a very important bit of kit had been left behind, literally his pedal had fallen off!! So I kind of ran after him, he'd obviously noticed something was wrong.  Anyhow he managed to talk to a guy who had a tool to help him.  Before he set off he told us a little bit more about his trip, basically he had cycled from Germany to Turkey and was now on his way home... incredible 

Whilst I was talking to the bike guy, 4 girls were taking to Kerry asking her for money because the atm didn't work and they needed to pay their hostel.  We didn't have a lot of money but have them what we did and exchanged revolut details in the hope that they were honest.  ( They were even we got back to WiFi they had transferred the money, bless them).

So our hour was killed and our bus rocked up.  But we couldn't leave before the driver made some deliveries, brake fluid, coolant and sealant! 

Off we went, this bus driver spoke English so I sat in the front and waffled away, we passed the cyclist so gave him a friendly bus driver toot.  Then we stopped at the top of the road so the bus driver could have a coffee..but he sold it to the bus that it was the best place to take a picture and he wasn't wrong. 

Fuelled with caffeine we continued our journey, obviously I had offered to drive to give the driver a break but the other passengers didn't look convinced 🤣🤣🤣

Again on the way down the views were incredible, didn't take us long and we were soon back into town.  Dropped just outside the supermarket we decided to buy stuff to cook and then headed back 

It has been a long day, Kerry surprisingly has coped really well and actually hasn't been in too much pain which was great news.. we'll see how she is the day after. 

Ate pasta, did some admin and went to bed

An amazing day had by all 🥰