Our bodies are unravelling. First Matt came down with a light bout of Traveller’s Diarrhoea, and then just as it cleared up, he developed a cold. I’m fairing a little better, just dealing with the mouth ulcers that come from disturbed nights as Matt tosses and sneezes.

I don’t know if it is the length of time we’ve been on the road (coming up to 5 months), the cold weather, or the unique set of difficulties that Albania presents, but our bodies are screaming at us and we’ve just about had enough. We’re feeling pains in our muscles and joints that no amount of stretching seems to fix, each kilometre seems painstakingly slow, and we struggle to find the energy to do anything once we get off the bike.

We need to be in Bitola in Macedonia by the 19th of December. We have arranged to leave our bikes there while we have a 10 day Christmas break with Toby and a car. It’s doable, but we had to decide whether we wanted to cycle non-stop to Bitola, or push hard and have a day off in the middle. Choosing the non-stop option would have meant shorter cycling days, but camping in the mountains. As the weather is well into negative territory at night, and with Matt’s cold, we figured camping might not be the brightest move. So we decided to push on over the mountains to Korçë and a day off.

The ride from Përmet to Korçë was stunningly beautiful, but hard. The roads were rough, the climbs were steep and the country was wild. But as always in Albania, the people were fantastic. On the first day we were riding through a small village and man came rushing out of his house and handed Matt two walnuts, in their shells, before rushing off again. That night we stayed at a lodge deep in the mountains. The family who ran the place was warm and welcoming, and cooked us the best lamb we’ve ever tasted. It may have had something to do with the exertion from the cycling, or the fact that they rear, slaughter and cook the meat themselves, or both, but either way it was absolutely delicious.

The next day brought more climbing, and more kindness. I brought some cheese and a cucumber in a small store, and after I had paid the store lady rubbed my back and led me towards a shelf of small lollies, and gestured that I should pick some for myself and some for Matt. Then later I was letting air out of my tires to help cope with the bumpy roads and a truck driver instantly pulled up beside me to see if I needed any help (while holding up his industrial tire pump).

Unfortunately kindness only helps so far with hills and bad roads. As always, the last hill was 100m too high, and we burned a lot of mental energy forcing our legs to climb the last stretch. We crested the top at 3pm, and with a 20km downhill or flat stretch to Korçë we figured we’d all but made it, and decided we had it in us to push on rather than camp in the cold. We were tired, but 20 easy kilometres should have been fine. We forgot about the Albanian factor.

The first 8km went by in a blur… then we hit dirt road, and a bad one. The last 12km turned into 16km, and we were out of energy reserves.

Our pace got slower and slower as the rocks got bigger and our bodies sorer. As the sun slowly set, the temperature plummeted, and my toes lost their feeling one by one. We then passed an old stray dog limping across the road. That did it for me, and I spent the next two kilometres with silent tears streaming down my face.

In the end, as it often comes down to when you are cycling, it doesn’t matter how bad you feel, you just have to get on with it and keep peddling. You force yourself to turn your brain off, ignore everything around you, and just focus solely on turning the pedals… one… two… one… two. And then every time, even when you are convinced you have nothing left in the tank and aren’t going to make it, you keep turning the pedals and then eventually you get to where you needed to be.

We turned up at the hotel just before 5pm, and collapsed in our room, completely spent.

After a rest, and a shower, we dragged ourselves out in search of food. We walked through the town, which was lit up in Christmas lights, and at the hotel owners recommendation we had yet another delicious Albanian meal. We arrived back at our hotel, very tired, but full and happy. A good nights sleep, and a day off tomorrow, should put just enough in our tanks to get us to Bitola, and the 10 blissful days off that awaits.

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