I headed across Gorica Bridge in Berat at 11:30am on Friday, my small daypack nearly bursting with my camera, PJs, raincoat, bikini and a change of clothes. I paid 30 lek for the local bus to take me to the terminal and jumped on the furgon (minibus) to Tiranë. It was raining when I got there, and instead of walking 1.4km to the Northbound terminal it was probably about 2.5km, because I got a bit lost and had to double back a couple of times. Why do they have so many bus terminals there?! I found the right one in the end; the next bus to Shkodër left in 15 minutes and another two or three hours later I was on a short walk to the Wanderer’s Hostel. Their guests regularly did the Valbonë to Theth hike that I’d heard so much about recently, and were able to organise transport and accommodation for the next day’s travel to Valbonë.
I had a couple of drinks on arrival then went for dinner – stuffed eggplant and vegetable furgese (a traditional baked vegetable and cheese dish), and afterwards I went straight to bed for an early rise the next day. A furgon picked a group of us up at 7am and we had the bumpiest three hour journey to Lake Koman. The ferry across the lake was three hours too, and absolutely stunning. Jam packed with people and cars, I sat on the ground at the back for the whole journey. It was the most beautiful boat ride, with looming mountains and cliffs at every turn. At the end of the Lake, we boarded another furgon that took us to a guesthouse in the small village of Valbonë that has maybe 30 houses. A lovely Muslim family ran the guesthouse, in a small valley surrounded by mountains, and a crystal clear creek. About 30 people stayed there that night, which seems insanely busy, but August is peak summer season, I guess.
Stuart and Jayke, (two Aussie guys), Karen (an English woman) and myself decided to do a small 1km hike before dinner and I asked Erisa, the 17 year old daughter of the family if she’d like to come with us. Normally she works cooking and cleaning for the guesthouse and when her mum said she could come with us she was totally ecstatic. We took some wrong signs and ended up on quite a big hike, not returning for about three hours.
The views were stunning, and although Erisa struggled to keep up and ended up walking barefoot, she was breathless and kept saying how much she now loved where she lived. It was so sweet, and in the evening she kept hugging me and holding my hand, saying I was like her new best friend. The family cooked us all an amazing dinner with salad, pumpkin burek (this was a big deal, as pumpkin is not a thing here. When Albanians talk about pumpkin “kungull” they usually mean marrow or zucchini), vegetable soup and cake. It was actually quite chilly in the mountains but i hadn’t had room for a jumper, so I had a hot shower and headed straight to bed. Stuart, Jayke and I were keen to start the hike early to beat the sun.
Erisa’s father kindly drove us to the start of the trail at 6am so we avoided the 7km walk through the village to the start of the National Park. We had the typical tomato, cucumber and cheese for breakfast, and I took some boiled eggs for the hike. I had lost my water bottle but Erisa found a spare one for me; unfortunately it was a huge 2L and wouldn’t fit in my pack so I was carrying it the whole time. After just an hour I was already starting to get tired. I hadn’t heard of this hike until a few weeks ago, but Jayke had said it was the primary reason he came to Albania. He was carrying his entire pack and planned to camp in Theth that night.
A few kilometres in we passed several little farms, and heard a cow bell so pressed ourselves against the edge of the small wall on the edge of the trail as an old shepherd lady brought through a single cow. The sun hadn’t come over the mountains behind us yet but when I turned I could see a few bright rays glistening through the peaks and the trees. We saw a man milking sheep, too.
I fell behind quickly when I took my camera out to take some pictures unfortunately, and struggled to catch up to the guys. Some bits were so steep, and even after catching up with them and breaking for ten minutes to eat an apple, I was breathless again less than 100m later. I was super glad though that we started early to avoid the sun. I’d been keeping my eye out for tiny wild strawberries and raspberries like Erisa had shown me the night before, and these intense bursts of sugar kept me going when I was really struggling.
Eventually we came across a small riverside cafe, icy mountain water was running freely over bottles of water, beer and soft drink, but the guys were keen to press on so we did, passing a group of about 6 old Albanian men. We must have already been quite high up, but the landscape almost looked like some sort of Dr Zeuss illustration – huge mountains everywhere you looked, bright blue sky, bright green trees poking out every which way and white rocks of all sizes sprinkled on the ground, with a zig zag trail heading sharply up into the mountains ahead.
This bit was hard. I pushed myself and was dripping with sweat, my legs were aching and my heart was thumping through my chest. I tried to imagine my legs as machines, with no feeling just power. It worked for a bit.. but not for long. Stuart was basically sprinting upwards like a mountain goat, and Jayke wasn’t far behind. I felt like Frodo in the Lord of the Rings. This was torture. There was nowhere to stop, no rocks to sit on and no shade from the trees. A few wrong steps from my weary legs and I could tumble down back to where I started. I passed a couple with huge packs and tents, the guy telling me it was only 70m to go. This took me another half an hour at least, but it was so beautiful reaching the ridgeline. I don’t even know the language to describe it, but it was a relatively flat part of trail that went alongside the mountain. It wasn’t quite the top, but it was around the edge, and covered in wildflowers of blue, purple, yellow and white. I could see right to the valley where we’d started. I think that was it anyway. It looked so close, but had taken hours already. I couldn’t imagine carrying more than I had. I couldn’t imagine not having my super hiking shoes. Soon I got to this point in the middle of two peaks; I saw Jayke’s bag on the ground. “Hola!” he called from not far away; the two of them were walking up to the peak of one of them. This was the top! I dropped my bag and took my camera, hurrying after them as fast as I could. I spread my arms and felt the wind cooling the sweat all over my body. We took some photos before heading back to the trail. Every single way you looked was spectacular. Absolutely jaw-dropping. It was all downhill from here (literally..a good thing!). I had such a feeling of satisfaction already. Reaching my pack again, I pulled out a boiled egg and threw the shell into the wind. Protein!
The boys once again hurried along the path, and I could kind of keep up more easily this time. I think you could see Theth from this side. More and more meadows of wildflowers. Stunning. I took some photos. After some windy turns we got to this kind of wood, it was really dark and damp and there were dense patches of tall trees. Up ahead, as if in a film or a dream, a wild horse stood on the trail, flicking its tail. We patted it and moved on, just a few hundred metres from another cafe/bar.
“Hell yes, I’m getting a beer!”. The boys seemed really surprised, but said they were pressing on, and were now both going to head straight back to Shkoder. Best decision I made, to carry on from this point alone. I picked a can of Tirana beer from the barrel of drinks with free flowing water…. It was so good. And the view was beautiful. I felt so excited, still with a rush of energy from the peak beforehand, but a sort of calm came over me from being alone now. The rest of the day was on my terms. I ordered a coffee and a raki, and sipped both, taking my time. 700 lek is expensive for Albania, but for a remote cafe in the mountains I didn’t care one bit.
Eventually I made a move, and quite at my leisure I really just wanted to roll around on the ground, soaking up the earth and this place. I stopped for photos numerous times, and sat on a few tree stumps and logs, in awe of the magical world I was in. I didn’t see anyone for a while, but stopped to chat to a couple of people before I arrived in Theth. At one point some men came from behind me with about ten pack horses; four or five backpacks and some suitcases strapped to the horses. I was pretty upset by this.. Why would you bring a suitcase to trek through the mountains?! And why wouldn’t you send it in a car or pick it up later if you can’t carry it yourself? So mad.
The way down had been quite steep at points, and my knees were really starting to hurt. I didn’t want to stop for a break because I didn’t want the pain to catch up to me, so I powered on. From the cafe I thought it was only a couple of kms more, but it felt like forever. Coming into Theth, a Canadian guy from the guesthouse the night before caught up to me. Noooooo, I thought, I want to finish this on my own. He was so annoying, and said he didn’t feel bad for the horses “because that’s what they’re bred for”. I just didn’t say much to him. I was out of breath anyway, and eventually he hurried past me to try and make the 1pm bus from Theth back to Shkoder. Good!
I think I’d arrived at Theth; a few cars had passed me and I could see a few farmhouses but there was no finish sign, no “Welcome to Theth” sign, no party to celebrate my epic achievement, and not many people around. I kept walking along the road and saw some signs for guesthouses. I walked into one that looked more like a hotel but the price was pretty exy so I kept going, another 15 minutes along the river. The sun was really hot now, I think i was burning and rapidly tiring. I asked another place, as they were serving lunch to a big group of people in the front yard but they had no room. I went next door, opened a gate and walked up a path to the house, past a huge cow that stared at me before continuing to chew on grass. They had room, for €15 a night. Ok. I’ll take it. A young girl showed me a bed in a room with four single beds and after being handed a towel I immediately showered, then returned downstairs for a beer. There was a woman, presumably the girls mum, an older German man and 2 guys from Tirane. They were eating lunch, but they didn’t make any for me so I drank my beer and had a few of their leftover chips.
I had a nap, then went for a longer and harder than expected hike to a nearby waterfall with Lars, the German guy. He was lovely, had a son my age and had earlier that day fallen on a bridge so we had a raki before our walk, and on the way back stopped at a little bar for a beer. We talked about keeping your eyes open in life, and how privileged we are as Westerners.
When we returned to the guesthouse, a beautiful dinner was prepared, and an older woman from London was there too. She and I shared a room, and I tried to teach her the few Albanian words I knew, like good morning(mir mengjes), very good (shum mir), thank you (faleminderit).. I slept so well, but woke in the night with an aching body. I could hear the river outside (I’d done nearly 24km that day..24 hard kilometres!!!!)
The next morning breakfast was homemade bread, with jam, butter and cream…. all from the cows in the yard. The bus to Shkodër wasn’t until 12:30, but a guy knew a driver and I was able to get a lift in a 4×4 at 9am for €10, and when I arrived a bus was just about to leave for Tirane, and when I got THERE a bus was just about to leave for Berat.
A big day of travel..but I was back home in Berat. Tired, sweaty, aching… but satisfied.
CARMEN TOM 