We said fond farewells to Ammoudia and headed north to
the Albanian border. It was tantalisingly close and having tried and failed two
years ago to cross it in Bertha from the Montenegrin side, due to the appalling
conditions of the road, we wanted to see what it was like at the Greek
crossing.
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| Gridlock on the mountainside |
Not having a detailed local map we followed the merest hint of a
suggested route in our Collins guide and looked out for road signs, which
frustratingly mostly had graffiti covering them. Perhaps not surprisingly we
found ourselves on a lonely mountain road climbing high above the river plains
and coastal bays and eventually coming across life in the bustling and hot
sunny town of Filiates. Steering carefully through the busy noon centre of
lunching locals, loose dogs and teenagers on mopeds we descended the other side
onto the flat lush plains of the Thyamis delta.
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| Sagiada Port |
Sagiada turned out to be the last stop on the Greek coast
so we pitched up for the afternoon and enjoyed a coffee on its picturesque
harbour. After a quick dip in the cooling sea, we tried and failed once again
to connect online to update our blog. Instead we found the local policeman
(having spotted him buying an ice cream) and asked permission to stay for the
night further along the beach, which he was happy to give.
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| Gone Swimming |
Our only neighbour
was a reclusive French motorhomer (in skimpy swimming trunks the entire time we
were there) so we kept ourselves to ourselves and enjoyed a sundowner in our
chairs on the beach to the lapping of the turquoise waves. A serene evening
became a raucous night as the marina clubs banged out dance music until 6am but
as our stop was safe and free we dozed through it until it was time for a cup
of tea on the beach.
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| Sunset over Albania |
Next morning and we again headed north to the border. We
passed a series of fish farms in idyllic coves as well as signs telling us that
camping was not allowed. Driving through herds of goats we rounded a corner and
encountered high barbed wire fences, securing cameras and signs instructing ‘no
photographs’.
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| The Greek-Albanian border 2013 |
The border post was busy with queuing beaten up Mercedes cars
(the Albanian motor of choice). We did a circuit of the post and then returned the way we had
come to find another route. 10 or so miles later we were aware that we had
crossed an unmarked border as the road deteriorated to a broken single track
which was littered with rock fall and gorse bushes. We drove on until we dared go
no further and turned around amongst some grazing cows as the track petered
into a dusty trail. Albania!
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| The Montenegrin-Albanian border 2011 |
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| Drepano’s beach - home for the night |
We spent sunset on Drepano’s Beach at Igoumenitsa watching
the comings and goings of the Island ferries and enjoyed chatting with our German neighbours Edda and Uwe. They were
heading down to Ammoudia and Edda was looking forward to seeing Pola (the beach
dog) who she had been feeding last year. Edda was travelling in the expectation
of taking three stray cats back to Germany for re-homing. Like Carole she has a
supply of dog and cat food and treatments and knows the vets to use for
paperwork and pet passports.
On returning to Bertha we realised we’d provided
our own foodstuff to the voracious beach mozzies and spent an uncomfortable hot
night trying to ignore our many wretched and raging bites.
The ferry to Bari was our first experience of ‘camping on
board’ which was Bertha’s own mini-cruise across the Adriatic. We were portside
on an open deck and had moonlit sea views all night as the ship sped quickly
across the straights in calm waters. Tomorrow – Italy!
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| Camping on board the Superfast Ferry with a sea view |
