Theth - in the Accursed Mountains

 Sat-Sun 23rd -24th Sept

I knew I had cursed the weather by fixing a fly-screen to one of windows. It was sooo hot, around 30 max but still in the mid 20s at bedtime.

First of all a few knowledgeable people started to tie-down their motorhome awnings and then the wind picked up. We just packed away, knowing that it was likely to get wet. The wind started to really blow but the warmth continued.

As we went to bed the rain started but the radar didn’t show much, just a storm out to sea that was moving east of north. So we went to bed in the heat.

Later the wind blew something off or over on a big Sprinter 4x4 next to us and we woke and started to fret!

It was decided that the porch overhang should be dropped and then secured with a guy to stop it flapping. It was also decided many trips ago that I would always do this. So I did. I got wet. Apparently I wasn’t very wet.

Then we settled down again but I kept seeing flashes so I made the mistake of looking at the amazing lightening website at blitztortung and saw this. Each dot is a flash and the white are the latest.

It was only a matter of time before it was bedlam. However we were safe and dry, although it would have been better if I had remembered to close the front vent under the windscreen. Then the driver’s footwell wouldn’t have filled with water. I hope that is the simple reason why that happened.

The last three days has been great. Three meals a day and three lake swims each day too. On the final morning not only did we buy fresh bread at the campsite but also 2 x 1.5litres of fresh milk. That should keep us going.

We said goodbye to Toby and family, who have not really taken to the Albania they have visited and are driving to catch a ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari. We explained why the Albanians  haven’t yet developed a sense of pride in their surroundings, mentioning about the country only ‘recently’ opening-up.

Toby looked at us quizzically and it was evident that he doesn’t know about Enver Hoxha and the extreme communism that kept the country closed to the outside world until the early 1990s.

On Sunday morning after drying out a little, we drove up the narrow mountain road to the high pass and then down into the remote valley and village of Theth. We had failed to do this in 2015 as then the road was narrow, gravel and exposed. Since then it has been widened and tarmaced and the only risk was the drivers coming towards us.

This place is special; like nowhere we have been. It is clearly opening up but is something of a tourist frontier.

Many houses provide guest accommodation and most allow camping too. So we settled at one, between three other camper vans … from Germany of course.

The main street runs alongside the river

This is a particularly fancy hotel and we sat and has a coffee outside when there was a sudden flash and instant bang; not a power cable but looking at them that could easily happen. It was just normal for today and that night too!

We met a lone walker at the edge of the ‘village’. He’s from central Denmark and is intending to walk from here to Valbona. He will start in a couple of days, by which time the weather will be back to its settled best.

We walked the entire circuit of this place and tried to ignore the rubbish and litter. This is strewn about, probably pulled around by the many stray dogs. We also earmarked a restaurant for tea, which was the result of much work by the chief researcher. Bujtina Shpella was a great find and we arrived about 5mins before the weather closed in. There was another storm, this time in this valley and the rain came down and the lightening flashed, the lights dimmed and then we were deafened by the thunder.

Fortunately the food and drink was great (2,835 LEK which was paid on a card) but could also be paid in Euro (100 LEK - €1) and we cheerfully managed not to think about the unattended Landy a 10min walk away down a stony track and across a field.

I had earlier stopped a young chap who was walking away from where we were heading and asked if he worked at Shpella because is was wearing their polo shirt.

He’s from Guildford and Benedict’s brief story is that he has a PhD in Theoretical Physics from Durham. We knew this to be true as he said “the more I learnt, the less I realised I know”. This struck a chord with Dawn and the conversation continued.

He rode his bike here but got locked down during Covid, found himself in a remote mountain valley and started to ‘take-in’ stray dogs. He walked all over with them, at one point there were 15 puppies.  Now he “can’t go back home” as he doesn’t know what to do with the dogs. He’s been trying to get formal work but it seems impossible to get through the bureaucracy of working outside a main centre of population.

We encouraged him to go somewhere and use that incredible qualification and intellect. Hopefully he will and that should also please his parents.