2023-06-19. Blëzenckë - Theth

Iran - Iraqi Kurdistan - Turkey - Greece - Albania

It's cool in the morning but it doesn't stop me from washing my face in the icy water of the stream, I make a coffee, have breakfast and get ready to arrive today in the valley of Theth.
It's been 4 years since we passed through East Theth with Marc on our way back from Kosovo to Shkodra Lake and we didn't go there because we were supposed to meet in Montenegro on the lake shore with a Ukrainian guy.

I take the short stretch of track to the SH72 road that follows the Osum River and where the spectacular canyon has been created.
I pass through some small towns where you can see some vineyards on the slopes of the mountains although it seems that a long time ago there should have been many more.

There are many places to wash cars and I stop at one of them to remove some of the mud from yesterday's track.
There's a woman taking care of business and the man is sitting outside chatting and that's it, the woman wants to wash my bike but I tell her I'll do it myself, she starts the pump and gives me a couple of cloths .
Once I'm done I go to the front where there are some chairs with the man sitting and I ask him for a coffee and fresh water and he passes the order to the woman, the woman is the one working while the man is lounging.
He speaks a little Spanish and tells me that he was living in Madrid a few years ago, that he was married to a woman from Madrid and they had a bar but that they separated and he came back here, we talked about Europe, the people, of racism, of stress, quite interesting.

There are many gas stations in populated areas and very few in the rest. There are also a lot of Mercedes of all models, maybe 50% of the cars are of this make.

I continue to Berat and here there is already a lot more tourism and more traffic which increases as I approach Durrës and Shkoder and decreases again as I take the increasingly narrow road that leads to the Theth valley passing through Koplik. The views are more and more spectacular as you go up until you see the valley surrounded by the imposing mountains.

At the Theth Pass I meet some Catalan boys and girls who arrived in Tirana today and rented a car to come directly here wanting to walk, we meet again downstairs at the bar of the campsite where I am staying and we have a good time all drinking beer and chatting until dinnertime.
In the small town there is nothing but the houses of the few inhabitants who live there and they are being converted into a guesthouse with a camping area due to the great change that has taken place since they paved the road from the pass down to the valley already which used to be a track, many tourists are coming to this beautiful place that is still very quiet.