September 5, 2019Day 6, from Elbasan to Mirakë
Today was really not boring. I started walking again at 6 a.m., through several villages. I had already noticed that the dogs here love excitement in the properties. One was running again at full speed, barking wildly and showing its teeth as it approached the property boundary - but I stayed calm because there was a wire fence between me and the dog. Just as it reached my height, I saw it run through an opening that I hadn't seen before. So it was about 60 cm away from me. Oh man, my heart raced, but with the open wire fence, which was at the height of my hand, I automatically made a movement - and it disappeared again through the opening. Maybe I misunderstood him and he just wanted to show me his sore tonsils and ask for help 😜. Now it was gradually going into the mountains! At some point, according to the plan, I should take a shortcut, but I searched for it a little longer and even a passing goat herder couldn't help me find the right way. I then climbed up where I thought it could be. After about 250 meters, I realized that my path was much shorter now and I only had about 100 meters left to the road. Quickly through bushes and pine trees - the right way only 10 meters away. I reach for my satellite navigation device - it's gone 😱 Oh man!! Now I have dropped my backpack because the terrain was a bit steep, and I tried to go back the same way. I knew that my GPS device was last recorded 110 meters ago. I must have walked for about 2 hours. I kept coming back to the same spots, my legs scratched everywhere - I went to the backpack several times to drink water. Then I got hungry too, luckily I bought 2 bananas🍌 yesterday for today's tour. Because mainly figs every day🤔? They were really good for me, because there were no fruit trees here, only pines, bushes, and dried blackberry bushes as far as the eye could see. But all the fruits there were dried out. There was a beehive🤯 in my head! What do I do if I can't find it? It would mean aborting the hike, and I certainly wouldn't continue without it. Should I set up my tent here and continue looking tomorrow? Water can only be obtained in the next village - a little over an hour away. Should I go to the village and get a few men to help me search for the device? Should I create a search grid for about 300 square meters? Of course, I didn't bring a few hundred meters of cord with me. I had to keep reminding myself to stay calm - I just had to find it again. I sat down again to clear my mind and prayed to God to guide me to the lost device! After about 2 to 3 hours, when I had probably walked everything several times, I sat down again to rest and focus on clear thoughts - I looked to the side - the device was 2 meters away!! Yay.🥳🍾🙏After crossing the ridge of the mountain, it slowly went downhill again. On the way down to the valley, I found figs, grapes, and blackberries to eat again.
In a village halfway up, I asked an old woman for directions to the Via Egnatia because I had taken the wrong path several times. At the same time, I asked her about water - she called her husband. They both invited me to come to their house. They brought me water right away on the terrace, then half a loaf of bread, tomatoes, about 1 kg of grapes, and about 250 grams of cheese, raki, and coffee. I only ate about 20% of all that, had a little raki for the hospitality, and this time drank Turkish coffee. When I wanted to say goodbye afterwards, they tried to tie the uneaten portion somewhere on my backpack, which I declined several times for weight reasons. I thanked them and continued walking. When I arrived in the valley about 5 hours later, I came to the first clean and non-trashy stream, where I immediately took a break and lay down in the stream bed for 15 minutes. After that, it was only a few minutes to a hotel, just like all the others on the main road. 
