Theth - Valbona

06/28/23

The first stage is considered one of the most difficult and beautiful of the entire trail. I naturally still lack the comparison, yet the 1220 meters of altitude are challenging. The whole route offers wonderful views, which have already made a lasting impression on me.

As always, my backpack is too heavy, as the fear of starving usually outweighs when packing. However, I was slightly relieved after holding Sammy's backpack. So at least I'm not the only one struggling to carry about 15kg up the mountain.

It should be noted that Sammy is almost 60 years old. A solid type. Respect. I met Sammy this morning during a break on the first few kilometers. He's a likeable, passionate hiker and mountain guide. The native Macedonian has been living in Bavaria for 40 years and has already completed several mountain tours and climbed many peaks. His stories were quite entertaining. The time passed almost like in a flash, and the effort only slowly but surely became noticeable towards the end of the day.

We were actually lucky with the weather because it was mostly cloudy and not too hot. Rain was actually forecasted for noon, but it only showed up in the evening in Valbona, the stage destination.

My actual plan was to have an additional overnight stay at about halfway to then take a detour to Jezerces (2694m), one of the highest peaks in Albania. However, due to the weather conditions, that didn't happen for now. Maybe there will be another opportunity on one of the last stages. Together with Sammy, who is also well equipped with map material, we have already studied the topography more closely today to check which peaks outside of the actual trail are still an option. Apparently, we lack motivation. However, talking about additional peaks on day 1 may already be a bit too ambitious. We will see. Sammy's plan is also just a part of the whole trail.

Sammy is staying at a guesthouse. It was too rainy for me to set up my tent or tarp in the evening. Yesterday, I had already wondered what I was thinking when I bought the tarp. It failed miserably during the rain test back in Galicia. In addition, yesterday's setup made me feel like I was setting up a tent for the first time. In any case, that is also due to the tarp. However, it is really ultralight, which means I can carry more food. All in all, even with the tarp in my backpack, I will have to find other sleeping spots from time to time. It's not fun to do that in the rain at the end of the day. So sometimes you end up sleeping in front of a cowshed. Just as I was about to settle down, a few cows were already standing right in front of me. I think they wanted to get into the shed or bunker that some weird guy had spread out in front of its entrance. We looked at each other with big eyes. In the conversation, I was able to explain my situation to them, and the herd was very understanding. They let me stay in their shed for the night. Albanian hospitality knows no bounds here either.

As a safety measure, I actually placed some large stones on the access path or stacked them on top of each other so that an angry herd of cows doesn't trample over me at some point during the night.

I will do tomorrow's stage together with Sammy again.