Training Log Archive: Charlie

My best day so far, from Sarande north along the coast, along the edge of the mountains with climbs and descents and many switchbacks. I had an ace bandage and a leg warmer on my sore left leg and the pain was gone, so I was feeling pretty lively. All the climbing was doing my hamstring a lot of good, too. It was a lot of work, but good roads and feeling pretty strong. Always beautiful views of the sea. Eventually we descended to the beach at Qeparo, where we stayed in a guest house right on the beach and enjoyed a lovely swim in the Ionian Sea. Very blue, very clear, very clean. No one else along the beach. The water was very cool, but not too cold, and even Rhonda went if briefly. Dinner was freshly caught fish at the guesthouse, grilled on an open grill, with the usual salads, vegetables, fried potatoes, bread and olive oil. Local wine. A very happy time.

I think this was a little shortcut of the day. I think the guide had originally planned we would stop there for lunch and press on to Dhermi, up some even bigger climbs, but this felt right for the group and was a good place to stop. The distances are not so great, but not a bit of flat ground anywhere along the route.

The road surface the last few days has been excellent. Earlier in the trip, particularly in the mountains, we had long stretches of bumpy road with lots of potholes. Strangely, the downhills were really bad, but the uphills much better in the direction we had been going. I only recall one really bumpy uphill, and it was awful.