Day 146 – EU – Albania [Lezhe to Fushe-Kruje]

17/07/20

42.7km

  From Lezhe (Albania) to Fushe-Kruje (Albania)

Europe

Another awesome run in the rural plains of Albania, getting stuck in the mud and some very kind and generous people along the way

I ran the first few kilometers today on the National Road and I was surprised to see that traffic was quite intense though it was shortly before 6am. I was glad and relieved to leave the road and go inland through small country roads.

Unfortunately the paths I was directed on were flooded from a nearby canal that was overflowing over 4km of trails. That was an unexpected pungent and murky run. I got caked in mud (and manure and else) and so did BoB the Stroller. We were both dirty and badly smelly throughout the remainder of the run.

It didn’t seem to put off the locals though! Again today I was blown away by people’s kindness and warm welcome. I look out of place. No one goes out for a run or a jog where I pass by.

People go work in fields and on the farms. That’s hard physical work. Under the hard sun. Going for a run would seem ludicrous to anyone around here I guess. Yet when they see me run by, they wave at me, smile at me, encourage me. As I sat down in the shade in the village of Mamurras, the owner of a local cafe came and asked me to sit down with him and his friends, on a comfy chair at his terrace. They offered me ice-cold water and coffee. We could barely communicate but somehow that was very friendly.

Today was a relatively hot day again – I took a lot of breaks and I arrived later than I intended at close to midday.

Side note – Covid19 Update:I will not be allowed to cross the land-border between Albania and Greece.I am currently working hard to understand which countries accept travelers from Albania. Most of the websites are not completely up to date, some are updated on a bi-monthly basis only, there seems to be a grey area here and I am getting loads of contradictory information.

Once I understand what my options are, I will have to decide how I can make my crossing of EU a “continuous run” (as much as possible) without physically crossing the land border by foot…

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: