Day 145 – EU – Albania [Shkoder to Lezhe]

16/07/20

41km

  From Shkoder (Albania) to Lezhe (Albania)

Europe

A fabulous run on the rural & agricultural flatlands of Albania – and many caring people on the way 

The region of Shkoder, where I stayed last night, is 70% muslim. I realised this as I got woken up at night by the muezzin from the nearby minarets. As I set out to run this morning, I was again accompanied by the chants of calls for prayers for a good while as I ran across several rural villages. I avoided the main road today, as I cut cross country through a trail road. The scenery was quite beautiful, very rural, sparsely populated, loads of animals, fields and farms all around. In the background were the mountains of the Albanian Alps, cutting awesome figures against the rising sun.

Throughout the run, which was mostly very quiet on the road, people waved at me and stopped by to ask me if I needed anything. Though I needed nothing, I ended up with 2 pears, a handful of figs and a bottle of water. I guess the language barrier sometimes has its advantages!

Besides the issue of data and internet access (which I am hoping to resolve on my next day-off near the capital Tirana) the experience of running through Albania is so far a very positive one. I entered the country not really knowing what to expect. I realised I knew very little about the country, its people, geography and economy. A good opportunity to learn.

Run wise, while reviewing my daily Garmin data, I realised that the flat run has resulted in a much speedier run than expected. In all fairness, it has been a long while since I hadn’t had to deal with uphills and/or very windy conditions. Today seemed very easy and it shows as one of the fastest runs of the World Run. Not something I am welcoming with joy. I will watch my pace tomorrow to ensure I stick to something more reasonable and sustainable.

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: