2 June 2012: Heading further north on our journey towards Montenegro, today we tackled the Mt Llogarase pass rising to 1025m under the 2045m summit. Braveheart did remarkably well considering the punishing climb for her little engine. View across the Adriatic from the top of Llogarase Pass:

We made camp for the night just south of Durres at camping Pa Ermer, The site facilities were clean but basic, the beach was dirty but sunset pics made a nice end to the day.

3 June 2012: More strange sights in store today, we glanced out of the window in the busy town of Durres to see to our surprise a man walking down the street with a shaggy brown bear twice his size on a chain, but then this is a strange land with species of wild life that no longer exists in the rest of western Europe, hopefully the ecological impact of development will be considered in the country’s future. The campsite for the night is our final northern stop in Albania, called Camping Albania. It is run by a Dutch couple who are also involved with children’s charities in Albania, facilities are excellent including free wi-fi. It is a little bit off the beaten track for sights but makes a good transit point for heading north. Strangely, we arrived for dinner one hour earlier than the restaurant opened and it transpired that we had been on ‘Greece time’ (1 hour ahead) in Albania for the past 6 days and had been blissfully unaware of it! This donkey haycart was just one of the many unusual sights that passed by as we ate dinner:

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