PC567 NE Mountains : Theth & Shala 25/7/10
Summary : furgon Shkrodra to Lac- Koman - ferry to Fierze - furgon to Birs - WALK to Nicaj Shala - to Lecaj - hitch to Theth - WALK to Bora - Ducaj - hitch to Shkrodra

- Tue - ferry and should have waled to Nicaj Shala, but bus driver takes me to different path.
- Wed - make the mistake of descending into Shala valley too far south so have to keep walking around the folds of the range as I head north when I should have walked up and then north along the top. All the delays mean I have lost almost 1 day.
- 5pm Wed arrive in Lecaj and first family invite me to stay.
- Thu - stay around village ..nothing amazing
- Fri - Leave Lecaj, luckily just as I have walked down to the road a car gives me a ride to Theth. Saw the waterffall andd Kulla tower.

Plan : to get away from Theth Gringo trail

- In Shkodra I quickly realise that Theth is part of a Gringo Trail where all the tourists go to the same place. And not only that, it's an expensive Gringo Trail as the guidebook implies a kind of homestay cartel has a fixed price of 2500Lek per day including all food (my room in Kruja was 500Lek per day). So I decide to be smart ... so many tourists must be putting pressure on this culture of legendary honour and hospitality, so to ease the pressure and see the real culture I decide to go nearby, but off the beaten track.

- I see that one route tourists take is to combine the 2 countryside things here. They take the ferry trip through the gorges to Bajaram Curri a boring mountain town, then furgon to Valbones village. The next day they walk across the mountain and down to Theth. I'd met someone from Lecaj 10Km south of Theth so instead of heading for touristy Theth I planned Lecaj. On my map there seems to be a path from Lekbibaj on the ferry route to Nicaj Shala so I could avoid Valbones aswell.

People met
- Jin Do-Chai - the local policeman 069 410 4090
- Nella - the girl who speaks spanish
- Julie lives same street lived in Detroit 7 years, helps in family sheep milk restaurant above Theth
- Pavlin lived in Chingford, busy Theth guesthouse owner

Links
- The Balkans Peace Park website has very little info

- quite a lot of info in the bradtguide online

- Pavlins Place from 20euro per room

- one guesthouse restaurant between the shop and the school offered me a bed for 5 Euro

Tue - Leave on The Ferry to Koman
- A day of screwups. There was no 7am furgon from the hotel, when I got 600m east to the stop it had left. So I went halfway and changed in Lac to the Tirana- Bajaram Curri bus.

- Got the ferry at 10.30am

It was like crusing a narrow Norweigen Fjord .. but not that exciting for 3 hours.

The ferry didn't stop in Lekbibaj, but went 10Km further. arriving at 12.45pm

I caught a furgon telling them I was walking to Shala which is a 10Km walk nortwest of Lekbibaj. We were heading west which was the right direction for me .. I kept waiting for them to tell me to get down. Then suddenly we were going completely the wrong way the bus turned back east and south .. Up up and we were on the south side of the mountain when I needed to be on the north. After 3 hours he dropped me at Birs 10Km further west, but 5Km south.


- It seems the people knew a different walking route to Shala up the west side of the mountain. The people pointed out the path to Shala. I was very very clear... It looked like I would still get to Shala that day... Until it got to people's hay fields after that it was gone. I asked some boy, but I still never found that path.

- I moved down and camped in a cow field. In the night I could hear the bears calling .... They sounded very similar to planes flying overhead. I hoped the bears were along way away. In the morning I saw every so often there were planes flying overhead !

Wed - Birsh to Nicaj Shala
- eventually find a path.

- I needed to find a path. Instead of going back up I looked for paths coming around the lower west side. A couple of false starts then I spotted an open area above the cow fields. Suddenly there was litter and a very clear path appeared out of nowhere . I was on a ridge line rising to the west side of the mountain. After 60 mins I was up to the north side of the mountain where it joined with the main range going north south. There was a smashed up war memorial. Now all I needed to do was go down into the Shala valley. So when the path divided I took the route down and not the route going up.

- Another 40 minutes and I heard voices and got to a farm house. Was given milk and shown path to Nicaj Shala. But shit I'd gone wrong I was not a the valley bottom with a straight road I was still half way up so to travel north I had to keep coming around the folds. A local pointed out it would have been much quicker if I had not walked down before. I understand there are 3 routes Birs to Nicaj Shala: the original path I was on last night would have come straight over the top of the mountain to Nicaj Shala, that path I'd taken around the west side came to the top ridge line , I should have then walked along the top of the valley to drop down into Nicaj Shala, but I'd come down onto a long path.

- Another hour passing scattered abandoned houses, a watermill a strong path going up ... Stop for lunch. Get invited to house .. No man or mother, just 3 daughters coffee and raki etc. Another hour reach Nicaj Shala a real village of 20 houses. Now 2pm there is path going down into valley ask directions .. Kind people ..get good food... It's policeman Jin Do-Chai house..

- 30 minutes get to church... Rain another 20 minute another church school, shop all closed

Wed pm - arrive in Lecaj

- 5pm ...The very first house I pass they invite me in, and then when I ask about a family for homestay they insist I can stay with them

- Nella and the kids give me a tour of the village, where half the houses are abandoned . Most of the villagers have moved to the cities etc. The children above 15, actually live most of the year in Shkodra city as that's where the school is. So that's one reason for the extremely long school holiday in Albgania which is 13 weeks (in UK it's only 6 weeks)

nella_nikolini

nella_jurgen_nik

- The locals had goats, pigs, chickens etc. I asked someone them about where they sold their produce .. They said they didn't sell anything and that their only money came from working for neighbors. I don't believe this. If a family have 30 goats that’s a lot of milk for cheese and I know goats fetch a good price when there is a muslim festival . Later I met a shepherd who said this year they had €16,000 worth of sheep. - As ever I saw the village people maybe through lack of education were not as efficient as they could be, fruit which could have been made into jam just fell and rotted. There were no specialist crops like medicines or perfumes which would have fetched a good price. It was the same as I saw in Nepal. Though cash poor, the villagers large mountain houses would be worth $1million in the UK or US. Although there are no roads, these villages all have electricity and watch Columbian soap operas and Bulgarian pop porn on TV.

- Lots of good info and photos of the Shala Valley

Thursday - hang around Lecaj
- 2 of the children went off to some catechism class.
- went to the shop 15 minutes south ..had to wait 1 hour for it to open ...bought stuff including a new football for the kids

- Actually there wasn't much to do in the village so I played cards and football with kids most of the time. Someone mentioned swimming, but then it rained There was thundery rain storms on Wednesday and Thursday 2-3pm and on Friday I heard thunder. I was a bit boring hanging around the house and frustrating cos often I didn't know what was going on.. 2 neighbors boys walked north with me , but the path quickly fizzled out.

Walk on my own to Breg Lumi town

- Then it turned out there is a town at the bottom of the hill acting as a service town for the whole valley. It was already after 7pm, but I decided to set off on the path. I expected tto chat at houses I passed, but the path went down down shortcutting a road going to the big Franciscan church below. So "inevitably I to the bottom of the valley and think "well I'll go to the church before I turn back, and then it's "well I am 300m from the town so I might as well see it" . Time was pressing, but it was a full moon.

a view down to Breg Lumi ..with the Church on this side and the old police barracks on the opposite side of the river

- Surprise 1 was at the church there was a big summer camp with voluteers from Tirana and 2 Italian priests Italians Blog has good photos .. This is where the 2 kids had been having the Catechism class. I had been annoyed that this had been kept secret from me, cos I'd asked about foreigners and been told they never see any.
..No foreigners ? .. Well seems like the Americans built a huge house for their archaeology project
....And when I'd got back from the shop with chocolates for the kids I prevented the other kids eating it before the 2 kids got back from this class for lunch. I hadn't realised that it was a full day activity including food. If I'd known then we could have all come down at 3pm when class finished and then collected the 2 kids and walked around town before all walking back together.

- So I hurried to visit the town, which was basically only 500m of paved roads with a couple of government buildings, 4 café/shops, war monuments and quite a lot of burnt out/destroyed police buildings. research

- You could see these buildings from Lecaj, it looked as if there had been a war. I had asked, but people side stepped the question. It now seems to me that in the turmoil of 1991 the villagers had atacked the large police barracks and stolen the guns. So now there is only 1 local policeman.

- Now no time to talk with people... As I made it onto the steep trail coming back up it was already dark. Of course going up took a long time. I could hear the Lecaj people calling at 8.45pm, but it took me 15 minutes to reach them and another 15 minutes to get to the house. I bucket showered in the outside toilet and went to bed on the sofa again. For some reason other people were wathing TV until 2am.

Friday - through Theth to Boga
-A bit complicated leaving the village one of the neighbors had heard about foreigners paying 2500Lek for fancy rooms in Theth. So his thinking had gone from "be hospitable to foreigners" to "foreigners are ATMs". I have seen this thinking in other countries like the Phillipenes. But my ethical principle is that foreigners should not come in and throw their money around as this disrupts the local economy as it pushes up the prices of locals pay for goods and future visitors who come after us. So I had to steadfastly refuse requests for my cash. I enjoy cultural exchange and don't mind being generous with my time by explaining and helping out, but I refuse to set a precedent of acting like an ATM.

- Left Lecaj, walked down to road and very lucky as Pavlin arrived and gave me a lift to the entrance to Theth.

- He dropped me 2Km before so I could walk to the waterfall..not amazing, but a good view down ...and then north along the valley to the Kulla Tower ...
walked into the village which is a 2Km long strip on the east bank of the river

- past Pavlins and church ... past a few homestay houses ...the info office (no info except a book they sell) ..cafe .. school ... friendly guesthouse restaurant gave me a cup of tea.

- Since I'd heard every place in Theth charges 2500Lek/day my original plan was to leave on the same day. The guesthouse restaurant offered me a prce of 700Lek, but since I didn't see any other interestiing things to do in Teth I decided to continue my plan.

- Set off to leave the valley .. walk past the shop and road bridge, 600m further is a watermill footbridge and the steeper path which shortcuts the windy road...up up up ... finally reach campground ..meet Julie at Sheep Cheese restaurant which is the last building as you leave the greater Theth

Steep Path out : Don't Recommend it
- It was very clearly marked, but not too exciting. My plan to walk was cos I knew the road journey was bad and I hoped to shortcut and see some interesting things, but the path tok me 6 hours and the views were the same as before. The last time you cross the road is at 1350m then the trail goes up to a gully pass "Shtegu i Dhenve" at 1800m

- you come up through a narrow gap in the top ..I didn't take a photo, but strangley I can't find a great photo on the internet

- then on the other side you drop quickly into a sheep meadow. Down the valley through the forest until after 45 minutes you meet the road again and can see Boga, but it's still an hour away. - It was dark when I arrived, then I walked 1Km further to the church. I camped at the café opposite.

Saturday / Walk and Hitch out to Skhodra

Pretty Good Boga Valley video turn the horrible romantic music off

- starting from Boga I walk around the village and to the next village Ducaj (Duts-ai) ..maybe a rock castle next to the nunnery on the old path.
....hitched to Dedaj
- Got a ride with Timon who lives in London and his father-in-law back Shkodra
Here another map I drew

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