Day 8- Dubrovnik, Croatia to Elbasan, Albania

Today was always the one that I was least looking forward to. Not only a long ride but slow and hard work in parts.
We was up at 6 and packed ready to leave the site at 8.00. I went mad and spent the equivalent of £11.25 on a spare can of gas,you see , I'm paranoid after the last trip of running out and unable to make my early morning brew !
It was worth the early start, hardly any traffic and the day was still cool. We followed the coast road for a few miles before hitting the border crossing with Montenegro. This crossing has never given us a hard time and we thought we would be through with just a glance of the passports. However as the crossing came into site you could see the traffic building up. Then we had a jobs worth of a guard who asked twenty questions and wanted to see all of my documents. Half hour in all , and more crossings to come !
We made the ferry at Tivat in three hours it saved time and some miles at a great value of about £1.50 .
The road continued to follow the coast and we stopped at Stari Bar for a quick look and a couple of photos before loosing our way in Tirane for ten minutes.
The temperature was now in the mid 30's according to the signs that hang outside the chemist shops and it was getting hard to concentrate. We could really have done with pulling over and resting up for a while but we still had two mountain ranges to cross in order to get to the campsite at Lake Ohrid before dark.
As we climbed up into the mountain range between Tirane and Elbasan the temperature cooled. I got into the rhythm of swinging the bike into the sharp left and right turns and slowly made progress up the mountain. The sun was getting close to setting and cast a deep orange glow across the mountains. With the heat of the day subsiding We both felt better and the views became breathtaking, it's moments like these that makes it worth all the effort.
As we descended it became obvious that we could not make the camp site as planned so we decided to search out a hotel room for the night. Riding around Elbasan at dusk was something else ! Kids in rags wondering around
Streets with that much crap you could not see the gutters. Horse and carts jostled for road space with shiny new Mercedes, it was surreal.
We found a half decent three star hotel for 30 Euro and booked in, showerd and fell asleep to the sounds of a noisy town.

Miles to day - 300
Hours in the saddle approx 9