Çuka Dunishës

We had paid 105 euro each for the 2 days in which is spent doing the hike (1 day of transport), but by the time we had finished the ferry on our way to Valbone, we already felt as though we got out moneys worth. We spent about an hour and a half meandering down the Shala river. The enourmas mountains and crystal clear water made this such a beautiful experience. The landscape appeared to change multiple times from green forests and hills rolling into the water, whereas other times, it was sheer rock cliffs that fell straight into the river. In these instances, it felt as though you would squeeze through enourmas cliff faces. We entertained ourselves with beers and estimating the size of each cliff face, in case the views weren't enough on their own. After all this, we arrived in Valbone to a flurry of buses that transferred us to our accommodation. We stayed at a guesthouse that was your typical cheap ski resort. We were right along a slow flowing river, but given the altitude we were at, the water was freezing cold. Our estimations skills were once again brought into question, and we figured it lay around 5 degrees Celsius. You would have to walk in, which made it all the worse as your legs and feet would be numb before your body could even find water deep enough to submerge itself. A quick dip was plenty for me, as I then enjoyed the much less harsh sun that hit us in the mountains. After this, we played a bit of volleyball and got close with a bunch of the people on the hike. Although still mostly Australians, the proportions have dropped significantly compared to the rest of the balkans. Whereas Australians are used to representing about 70% of any group of people in this part of the world, in this instance, we may have only been about 40%. We had a few Canadians, some Irish people, a couple from the US, and a few other people scattered across Europe. This was a nice change from the usual. Eventually, we had dinner made for us to prepare for a big hike. Unfortunately, it wasn't particularly big, and we had barely eaten that day, but it was enough to get by. To make things worse, it was a free for all to make lunches for the next day, and I and some of the guys chose to wait for it to die down a bit. This meant that we got the scraps for lunch the next day, but I'm not a massive eater, so it was enough. After this, we essentially just got ready for bed as we would be up at 5 am. to complete the hike. Although it was only about 7 hours of hiking, the earlier you start, the less of the direct sunlight you have to deal with during the steep incline at the beginning. Plus we were keen to have some celebratory drinks when we arrived in Theth.Läs mer