Leaving our little Albanian Paradise...for the delights of the incredible P16 along+above the Montenegrin parts of Lake Shkoder.
To me, one of the TOP5 roads of the whole 3 weeks
Shkoder (Albania) -> P16 -> Lovcen Nat. Park -> Kotor -> Lepetane (Montenegro)
https://goo.gl/wuAphA
...and Gmaps sort-of has it right, ~240k and 6.5hrs before various stops, lunch, photos and a VERY slow descent down the Kotor Serpentines behind a long line of traffic stretched it all to about 10hrs on-the-road
Another chaotic 8-morning-kilometers from our Lakeside stay into Shkoder town.....2 old farts on push-bikes side-by-side treadling towards the city, flanked by a 3. old fart on a moped with a wicker-basket strapped to the back. 4 long geese-necks bobbing along with the potholes, the birds apparently quite happy about the scenic ride (or just hanging onto their beaks).
A kilometer of campers, black Mercs, black Golfs, schoolbus, a couple of tractors belching their Diesel clouds while slowly following the chatty Trio.....as a horse drawn cart trundles around the flashy, new roundabout while a couple of wrinkly matushkas try to force their vegie-carts into the oncoming crawl for better visibility...and hopefully the odd sale.
It's all starting to feel a little like "home" by now...
Out the south of the small city and across that Bojana-bridge underneath the Rozafa Castle.
Barely 20mins later we're up to the old Customs-routines of melting-in-the-sun-for-30mins, passports/rego-papers/Green Cards/ gloves on, gloves off/helmet off, helmet on/ pull over + stow paperwork...a quick fill-up at Fontana Derves and we're out of the traffic immediately by turning onto the P16
The narrow road climbs the hillside back to the Albanian border and to a set of comm-towers, before tacking north-west for the next 3 hrs. along the spines of the mountain-ranges between the Montenegrin Coast and Lake Shkoder.
ABSOLUTE GOLD!
If there are issues with vertigo, I'd suggest to stay away from the P16 though...some of the views give that queasy feeling in the gut and the smallest goof-up or mishap/ tech-issue
will be very high-priced.
Up, up we go...
Just about back in Albania, there's the turnabout....
bb
Tiny villages along the lakeshore...
To me, one of the TOP5 roads of the whole 3 weeks
Shkoder (Albania) -> P16 -> Lovcen Nat. Park -> Kotor -> Lepetane (Montenegro)
https://goo.gl/wuAphA
...and Gmaps sort-of has it right, ~240k and 6.5hrs before various stops, lunch, photos and a VERY slow descent down the Kotor Serpentines behind a long line of traffic stretched it all to about 10hrs on-the-road
Another chaotic 8-morning-kilometers from our Lakeside stay into Shkoder town.....2 old farts on push-bikes side-by-side treadling towards the city, flanked by a 3. old fart on a moped with a wicker-basket strapped to the back. 4 long geese-necks bobbing along with the potholes, the birds apparently quite happy about the scenic ride (or just hanging onto their beaks).
A kilometer of campers, black Mercs, black Golfs, schoolbus, a couple of tractors belching their Diesel clouds while slowly following the chatty Trio.....as a horse drawn cart trundles around the flashy, new roundabout while a couple of wrinkly matushkas try to force their vegie-carts into the oncoming crawl for better visibility...and hopefully the odd sale.
It's all starting to feel a little like "home" by now...
Out the south of the small city and across that Bojana-bridge underneath the Rozafa Castle.
Barely 20mins later we're up to the old Customs-routines of melting-in-the-sun-for-30mins, passports/rego-papers/Green Cards/ gloves on, gloves off/helmet off, helmet on/ pull over + stow paperwork...a quick fill-up at Fontana Derves and we're out of the traffic immediately by turning onto the P16
The narrow road climbs the hillside back to the Albanian border and to a set of comm-towers, before tacking north-west for the next 3 hrs. along the spines of the mountain-ranges between the Montenegrin Coast and Lake Shkoder.
ABSOLUTE GOLD!
If there are issues with vertigo, I'd suggest to stay away from the P16 though...some of the views give that queasy feeling in the gut and the smallest goof-up or mishap/ tech-issue
will be very high-priced.
Up, up we go...
Just about back in Albania, there's the turnabout....
bb
Tiny villages along the lakeshore...