2 weeks to go to GlobalLimits Albania – The Hidden Treasure

We will be celebrating our third race in this culturally rich, but lesser known country in Europe.

Let us share with our readers, how this race was conceived2.  

The first task is to determine where in Albania.  We wanted an authentic experience for our runners.  Albania is the crossroad of Shqip, Ottoman, ancient Greek, and Roman cultures – as a result, the start line is at the Berat Castle in the middle of Albania (Ottoman); and the finish line is at the Butrinti National Park, where the Greek and Roman footprints could be found. Both sites are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites that are preserved and protected.  Connecting the two points took us an authentic adventure across the southern half of the country. 

Could one navigate Albania landside with Google map?  You would be surprised how many Albanian people are still living in isolated villages that no official roads have been mapped out.  Take the school camp at the end of Stage 1 as an example.  We “found” this location accidentally after realizing that our original plan to camp next to a lake in the area failed.  There is no trails going to the lake and the mud around it is too soft and dangerous to set camps.  However, this school is not on any map.  We were lost for a few hours on bumpy roads before we found it again the second time we wanted to visit it.

We had a lot of doubts whether we were able to cross the mountain valley between the village of Buzi (camp 2)and the village of Peshtan (where Camp 3 stands).   As cars had no access to the trails, we had to trek on foot and we did not know whether we found a runnable path to cross it.  It was a rainy, windy day the first time when we were there.  We had only the shepherd as our guide and did not know how long we had to trek. 

The long stage is the most difficult part of our route-searching trip.  Although the area around the village Peshtan is a well-known hiking area, there is little information and maps about it. Fortunately, we found Cimi – who is the best local guide in the area, and he remains with us today in our course marking team.  That day, he led us to this little village that could only be accessed by trekking and donkey; and to the village of Limar, which was interestingly built on a slope, where we were invited into one of the houses to rest and to have tea after the long hike (Albania hospitality, even none of them spoke English).

To find a trail fort he 5h stage we hiked up the ex-mining site what was not really easy for us.  The large stones were loose and the various seemingly visible trails led to nowhere (that means we had to try again and again).  But the trek indeed provided us a lot of inspiration on what native material to use for our trophies. 

The last stage is a wonderful trail along the Ionian coast.  Good for the foot but not the best for large 4WD!