Where’s Albania?

Where’s Albania?

By roychinnor2 Comments
  Dubrovnik to Tirana I know my education was lacking in many areas, but in this instance I felt that I wasn’t alone, but where precisely is Albania, what is the culture there and, importantly for me, how is their driving? I don’t even know anybody that has visited the country. As I have now found Albania is actually a small country on the Adriatic coast sandwiched between Montenegro, in the north, and Greece, to the south. Across the Adriatic, it is more or less opposite the heel of Italy’s boot. It shares an inland border with North Macedonia. It gained independence in 1912 from the Ottoman Empire and since the second World War has been governed by a succession of ‘appointed’ Presidents until 1991. Then the first democratically elected President took office. The country was effectively controlled by Russia from 1945 until 1991. I was initially wary on the drive from Dubrovnik, because standards were dropping the further south I was travelling. From...
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Dubrovnik

By roychinnorNo Comments
I am in a hotel in Dubrovnik and this is a photo of the lift I used on arrival. Sorry about a very bad pun, but it's been in my head the whole time I have been here, My claim to fame is that I was in Schindler's Lift! Glad that's over with so let's move on. I am indeed in Dubrovnik some 200+ miles from my last stop and probably the best known location in Croatia. In modern times, it came to international recognition in 1991/2 with the break-up of Yugoslavia. Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia and reverted to an independent nation in its own right as it had been from around 10th Century, until the second World War. The conflict was officially between the Croats and the Yugoslav army led primarily by the Serbians. The army at that stage included Bosnian and Montenegrins, as well as Serbian troops, but both Bosnia and Montenegro went on to declare independence themselves. First...
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To Hot To Drive Or Call

To Hot To Drive Or Call

By roychinnorNo Comments
You may be thinking to yourselves "that photo isn't Bridget!" and you would be about right. If the colour was changed to lime green, then this was all I saw of two of these machines as they buzzed me on the route to Menaggio. Up until now, a picture is all I had seen, then along come two, just like London buses (well not quite like them, but you know what I mean). I can tell you that the picture does not do them justice. Bridget and I spent a couple of restful days in Menaggio, on the banks of Lake Maggiore. I first came here on our (Bridget and I) inaugural run together in 2006. That year we had followed the whole of the coast of Italy, down the west coast, around Sicily and back up the east coast from where we drove over to the Italian Lakes. We first stopped at Bellaggio then crossed over to Menaggio. I decided...
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YouTube Channel

By roychinnorNo Comments
Weekend break on the banks of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy. Even with the usual throng of tourists from all over Europe and the States, it has been both reflective and relaxing. The route here from Esch sur Sure is below:   I was somewhat disappointed that having paid the Swiss toll for using their roads of £45, I was then held up at one of the tunnels under the alps for well over an hour. However, it is difficult to complain too forcefully when you see the views along much of the route. I have videoed quite a bit of it and am launching a new YouTube Channel with a ten minute clip for those interested. The link to watch is https://youtu.be/qSKzz41Jmdw  and if you like it and wish to see more as the trip unfolds then please when you are in YouTube select Subscribe. It doesn't cost anything, although whilst on the subject, I shall once again plead for a donation...
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STOP PRESS – Please read this

By roychinnorNo Comments
Just wanted to say a BIG thank you to the family who having just seen me on the road today, were generous enough to donate to the Save the Children charity on my Just Giving page (there it is look, just to the right of this). If this support could just go viral, at five pounds a piece, it could make such a difference to the 2.5 million children displaced in Ukraine as well as all the others that the charity continuously works to help. Remember, we were due to travel through the Ukraine on this road trip, but can't because of the invasion. A minor inconvenience compared to what the children there are being forced to endure. Please support us before logging off. Roy Locock...
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