This is the last time you'll hear from us for a while!

Today is the official start of our hiking trip! No hiking involved, but a hotel in town is part of the trip, so we have moved there. Then tomorrow morning they supply breakfast and then they drive us up into the mountains at 8:30am where they have a 19.8 km (12.3 mile) day planned for us!

And the long term weather forecast looks fabulous! Sunny, with highs of around 25C (77F), except for a couple of days where it's supposed to get up to 30C (86F). Gonna be sweating on those days!

Cooler at night up in the mountains though... lows of between 12C (54F) to 18C (64F).

Today, we did some last minute running around.

It's cherry season here in Albania, and we remember from when we were here before... sweet, juicy delicious cherries... and inexpensive!

We bought a kilo bag (2.2 lbs) for 170 lek ($1.80 USD, $2.50 CAD).

Yummy!

Scenery along the way.

Abandoned building streetside cafe.

We stopped for a mid afternoon lunch.

I had the "meat balls" which got great reviews. Have to admit, I wasn't overly impressed!

Ruth had the stuffed eggplant. Also not impressed.

Oh well. We win more times than we lose with meals out.

We went to a dollar store type of place where we had a list of things to get. Blister bandages, small plastic containers, a pill box for my medications, and a few other bits and pieces.

Then we stopped by a pharmacy. Given that we fly out of Albania on the 24th, we won't have much time then, and my cholesterol and blood pressure pills are so cheap here. I bought a four month supply of each for a grand total of about €9 ($9.70 USD, $13.30 CAD). 

And I had to get some money changed. The ATM's have become expensive here in Albania, whereas there used to be one bank that didn't charge any fees. So I had some $USD I've been carrying around and I changed them into Euros. We will be walking through Kosovo and Montenegro and they both readily accept Euros, more so than Albanian lek.

Then we sat and had an ice cream!

While we were sitting there, a bunch of bicycles went through. 

Shkodra is unlike any other city in Albania in that there is a huge bike riding culture.

The cafe's aren't very busy mid afternoon. 

Busy in mornings and evenings.

So, I did get all of our flights back to Canada booked.

There is no easy way to get from Albania to Canada. And the easier ways are also of course the most expensive. We have lots of time, but not lots of money, so we chose to do it the cheap and difficult way!

Tirana to Rome on the 24th, overnight in Rome airport, Rome to Porto, Portugal the next morning on the 25th, two nights in Porto, and Porto to Toronto on the 27th. Total of about €440 ($473 USD, $650 CAD) per person each one way for all three flights.

At least we get two nights in Porto, and we've never been there before.

Arriving in Toronto is cheaper than arriving in Ottawa, but then of course we still have to get to Ottawa. We're still working out those details, but we have some interesting options that we'll tell you about depending on what comes together!

So, this is probably the last time you'll hear from us for a while. While we will have some cellular access occasionally, I'm not bringing my laptop. I can do a short blog post from my phone though, so we'll see. Maybe I'll get a chance to drop some photos here for you.

Otherwise, we will be offline for the next 11 days!

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4 Pack of RV Water Filters. There is a 50% ff coupon showing on the product page. Great deal!

And in Canada...

Bedsure Extra Large Dog Bed On lightning deal!