The International Men of Mystery

Dumball Day 5 - Dubrovnik to Albania

After the small delays getting away from Dubrovnik (see below) we finally set out at around lunch time. Headed through the town of Dubrovnik and up the hill out of town. Had to stop at the top as the 'Hearse Today, Gone Tomorrow' car was overheating. Seems they have a problem with their fan. Decided it was Ok to continue a fix later. Drove south along the coast using some of the worst roads so far. Pot holes, no tarmac and unmarked roadwork's (including holes in the road) seem normal. Had to stop to jettison some of the Hearse today's contents. It was hitting on every bump in the road and threatening to loose its exhaust. The coffin bar complete with optics had to go. Held a 1 minute clap (instead of silence) to mourn the passing of the bar.

Passed over the border into Montenegro without too much trouble and headed off to Albania again. Got stopped when we came across a landslide which had blocked the road and had to wait until a bull-dozer could clear it. Some of the teams used the opportunity to take a dip in the sea. We missed the road that would have taken us across to a border crossing and decided to continue as there was another crossing slightly further south. We were getting a bit concerned as the GPS didn't seem to know where we were and the scale of maps we had didn't show enough detail. The muppets discovered a tourist map of Montenegro in their car (eventually) and noticed that the road we were on seemed to end before the border and there was no crossing point! We stopped to ask a local for directions and ended up doubling back and rejoining the road that we should have been on originally. By this time it was getting dark. 

Eventually crossed the border into Albania in the dark. We had heard that the roads would be poor, they were right. In the dark we were coming across all manor of obstructions including cows, children, bicycles, tractors, goats. Dangerous stuff but luckily we didn't hit anything. Arrived in Shkodra at around 9:30. It's obviously a very poor area of the country with children piling around the cars begging as we were driving through. The guys in the escort cabriolet actually had children getting into the car (while they were moving) and trying to steal anything they could lay their hands on. The Hotel (Europa Grand Hotel) looked the business but on closer inspection wasn't. Plumbing was atrocious and the restaurant service practically none existent. We arrived in the restaurant at 10:00 and didn't get any food 'till gone midnight. When it came it was either the wrong thing or cold. Shan't be recommending this one I'm afraid.

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