Another Long Walk: Day 5: The Sun Hates Me

May 8, 2025: I slept well that night. And the morning was beautiful! Because I had camped on the west side of a steep hill, I didn't expect the sun to actually show itself there for hours, so I broke up camp and started hiking while still in the shade.

You can see the giant shadow of the mountain I was camped on in the morning. It would be hours before the sun reached our campsite!

Most of the trail was relatively flat and easy making for rapid progress. The trail followed the contour around the mountain on which I had camped, and it quickly lead me into the sun where the temperatures soared seemingly within a couple of minutes. The trail might have been flat and easy, but the sun was brutal!

I missed a turn from the gravel road that I had been following and had to backtrack about five minutes to find the correct turnoff, which was down a very narrow and overgrown trail and super easy to miss. But I found it and continued onward, none-the-worse for wear.

The trail soon split into the main path and an alternate path. For the most part, I prefer following the main path unless there is some specific reason not to, but looking at the maps, the alternate path looked easier and had me following alongside a scenic beach and seemed like it would be more pleasant. On the other hand, keeping in the mountains away from the coast might be a bit more rugged, but the views were phenomenal.

So I decided.... on the easy, flat beach route.

Borsh Beach, straight ahead!

In any case, the trail started heading downhill toward sea level and as it approached civilization, there were seemingly two separate groups of sheep and goat herders, both with angry dogs. After my success in cutting a switchback to avoid them yesterday, I wanted to do the same today.

This cutting of the switchback was considerably steeper than the last time and Karolina was convinced it was dangerous. I was surprised--I had seen her scramble up and down even more steep terrain than that. Yes, it wasn't ideal, but it was certainly manageable! She eventually followed behind me, somewhat reluctantly, but her hesitation had given one of the flocks of sheep time to move into our way at the bottom of the cut before we could get through, so it turned out to be for nothing. I still picked up rocks, prepared to throw them at the angry dogs, but the shepherds managed to keep the dogs away from us and that wound up not being necessary.

And then... I came to a creek. There was no bridge, and no easy way to cross it without getting my feet wet. My first ford! It would also be my only ford. I tromped through without even taking off my shoes like I'm usually inclined to do--and boy was that water cold!--but Karolina had to stop and take off her shoes before crossing, then stop again to put them back on afterwards. So inefficient! =)

Karolina starts taking off her shoes in order to ford the creek.

Then I followed another gravel road to the beach before turning onto a paved road paralleling the beach into the small town of Qazim Pali.

Once again, it seemed like half the town was under construction. There is a massive construction boom happening in Albania right now! I passed one construction site after another and nothing appeared to be open for at least a mile!

But then I finally reached the "open" part of the beach where I stopped at an open-air, beach-side restaurant for a break. I was keen on ordering lunch having already ate cereal for breakfast. But was told, however, that lunch items would not be available until noon--still a couple of hours away. So I decided not to order anything--for now. Maybe I would still be around in a couple of hours for me to order lunch, though. =)

So many resorts being built on these beaches! So few tourists at this time....

Almost immediately upon sitting down on the shaded patio, clouds came out and the sun was obscured. The sweltering heat we had been hiking in turned into an uncomfortably chilly breeze.

I waded into the water of the Mediterranean just for the heck of it, and that water was cold! I did see people swimming in it, but there weren't hoards of people and now I knew why!

After a couple of hours of resting, noon struck and I asked the waiter if I could order lunch now. He said sure, and I ordered the chicken tacos. "I'm sorry sir, but we are out of that."

Already?! But the lunch hour just started! Dejected, I settled on a Caesar salad with fries.

My beach-side, open-air restaurant... stupid clouds!

After I ate lunch, and nearly three hours after we arrived, I figured it was time to keep going and I paid the bill, picked up my pack, and started hiking.

Almost immediately, the scorching heat of the sun came out again. Oh, come on! It was cloudy and cold almost the entire time I was resting, and now when I would have preferred it being cloudy and cool, the sun comes out again? Stupid sun. Stupid clouds. *shaking head*

I passed another shepherd with angry dogs, and picked up more rocks to throw just in case, but just the threat of throwing them was enough to keep the dogs at bay and I didn't actually have to throw any.

And along this next section of trail, I passed a lot of other hikers! Actual hikers! One was a large group of about a dozen people, led by a guide. They were certainly not thru-hiking the Southern Coastal Trail, but perhaps signed up for a nice afternoon walk between two towns where the trail was in good condition.

But I also passed by two separate couples who did look like they might have been thru-hiking the trail, but we passed by each other like two ships in the night without anything more than a "Hello" so I never got their stories.

I finally arrived at Lukova Beach. Again, most businesses appeared to be closed, but there was one restaurant that was open playing music that was painfully loud. I decided to skip it and head to the beach where I grabbed a lounge chair to rest.

And, almost immediately, the clouds came back and covered the sun. Really?! Why did the sun only come out today while I was actually hiking and preferred cool weather?! When I was sitting in the shade with a nice breeze, then the clouds came out and it got too cold?! I felt like I must have made the weather gods angry for some unknown reason.

I was not the only tourist here, among the dozens of lounge chairs, only two others were occupied. From eavesdropping on them I figured out that they were from Germany and the UK.

This time, not only did the clouds come in, but there was even a trace amount of rain. I felt the occasional drop and wondered if I would have to move somewhere that was more protected from the elements, but nothing came from it and I was able to stay in my lounge chair. It was still chilly, but at least not so wet.

I had stopped near a pier. When I first arrived, I walked out onto it to see the view, but now I saw a guy who looked like a local that would walk along it, then peer over each side very intensely. We were curious what he was doing and continued to watch. About five minutes later, another guy joined him. What were they looking for? What were they doing?

A few minutes later, it looked like one of them was now carrying a small harpoon. Where had that come from?! Were they hunting? Looking for the perfect fish off the side of the pier to catch? I never saw them deploy the harpoon, much to my regret, but I was curious all the same and wished something more would happen.

The pier! The pier!

Looking at the maps ahead, I predicted that we could probably find somewhere to set up camp at the far end of the beach. After that, the trail climbs a steep hillside and I had doubts about camping opportunities after that. Consequently, I knew I had to walk maybe 10 or 15 minutes from our current location and I was in no particular rush, taking a break there for a couple of hours.

Eventually, however, it was time to go, and I packed up my bag and headed out.

And, once again, the sun came out. Really?! Geeze! Not that I had to hike far or hard, but still, it seemed like a mean joke for the sun to come out the minute I finally left from my break. The clouds and sun were laughing at me.

Just as I started hiking to the end of the beach to find a place to camp, the sun came out again. *sigh*

At the far end of the beach, I had gotten away from the civilization and the trail led inland through some olive groves. The olive groves had clearly been used by many people as a campsite with several old fire rings dotting the area. I would bet that those fires were illegal, but I had no intention of building any fires. I just wanted a place to camp, and this looked ideal.

I didn't want to camp directly on the beach itself. I've done it before, and the sand gets everywhere and isn't very stable. You get yourself into a good position, but then the sand shifts underneath you and it's no longer comfortable anymore. But the grassy field under the olive trees looked positively luxurious to me, and that's where I wanted to camp, so that's where we camped. =)

I claimed this land for my campsite for the night. There's still a lovely view of the Mediterranean, and you can tell that we were not the first people to camp here. See the fire ring in the background? (And there were several others in the area!)

The beach, however, was perhaps a one-minute walk away and the views of the Mediterranean were still visible even from camp. It was a lovely spot to stop.

After sunset, I headed back to camp and went to sleep. The end of another day!