White Knuckle Ride

Saturday 21 September 2024

We left our idyllic chilled out lakeside spot at 9:30 AM heading north for Theth in the Albanian Alps - just 44 miles away. The Sat Nav gave an arrival time of 11:30 AM indicating an average speed of just 22mph. The road soon started climbing steeply, became windy with hairpin bends and was, for most of the trip, just one car/van’s width. Because I’m on the side passing other vehicles with just centimetres to spare I breathed in deeply, kept my eyes closed a fair bit, swore an awful lot and clung on for dear life! We frequently ground to a halt - especially when we got caught behind a full size bus negotiating the route. 

Tourism in the Theth National Park has only recently started growing as a result of the road being tarmacked in Autumn 2021. Previously the  dirt road kept all but the most determined tourists, or those with 4x4’s, away. As the road and villages close between November and May, due to snow making the mountain road impassable, the visiting window is small and the number of tourists wanting to see the National Park, and especially The Blue Eye Lake/Pool, is big. 

Driving in and then out of Theth, not because it was gridlocked but because the car park was full, we carried on to the Grunas Waterfall - a short 1/2 hour walk from the road. 

Then the next trek was a 50 minute climb up past canyons, rose coloured boulders and clear turquoise blue streams before finally arriving at Syri i Kalter - The Blue Eye. 

Not to be confused with the ‘other’ Syri i Kalter - (The Blue Eye in the south of the country) where the water bubbles up from an underground canyon and attracts thousands of visitors daily, this pool is fed by a small waterfall and, to be honest, it was a little disappointing. 

The hike was definitely worth it for the breathtaking scenery en route but the hype around The Blue Eye, in my opinion, isn’t. I now have to psyche myself up for the return white knuckle ride back down the mountain!