Unspoilt. It’s a word that’s overused and seldom truly applicable, but Albania’s Vjosa River makes a compelling claim.
Its source is 80 miles across the border in the Pindus mountains of Greece, in a UNESCO Geopark, while the entire 119 miles of Vjosa in Albania is also protected as a “managed nature reserve”. Uninterrupted by dams all the way to the Adriatic coast, this is a truly wild river. And the drive that follows its banks is pretty wild, too
Perhaps not as wild as the traffic in the capital Tiranë, however. The city of around 600,00 people is crammed between mountains, with precious little room to expand except up. Shiny new towers rise high above the drab communist era blocks, while below them there’s a constant stream of cars, trucks and their accompanying horns.
The Mazda CX-30 I’m driving takes it all in its stride, cutting and thrusting where necessary to fight through the chaos. There are battles that I won’t pick, however, and those are with the sinister black AMG G-Wagons and Lamborghini Urus SUVs whose drivers act like they own the road – and quite possibly do.
It’s a relief to escape and head south on the A3 motorway towards Elbasan before joining the SH7 in the direction of the Adriatic. The SH4 takes me south, skirting Fier, but it’s not until beyond Gjonç that I catch sight of the Vjosa for the first time.
For the last couple of hours, it’s felt like something of a slog to put Tiranë behind me on largely featureless, mostly straight roads, and seeing the wide expanse of Vjosa, albeit barely a trickle, after an intensely hot summer, is welcome. Now on the SH75, I pass numerous white water rafting centres, but spy only two rafts on the river itself. Come spring, when the meltwater runs off the mountains, I imagine that hurtling down the foaming rapids would be exhilarating, but for now the Vjosa runs at a gentle speed.
The road follows the flow of the river, meandering along its banks, crossing tributaries on narrow iron bridges, then detouring inland and up, in a section that throws in hairpin after hairpin as it ascends, revealing glorious views over the Vjosa valley below. For a compact SUV the CX-30 is surprisingly fun on the bendy bits, with direct steering and well-managed body control. Its 2.5-litre engine is reasonably gutsy, but doesn’t sound like it’s enjoying itself, while the six-speed automatic transmission occasionally opts for an inappropriate gear, even in Sport mode. It’s possible to change manually, and I try that for a time, which is a little better. An MX-5 would be ideal here, especially with top dropped to enjoy the mountain air.
The Perati Bridge was long a crossing into neighbouring Greece, until it was destroyed during World War II. It’s since been replaced by a small border post and bridge, and it’s not far past here that I turn north away from the Vjosa on the SH65 to Leskovik.
Here I find the Melesin Distillery, makers of award-winning gin, wine, and raki. There’s also a restaurant on site serving tasty local produce and a few rooms, should you decide to imbibe.
If you want to spoil yourself after this unspoilt drive, I’d highly recommend it.
ROADBOOK
CLASS: River Run
NAME: Vjosa Valley
ROUTE: Tiranë to Leskovik
COUNTRY: Albania
Distance: 200 Miles
Unspoilt. It’s a word that’s overused and seldom truly applicable, but Albania’s Vjosa River makes a compelling claim.