Second day of walking. Hotel restorant vellezerit ajdini to peqin

Since i was awake and there was no one around at seven to offer me any breakfast, i hit the road at 7.30.
A more interesting walk than yesterday and easier. I climbed up the hills that run along the north side of the river valley and thrn followed an old cart track along the ridgeline for most of the day. Some nice views and lotd of wild flowers.
And my first scary fog encounter. Heard one start up as i approached a farm house slong the trsck and was relieved to see it was on a chsin, since it seemef pretty to keen to tear me apart, but then another one started barking and then it was charging at me from a laneway. It got close enough for me to see its very large teeth. I guess it got to within two metres before i brandished my walking poles, which i poked at it. At first it just dodged out of their way and continued snarling, so i let out an enormous roar and ran at it, screaming my lungs out. Now it turned tail. I guess it was more scared of my roar than i was of its snarling. Encountered two more loose dogs after that, so i pre emptively ran at them screaming. Did the trick. Just hope that's  it for dogs now.
After the first dog incident i met a farmer and his wife on a donkey, heading off for a bit of farming. They were very insistent on telling me where i should be going, but of course i had no idea what they were saying.
After a lot of exposed walking along the ridge, the way descended among some lovely old olive trees, and i finally saw some old stone houses. They were the only ones all day though.
But i did pass by a muslim cemetery that looked like it had been in use a very long time. Interestingly there was no order to the plce at all, with graves plonked down ranfomly across the hillside.
I kept descending until i came out in a field full of people harvesting. They seemed a little put out that i was in their field. Unfortunately, that was the route i was given, but looking at the maps i can see it would be possible to avoid by walking a bit further.
Anyway, now i was down in the valley and the interesting walking came to an end. It was now a long slog along a dirt road surrounded by fields. I missed a turn so kept walking to the highway and ended the walking gor today with a horrible stretch of bitumen into peqin.
I made having a beer my first priority again, while deciding what to do next. The last bit of walking had pissed me off and i had it in mind to get on s bus to the world heritage town of berat. However, i had trouble communicating where i wanted to go. In the mesntime, i had a change of heart snd decided i may as well stay in peqin tonight and walk on tomorrow. I found the ruins of the castle. I thought it was the roman fort placed as a staging post along the via egnatia but apparently it's  from the 15th century. It was fun to explore anyway.  Now i headed s km out of town to what google maps says is a hotel. My stop for the night. Not. No, we don't have rooms, no we are not a hotel. I was a little devastated. Where to stay? So i sat down in their very nice courtyard and had a late lunch, which was identical to the dinner last night, right down to the price. Decided i would skip next two legs since a place to sleep was looking problematic and the descriptions made the walking sound dull. It was going to be flat along railway tracks or bitumrn road for 15 km or so and then through industrial ruins for last 10 or so.
Walked back into town and tried again to ask about a bus. This time, to elbassan which is the next big roman stop on the via egnatia. I asked a guy at western union about the bus. He took me to the cafe, sat down with me and we had a tea/coffee while he waited to show me the mini bus i needed coming up the road and then saw me on. Very helpful and kind of him.
So now I'm  in Elbasan. More of which tomorrow.
It's  only been two days but so far, despite some reasonably nice scenery etc, the walk is disappointing. It lacks the scenery and architectural and historical sites i am used to in France, but supposedly the next stage sees a lot of walking on the actual Roman road so perhaps things will improve...
It is a mystery how a place with a history at least as old as France's can have so little to see. This road, the via egnatia was the main thoroughfare from Rome to Constsntinople, and yet there seems to be almost  nothing from roman, byzantine or ottoman times to show for it.

Photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eZUginefPp53PEM39

Route info and map:
https://www.mapmyhike.com/workout/3514118587