Sitting in a pop-up bar, with stools and tables carved out of tree trunks, we could have been in Glastonbury.

But the view from our decking wasn’t that of music stages and muddy fields of tents. Rather we were perched halfway up a mountain in northern Albania, overlooking amazing alpine scenery.

The bar stop provided welcome refreshment on the first of a gruelling three day hike, the first leg taking us – five friends – from Thethi (probably the most rural place I have ever been) to Valbone.

After a night in a charming guest house, where we were served soup, cheeses, dauphinois potatoes, chocolate tiffin and a round of beers, we carried on with our hiking, getting near to the summit of Maja Roshit.

The steep ascents and descents made the walking tough going, but the views meant everything was worthwhile. And every now and again, enterprising shepherd children appeared from what seemed like nowhere to sell us cool Exotic Fantas and converse in a few words of broken English outside their parents’ (or grandparents’) summer houses in the hills. 

 On night two of the hike we had planned to wild camp in what had been billed by one account as an “inviting meadow”. But given the heavy going path and the fact that the light was fading, we realised we wouldn’t make that spot.

Our main concern was finding water. Finally one of my friends spotted a tap on a pipe leading down from the mountains to an old abandoned house in a clearing in the trees in the place where we had decided to spend the night.

Dinner was a hot Batchelor’s chicken pasta meal cooked on a portable camping stove. Once we had eaten, we got into bivvy bags and lay down on our roll mats under the stars. Fire flies operated like flash flights, briefly illuminating the sky every few minutes.

I thought about the possibility of bears (we had been told they were around these parts) charging at us from the forest next to where we had pitched camp or bandits rolling up at the spooky-looking house in the clearing (the latter appeared like it once could have been a youth hostel, but now contained lots of graffiti). However, for the most part, bar a few animals rustling in the leaves or birds calling out, things were quiet and I got some sleep.

On the third and final day, we continued our hike through more amazing valleys and over limestone gorges – attempting to make conversation with shepherds hanging out in their summer houses along the way – before arriving back at Thethi.

Considered the centre of hiking in these parts, the village is a popular base for Eastern European tourists (we didn’t see any other English) during the summer months. We had been a little apprehensive visiting, as a week before we arrived two Czech tourists were shot dead as they returned to their camp site, but with the prime suspect reportedly caught and commentary suggesting it to be an isolated incident, we stuck with our plans.

The people in the guest house we stayed at were extremely friendly and, as had been the case in Valbone, we were cooked a lovely rustic evening meal and breakfast the next before carrying on with our journey across Albania.

Getting out of the Thethi valley was just as slow as it was getting in. The road was steep and there was little room to pass cars, so we had to keep reversing where it was a little wider. Yes, it was frustrating, but the beautiful scenery made it all worthwhile.

We stayed in some nice hotels elsewhere in Albania, including in the seaside resort of Duressi and the gloomy capital of Tirana (both places where museums didn’t open when they should and air conditioning was limited in the sweltering heat). But these places are not the country’s highlights. You want to head to the mountains to appreciate the best of Albania – look elsewhere for beaches and nice cities.

Our big question about rural northern Albania was – why don’t more people visit a place that’s more beautiful than most other parts of Europe? It’s time for the Albanian government to work harder to market itself to overseas tourists. This could give the boost that this country so desperately needs.