13. North Macedonia

A straight forward border crossing along the shores of Lake Ohrid from Albania into Macedonia. Immediately more trees (many of them on the Albanian side were cut down after several people hid in the woods to flee during the Hoxha regime, so tells us Kapka Kassabova, though all of Albania feels more treeless – Jon speculates that more used for fire wood over the decades?).

We are lured into thinking that the litter situation is better than Greece or Albania but it turns out in following days that this must just be a stretch that is kept reasonably litter free for touristy purposes as the worst litter we see is after Ohrid. There’s plastic EVERYWHERE. Plastic dams in rivers, plastic shores plastic in trees rubbish tipped mindlessly everywhere. UTTERLY depressing. I have zero doubt that we are generating just as much plastic in the UK if not more but that it gets hidden or shipped away. But it made me think that we are truly all doomed. It is to a scale which seems beyond retrievable.

By this stage though I’m not yet utterly depressed but just delighted at the trees and the loveliness of North Macedonia.

We stop at Sveti Naum monastery which all feels very pristine and manicured with many touristy booths selling tat and boat trip tours round the springs and the lake. The peacocks are in full breeding dress lolling around the actual church making their crazy noises. Inside is dark and atmospheric and smells of candles as in all Orthodox churches and we leave as a woman leans down over Sveti Naum’s remains to pray for whichever bit of herself needs healing.

The road to Ohrid goes along the shore, mostly high up looking down on the water. It’s spectacular. The oaks aren’t out yet so we get great views. Truly majestic. Loch Ness rivalling.

Ohrid approach ends up taking us on some slow dual carriage way through the suburbs after endless ultra touristy pockets along the lake, and eventually eventually we get to the old town and push the bikes steep steep uphill to an utterly lovely rented room with fine window views on the old fort walls, the old town and the lake. I could spend months here. It turns out that “Jonathan from Edinburgh” did exactly that, according to our hosts Nada and Stefan.

Ohrid: read Kapka Kassabova’s To the Lake. It’s a lovely town. An amazing museum stuffed full of interesting things. Many many beautiful old buildings. A walkway over the water and twinkly lights around the harbour at dusk. It’s Ramadan and we eat in restaurants with families breaking their fast and it all feels festive and lovely. Good salads and chips with sirene. Bean stew.

Rain was forecast but never really appeared and after a few days of soaking up the scene, walking along endless backstreets and staircases and generally exploring and lolling around we head off towards the North.

Cue the depressing bit about the litter as soon as we are away from Ohrid. It’s getting seriously colder and there’s snow on the hills. We book into the guest house of Sveti Jovan Bigorski monastery as there is no way that we are camping in this weather. We both get very very cold cycling and have to have multiple stops to add yet another layer.

The monastery and the national park it is in are lovely, steep mountains dotted with most mosques and Orthodox churches. The calls to prayer echo around the hillside. We catch the monks polishing their brass before Easter at dusk in the monastery (a staggering building recently rebuilt) then walk down hill to eat mijak food served by our mijak waiter wearing mijak clothes surrounded by mijak photos. This is a one establishment cultural mijak centre.

By the morning it has actually snowed and off we head after a mijak breakfast of burek, couscous, feta and yoghurt that leaves both of us reeling and probably adds two kilos to proceedings. V good Turkish coffee in its own little Turkish coffee tray.

Onwards through Debar town centre to another straightforward border crossing back into Albania!

Macedonia overall: really hard to get a sense of the whole country from just Ohrid Debar and a monastery over 4 days, but not hard to pick up on a really complicated mix of cultures and a country trying to prove itself. Lots of contrasts and many subtleties. Very friendly and stunning natural environment but the most depressing and worst litter I have seen in a long time. As I left the country, my last image was a border guard tossing his pizza box over the fence. We both were very glad we had been and would both love to come back.