Monday today…it must be North Macedonia! Haha…like some whistle-stop bus tour of Europe! Three countries in two days! But nothing whistle-stop about cycling. Only the one night in Albania…but we’ll be back in two days time…for another one!!
A nice easy day today…not too many kms…and not many metres of climbing! (Having said that…if I did that at home…I’d think it was a big day out!!).
The clocks shifted an hour when we crossed from Greece to Albania..so we were both awake at sparrow’s fart…so we left!
Back onto that brand new road!
What a road! So well put together….and so little traffic to justify it!
….with most of the climbing completed before a well-earned breakfast at Korce…home to the ubiquitous-in-Albania Korca beer.
Two giant slabs of Pizza…and three coffees…for just 330 leks (a little less than 3.30 euros)! (In Greece…interestingly…coffee is surprisingly expensive..and you’d be lucky to get one coffee for that price!). Haha..not sure anyone is interested in the cost of things…but I always find it fascinating…especially when you can travel but a few kilometres and find such drastic differences!
From Korce, the valley opened out…
…as we approached the magnificent Lake Ohrid.
Iain will be interested in these photographs….very different from when we were here just three years ago! (This year’s route crosses our ‘Athens’ ride for only 20kms!!)
And on that route…was the gorgeous Trpejca!! And I just could not ride past without stopping.
What a gem. Right beside the greeny blue flatness of Lake Ohrid.
Extraordinary water….and extraordinarily peaceful.
The water snakes were a bit alarming…..but that did not stop us swimming (harmless apparently!). A dive off the jetty to break the ice…so to speak…and chase them away! Apparently they had snow here in April (we are still over 700m)…& a crappy-weather May…but the water temperature was just fine! One of the best swims really…water flatter than a swimming pool…where the water is disturbed by ones own wake!
We had arrived before 1pm…and had booked a place right on the lake….so it was a lovely lazy afternoon!
…overlooking that mesmerising water…..!!
And finally….a toilet sign which I have no problem obeying!
Honestly….putting shit in a bin…however “special”…is a struggle…especially when modern toilet paper dissolves so quickly……!
At one of the tavernas….they noted on their blurb…”the fishing village of Trpejca, or as many like to call it “Macedonian St Tropez”’!! Well….I might not go that far!
This is in fact far, far nicer!
scenery looks tranquil, but traffic cops w/be redundant