4000kms to reach Macedonia.

Finally after 3 days of being held up in a hotel in Kosovo, Peter and I left the La Corte Bar & Restaurant Prishtine at 10am to aim for Macedonia.  We didn't have any real target for the day as we were still feeling a little off with the recent virus. To our surprise the ride out of town was simple, up a hill and then downhill through a lot of industrial areas.

 The above photo shows 4011kms on Peter's speedo since we left Istanbul on 28th June 2013. 

For the first part of the morning we cruised along at around 22kph with a light tailwind to our morning tea break. The road out of Prishtine for 40kms is surrounded by car yards, hotels, markets, cement factories, timber yards and housing estates going up in the hundreds.  I thought that this place would have been less developed than what I was seeing, but perhaps I was ignorant of the fact that enormous progress had been made since the Kosovo war.  And all has been positive.

What we both noticed that the further we got away from the city and headed to the border of Macedonia, people would wave to us and say hello.  This is something that we hardly experienced in other parts of the country.  By 12.30pm it was time to have a good break, my back was tired and I needed some food to help me through the afternoon.

We pulled over into a wooded area and pulled out the tarp, had a banana roll and laid down.  Life can be a real bitch sometimes. It was very tough laying down in the shade of trees, protected from the sun, a slight cool breeze and trying to nod off.  The photo below is Peter's bike in the woods where we had our lunch today.

 Back on the bike for another hour and hopefully closer to the border.  At 3pm we stopped again for a drink and a chat with one of the locals.  We were told the border was about 2kms away and a hotel was a further 2kms down the road on the left hand side.  Now that's pretty clear directions if you ask me.  Once again either this bloke failed Maths 101 or I need new glasses as we both missed it.  There was nothing down the road other than abandoned buildings. 

The border crossing was the quickest ever.  I rode pass all the waiting vehicles and jumped straight in front of the the 2nd vehicle in the queue.  Once the car in front of me had finished I was next and 15 seconds later I was stamped out of Kosovo.  A couple of hundred metres later, exactly the same thing again, jumped the queue, got my stamp and we were now in Macedonia.  Before we started this tour we had no idea we were going to Kosovo or Macedonia. 

Since we couldn't find a hotel or guesthouse anywhere along the road we headed for the town of Volkovo as on google it looked promising for a bed. We turned off the highway and followed some old country roads till we both thought, 'we're lost'.  Peter asked a lady for some help and she told us we were in fact in Volkovo and that's it's a village with no accommodation.  This was not good considering we had ridden close to 80kms and not feeling well doing it.  After some drawings and photos we headed off in search of the Motel Mramos. The photo below is myself and helpful friend.

 As soon as turned onto the rocky trail we had a couple of people call out to us wanting us to stop.  I didn't want to stop, I wanted to get this day over with, I was tired, my back was tired and I'd had enough. Peter stopped so I had to turn around and join the chat.  As it turned out, it was a god send that Peter stopped. The husband on the lady Peter was speaking to was a mad cyclist, I think that's different to us as we're both keen cyclists.  This man who for the life of me can't remember his name, offered to ride with us the remaining 8kms to make sure we reach the hotel. I could not say enough about the generosity of the people of Volkovo.

We continued towards the capital with our friend and straight to our hotel. It was just magic to turn the corner and see our resting place for the night.  A 40 Euro fee was little expensive, but at 5.30pm they can charge what they like, we have to accept.  After a couple of photos of our friends it was time for a shower and rest the back.

 The above photo was taken back in the town of Volkovo with the wife of the man who rode 8kms with us to our hotel. He wanted to make sure we made it.

The photo above was taken at the hotel with our new friend who also got in the act with the 4000km sign. 
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After a nice shower,  we headed out for dinner and back to the hotel for an early night. 

Tomorrow we head towards Gostivar and then take on more mountains before Lake Ohrid.  We have a deadline on the 28th September to meet my good cycling buddy Len in Cesme, Turkey, so we need to get a move on.

Until tomorrow, safe riding.