Away from our surprisingly nice hotel in Blagoevgrad at 09:00 to a repeat of clear blue skies and the promise of significant heat later.
The plan today has us cycling the 50 or so miles from Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria to Kocani, Macedonian. En route, we'll be ticking our 11th country off by crossing the Bulgarian/Macedonian border.
We initially followed directions provided by the hotel staff out of Blagoevgrad. Fortunately, we were stopped after half a mile or so by a good Samaritan who provided more comprehensible and above all, direct instructions. This probably saved us an hour or so of going around in circles.
Under revised instruction, we back
tracked a mile or so north up the E79-1 and picked up the unsignposted route 27 that would eventually lead into Macedonia.
Within a mile or so of the turn, the road started to rise and for the next 18 miles we climbed and climbed. In fact, this initial climb only finished as we approached the border.
Fantastic scenery, good road surfaces and very little traffic made for a spectacular days cycling. One of the best of the trip.
For a change, the border control was for a 'proper' country rather than a member of the Euro theme park the EU region seems to have become.
We were correctly asked the 'why are you here/where are you going/anything to declare' questions by the Macedonian authorities before our passports were stamped and we were allowed on our way.
Yippeee....country 11 and our penultimate country of the trip!
After we crossed into Macedonian, the road went steeply downwards for about 7 miles when we rolled into the small town of Delcevo.
A quick bank and café stop later, we were once again ready to knock out some more mileage.
The day grew hotter and hotter and there was lots of evidence around us of how this affected the landscape. From arid, dried out vegetation to indications of recent brush fires. It was clear we were entering the drier southern regions.
We continued on route 27 and dispatched another long bitch of a 1:7 hill followed by a decent descent and a few more rollers. This took us over a fantastic mountain pass and then down into a steep sided gorge.
During the descent, we hit a massive unseen pothole that managed to simultaneously unship both rear panniers and scatter them in the road.
Fortunately, the bus that was immediately behind us, was driven by a good egg and not one of the usual plonkers we've been 'blessed' with thus far.
He did the decent thing and pulled up in front of our kit to stop any other road users from running over it. We were very pleased he also resisted the temptation to mangle the gear himself.
Tracey did her jumping and galloping routine and legged it up the road to reclaim our possessions. No damage done, we refitted the panniers and got back on our way.
We followed the river all the way down the gorge and eventually, Kocani hove into view in the near distance. As we took this in, our eyes swivelled to a nice looking spa hotel that seemed to appear, as if by magic, at the roadside.
We did the decent thing and chose the hotel that looked OK and was next to us rather than chance what may have been in Kocani. A bird in the hand and all that....
Apart from the place being deserted, our choice was soon validated and we settled in for a comfortable night.
Today a more troublesome and hilly 53 miles and a quad burning 1100m of ascent. Total trip 3231 miles.
More Southerly ramblings to follow.
Back soon. Miles & Tracey.
