Days 31 to 33: Albania & North Macedonia

I left Montenegro and crossed the border to North Macedonia. When I got to Shkodër the temperature was at 40°Celsius. I set up my tent in a camping ground and went into the Drin river.

The next day I cycled to Tiranë.

For the first time on the trip I noticed that my calves where very tense and I figured what I'd take two relatively easy cycling days for reaching lake Ohrid. However, sleeping until 8 in the next day and after a big breakfast in the hostel I was feeling strong again and set myself to do the full trip to lake Ohrid in one trip. I was following a scenic road with minimal car traffic for the first half of the trip (Tiranë to Elbasan), making it my favorite Albanian cycle experience. The second half had good views as well but had a lot of traffic which made the ride a bit less relaxing for me.

I arrived at Ohrid (the city with the same name as the lake) around 20:00 where I again checked into a hostel, this time for 2 nights.

I spent Day 33 with Ingo at a small beach on lake Ohrid. Lieber Ingo, es hat mich sehr gefreut mit dir in Ohrid den Tag zu verbringen. Danke für den 1A Haarschnitt. Ich wünsche dir alles Gute für deine weitere Reise und freue mich auf ein nächstes Mal!

I'll be in North Macedonia for the next days. I plan to head into Bulgaria afterwards and continue there for the bulk of the remaining 1000km.