In 2024 I volunteered on the Transcontinental bike race to be present at checkpoint three. Before and after the week in Strpce I toured around the area doing about 600km on some busy roads in very hot weather. Despite all the heat and the drivers it was fun (2) and I’m happy to have visited this corner of Europe
Well, here I am. Another adventure begins. I’m in the center of Scotia about 35° and there’s some huge cracks of thunder and lightning around and I’m just about to cycle to Kosovo with 82 kilometers to do and might stop halfway if the rain comes in heavy. Let’s see how that works out. So, 13 km out of Scopia and I started to hit the mountains already. I’ve got a big climb ahead of me to get into Kosovo. Uh, and it looks like it starts about now. Bulan gravel at its finest. It’s raining and incredibly warm. And ahead I can see the mountain range that I’ve got to get over to get to Kosovo. Well, that’s the uh Kosovan border and I’m being a bit careful about filming cuz there was a sign saying no filming there in um Macedonia. Anyway, Kosovo next. Pouring down rain in Kosovo. Well, this is fun. It’s pouring down the rain. I’m on a road in Kosovo on my way to the hotel. hopefully find a hotel. Can’t say I like the drivers much. They’re pretty aggressive and they come very close. But heyo, this is what we got to deal with. Day two of the Balkan tour. Nice and warm and sunny this morning, which is a pleasant change from yesterday’s storm weather, thunder and lightning, heavy rain on my way to Ferai and a short day today with uh I think only 40 km to get to the uh control point 3 on the transcontinental. And by the time the first riders get there, they will have done 2,000 km, which is phenomenal. Seeing all this now, it’s difficult to think that only 25 years ago was a big war here. Used to seeing all the ones from the 39,45 and the First World War. And here we are, 1999, 25 years ago. Beautiful countryside, mountains, very fertile, lots of plantations of fruit and maze and potatoes. And these bries, they sell brandy everywhere. Oh, it’s the police, I believe. So, it’s Thursday morning and uh I’ve just left stretcher on the way up to the co and over down to Prisen in Kosovo and it’s super cool and the road is quite quiet and uh perfect conditions for riding at the moment. Expecting it to get a lot hotter later on. So 14 km climb up to Trevoli. I’m now just about to start to vis and uh that was a nice climb. Just about two riders out of GC on the top. It’s a long way down. I think it’s 1,300 m. So, that’s going to be a great descent. Spectacular mountains here. Brilliant. Heat. Heat. Fantastic little bit of riding here in this gorge. Steepsided gorge with a river in the bottom. Perfect. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. You thought India was bad for traffic. You should see this place. crazy. Absolute craziness. 5:30 and uh get up and try and beat the heat. It was very hot here yesterday. It’s like 37 38. Very hot for cycling. Spent most of the afternoon hiding in the cafe and now hoping to get to Mitrovichi this morning for breakfast. See how that goes. Sunrise on a quiet road. But for how long? I just couldn’t take the traffic anymore. I tried to to see if this road goes somewhere. Looks like it does on the map, but let’s see. The traffic is just horrendous. the gravel road that I was on turned into this. And uh well, at least there’s no traffic, but there’s no way to ride it. Wow, that scenery is amazing. Wow. Yeah, bike touring, it’s always an adventure. And here on the Serbian side, you see loads of buildings like this, just abandoned, left, burned out, and destroyed. I can only imagine that they’re uh they belong to Albanian Kosov people and they’ve been either killed or kicked out. Quite amazing. Hundreds of them. Hundreds. So this is Mitoicia, the Serbian side. incredibly high density housing. Most of it quite run down I’d say and uh an orthodox cathedral overlook in the city which is divided by the river and the other side is quite modern and uh that’s the Albanian side and from up here I can see the large mosque. So, that was what it was all about. I’ve actually just passed the border point with the United Nations control. Uh, and in fact, very difficult to make out I’m guessing on the camera, but there’s the words or the letters UK overlooking here the Serbian part. And Uk was the Albanian Kosovan forces who won the war. So it’s basically two fingers to you guys. Terrible. And in North Moravita Serbian part there’s a monument erected in the Tito Yugoslavian times to the miners. There’s a large mining area here and I guess a lot of people must have died down the mines and they erected this huge brutalist concrete monument here. quite spectacular. The uh thing on the top is supposed to represent a mining cart, but uh I don’t quite know what it represents to me. meet. So, I’m leaving back into the Albanian side. One of the strange things about this place, apart from the traffic, is there are so many United Nations military vehicles driving around. I think this is one here. Yeah, a military vehicle. Yeah. Hundreds of K4 military vehicles keeping the peace between the two factions presumably although I just crossed the Peace Bridge. Wasn’t allowed to film. Pedestrians only full of K4 troops. quite exciting really and certainly very different from cycle touring in France or Spain or something. Anyway, try and find somewhere for a coffee. An interesting sign here. It says littering punishable by law. Let’s keep the environment clean. As you can see, it’s an absolutely filthy mess. And that’s everywhere in Boston. Disastrous. Just completely disastrous. It’s very depressing. Things are looking up. I’ve got a good road on the way to Christina and it’s quietish and it’s just warming up 35° now and uh it’s quite pleasant actually. It’s quite a pleasant cycle. I can keep speed up so the temperature is not too bad and uh the traffic’s not too bad and the surface isn’t too bad. So, it’s all good. Still looking for a coffee and water stop though. B-roll nowhere. The absolute best cycling infrastructure so far in Kosovo. Beautifully smooth, brand new tarmac all the way as far as we can see down there. Shame the scenery is not so much. Anyway, being pristina soon. I booked a hotel and I’m looking forward to getting out of this heat. It’s nearly 40 centigrade. It’s absolutely balling up. Taking to the pavement because I’ve got no energy and I can’t get any speed up this hill and it’s 38° centigrade. 38. It’s just absolutely killing. Just a few more tens of kilometers maybe to Pushina and a hotel and a cold shower. I hope can hardly get the words out. It’s so hot. It’s unbelievable. I swear it’s even hotter than 38. But anyway, let’s get there. Just had a really nice trip uh 20 or 30 km on gravel over a hill on the way to the big climb of the day. It’s 9:00 in the morning and it’s 30° already. So, uh quite what that means for the rest of the day, I don’t know. Well, hot is what it means for sure. heading up to the border between North Macedonia in Kosovo 3 km away. Reasonably quiet road, nice scenery, and uh hoping for a restaurant or something at the border cuz I’m hungry and it’s 12:00. There are ominous clouds. I hope I don’t get caught in one of those thunderstorms again. Anyway, see where we get to. Pushing on. Just made it into North Macedonia from Cosway across the border. Amazing scenery. Beautiful mountains and wooded valleys. Very deep wooded balance. This has got to be type two fun. I’m riding round in circles. It’s 40° and I’m trying to find the border into uh Serbia and I think I might just have succeeded by the look of it. Yeah. State border third exit direction Belgrade. Wow. It’s good. Actually, that didn’t work out cuz that was the motorway. So, uh before getting on the motorway, I turned around and now try another little way. Maybe this works. Well, down there we can see the Serbian flag and the border. I think technically I’m in Serbia because uh this is a tarmac road and then it goes dirt road and then it goes tarmac road again. But I can see some big camera things and I’m very wary about going in there without having my passport checked and stuff like that. I don’t want to get involved in all that stuff. So, um maybe do a half turn and go back to the nearest village in and the dog friendly in the shade. It’s just too hot out today. I just can’t find a way across the border. So, I’ve given up and going back into uh North Macedonia. Hope you find somewhere to uh stay soon. 4:00 in the afternoon. It’s just so hot. Have a little sleep here, I think. Morning rush hour on day six in the back country of Macedonia. Very nice. builds peaceful 60k mostly gravel today. I think hope that just can’t stand the traffic anymore. And this is really exciting. Really driving up here. Oh, cast trucks. I’ve never seen before. Well, and it’s just been a flock of poo birds. It’s also amazing. I’ve never seen a flock seen before. Really remote. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. pretty remote places that you can get to on a bike. really small town, North Macedonia somewhere. outside the shop having an ice cream. It’s 12:00. It’s absolutely boiling. Ice cream. Dad doing some shopping. Just trying to keep out the sun a bit. It’s absolutely boiling. A few kilometers now left into Scopia. Uh traffic’s building up obviously and it’s 37° which isn’t great and this is the quiet way. Just incredible. But anyway, it’s been a great tour, about 600 kilometers of in the Balkans, and uh I’ve enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the volunteering at control point 3 for the transcontinental. I definitely do that again. Well, that’s never going to float again. I doubt if it ever floated. Oh, no. It’s actually made out of concrete or fall into pieces with the uh Barada River. And if you can believe it, those buildings were built in 2011. The most crazy piece of civic architecture classic Greco Neo Roman nonsense with lions and statues and I don’t I don’t know what this is really amazing. I think it celebrates the rebirth of Macedonia as an independent country. And uh here we are very very nearly at the end of my ride.