I spent six weeks from the end of August to early October following the Trans Dinarica bike packing route through the eight Balkan countries.
I started by flying into Ljubljana, Slovenia and generally following the whole route and finished by doing a little bit extra in order to finish at the coast at Split, Croatia.
I need to say that I did deviate from the main route a few times during the ride but I estimate that I followed it about 80% of the time.
Excellent route and experience….very hilly as expected.
Okay, officially in North Macedonia now. Just been through passport control and uh heading for Lake Ogrid and I’m going to follow the Din River. It should be uh pretty nice hopefully. So now dropping in to the Din River again. It does actually form a couple of lakes on the route. So this is looks like the first one. So the water’s really low here. Guess the same everywhere in Europe. It just hasn’t been enough rain. Dropping right into the uh valley now. Getting steeper and steeper. So, just climbed up to the next lake uh down there. Couple of hundred meter climb and now it’s going to be pretty flat for a while. Okay, I just sw my way through uh place called Struggen, which has led me down to the uh shores of the lake. So, I’m going to head down there. Follow the lake round. Not sure where I’m going. I’m going to follow this road and then cut out down actually onto the lake shore and follow it round to Offridge. Oh, that’s a lot better. Off the road. Just going to follow the uh lakeside round now for a few miles. Well, into aid now and just going to try and find my accommodation. I think it’s right near the center of the town. So, uh it’s going to be quite busy. Be nice. Okay, just leaving. I’m going to drop down to the lake and follow that around for a bit before heading into the mountains. So, there’s been a couple of cheeky climbs around the lake and then I’m going to head up left into the mountains for the big climb of the day. So, the uh big climb of the day has started. It’s going to be a big one as well. I think about 700 m of ascent. Pretty long. up over that lump somehow. Okay, just bumped into the two German uh the German couple again. Had a good old chat with them. Really good to see them. And just entering the Galacier National Park. This is where the proper uphill starts. Just talking to another guy at 13K, but the gradient apparently is 5 to 6%. So, could be a nice one in the trees as well. So, looking forward to this. This is a stunning road. Beautiful gradient winding its way up. Getting better and better views of the lake. Okay, I just climbed up nearly to the top of the climb with Henny and Daniel. Uh it’s about 150 m to go, but this viewpoint is absolutely stunning. And come from over there. That’s a over there in the distance. Just approaching the top. I think it’s just around that corner. Here we are at the top. Now the fun starts. Start of the downhill. Very, very long downhill. And the road is absolutely beautiful. So, we’re dropping over to another lake which is on the border with Albania, Greece, and Macedonia. What an incredible descent this is. We’re probably not even halfway down it. Absolutely stunning. Such a quiet road because it’s a national park and it’s absolutely perfect. Wow. Well, that was the most incredible descent. Absolutely flowing and perfect roads. Just exiting the national park now. Henny and Daniel are just behind. I’ll be here any second now. Well, I was not expecting a cobblestone climb. That’s the second climb of the day. It’s nowhere near as big. It’s I don’t know, 250 m of ascent maybe. But yeah, cobblestones. What’s going on? So, last night shared an apartment with Henny and Daniel. Pretty huge apartment. So, just had breakfast and getting ready to go. This is the uh part of town we’ve been staying in, but not a bad view. So, I’m heading north today and they are heading south. So, we’ve had one day’s riding together, which is cool. And we’ll do our separate ways. Uh, but keep in touch hopefully. So, uh, just rolling into Civo. Don’t know how you pronounce it again. Uh, left poll this morning. It’s a little ski resort. Uh it’s about a 650 m climb up to it. Um it’s about 12:30. So uh about halfway through the day in terms of distance as well. So I’m going to stop here and have some lunch. Well, this town is certainly built on the side of a hill, which I’m finding out. I’m trying to find my way through it and out of it. It’s a bit of a maze. Just riding under the ski lift climbing and uh it’s getting warm nice in the trees. So, I’ve stopped to top up the water on this little dribble of a water source. Well, I had a mega descent into that really lush green valley down to a little village. And it’s been a nice climb out actually so far. Pretty hot in down here. The heat’s just getting trapped in this alley. But it’s suddenly got to a long section of 15 16 17%. So I’m not going to try and kill myself. So I’m just going to walk this little section. It’s quite pleasant actually. And I think that’s probably just about over. So, I’m on to the little gravel road, dirt road section. I knew there was a little section on it today. Can’t remember how long it is, but it’s a decent surface. It’s ridable. And I’m probably near the top of the uh second climb of the day cuz I’m nearly at the same altitude as I was in the little ski resort village. So yeah, just a little bit more climbing probably. Now there’s an extremely long downhill, probably at least 10 miles. I don’t know how much on gravel Heat. Heat. Oh, I am loving this. Just cruising down this valley. So, just uh heading into Rover National Park. Just been climbing up through the forest on a fairly gentle gradient about a 300 m climb, I guess. Now I’m going to turn off and make my way around Mro Lake. It’s just a big loop. And uh it looks like it’s fairly flattish on the loop, but yeah, looking forward to uh cycling around and seeing seeing how it looks. That was pretty cool. just started cycling around the lake. Haven’t really seen the lake yet. It’s uh a lot of trees, but uh hopefully pop out soon. So there is Lake Mabrovo looking pretty nice and also quite low. Same as most the other reservoirs around here and all the ones I’ve seen in the Balkans actually. So I’m going to carry on round. So do a full circuit which should be pretty nice. So that’s pretty much completed the circuit of the lake. Now according to the profile, a big downhill at the end of the day again. Fantastic. So, I’m going to take the uh gravel option on the downhill. Looks pretty fun. And loads and loads of squiggles on the screen. bit of loose stuff there. Hey you. So, this morning, uh, headed out of Gossivar, uh, to stop and get a bit of cash first and following the smaller road to like village after village after village. It’s quite nice actually. and heading for the border with Kosovo today. And there’s going to be a big climb to get to that over there somewhere. So, about 20 mi in today. Just making my way through and round the next city, which is to before heading up into the mountains. Just got a massive puncture, sealant spraying everywhere. So, I’ve managed to stop it, I think. Oh, well, that seems to have sealed and uh come back up. So, that’s a relief. There’s lots of sealant spraying everywhere. So, uh good job put a lot in. Okay, just approaching uh the Macedonian border stop just ahead. Well, I guess it must be lunchtime. There’s no one here. Had a look around, but uh yeah, nothing. I’m just going to go through. So, just crossed into Kosovo and there was just a one border control actually on the Kosovo side. So, uh that’s all done and sorted. Just stopped for a coffee. So, uh, yeah, just going to carry on.