Vevčani -> Librazhd

Waking up early because the days are getting each time hotter... in the way, me and lily, went to have a swim in the lake and discover that the meeting point was out of the main road, but luckily we meet neils in the way and kept together going REALLY up to pass the albanian border, in the top of the mountain.

arriving there we noticed babsi was waiting in the meeting point because no one had contacted her, she had some difficult to get to us, so i volunteered to cycle back and get her....going down the big hill was really fun and after finding her we were really lucky to get a hitchhike with both bikes in the up hill till the border where we had lunch.passing the borderAfter passing the border, where there was no problems for Neils (ukraine), we went down a huge mountain all the rest of the day and meet a nice field to stop for some fruits where we got surrounded by kids who were really excited by our presence and we played some games with them althought no one spoke any common language :)

In albania the biketour coordinators, marcha and daniel, could not find a local guide so we are "on our own", and this night we found a nice camping place near to a really fast river where we had a great washing clothes and body workshop :p...

Liza and felix cooking dinner :D

Ohrid -> Vevčani

waking up in bojan hammock, some people in biketour just travel with really light beds like this instead of a tent :D

After a morning circle :) some of the people went to see a castle and most of us went to struga lake beach to take a swim, then we all meet and cycle to Vevčani, a village that is trying to implement some sustainable tourism in mountain huts...
arriving there, we spoke with some locals and got a private kitchen from really nice people to cook lunch and left our bicycles to visit the natural springs in the town park

natural springs

after lunch Bojan (one of our macedonian guides) also left the tour and then we cycle (really steepy) to a mountain hut where must of us ended camping in the garden, as the house was really small, the owner was really nice and brought some rakija to drink with us :D and we talked and sang before sleeping ;)

going up to the mountain hut

Pretor -> Ohrid

In the last circle meeting there were two road proposals to go to Ohrid Lake from our macedonian guides, a longer one by the mountains, and a small one in the national road, as i was cleaning camp in the morning and had to carry the trailer, choose the small one and cycled it with benoit, lily, bapsy, bojan (macedonia) and sven... really hard going up parts with no shade :/... but amazing mulberry tree in the way :D

having fun around the mulberry tree :D

Arriving at the Horid lake we had lunch around a beautiful tree and after we looked for a camping spot and ended camping in a private yard next to beach :).. after finding the camping place, Marco (Macedonia) left us :(

me, bapsy and lily climbing the tree :)

In the night, after cooking dinner, some went with Bojan to a nice guided visit to the city where in the center there is a tree (alive) with more than 1000 years, planted when the city started.
During the night, by chance, we meet Slavian in the streets, a (crazy) guy who knew the biketour and that had cycled around the world for two years following the summer and almost not using money...

Pretor Lake

Neils workshop

Resting day, in the morning we cleaned a bit the local and during the day had some time to swim and workshops, Neils (Ukraine), althought no speaking english, taught us how to check and lubrificate bicycle axys, we started some ecotopia biketour stencils and had lots of time to siesta and tea :p...

Marsha trying to get equilibrium in Lisa and Felix Workshop

preparing lunch

Liza and Felix (Austria) joined us :D

First stencilLily
Jania cooking dinner

Bitola -> Pretor Lake

Sven (germany) wake up a bit sick, probably because of the lack of water and the high temperatures of yesterday so he went by bus to the lake where we will pass next two days.

nice top of a mountain, before going in a loooong way downhill :D

Before lunch, we had sometime in the city for coffee and internet and then we cycle to Pretor lake :) where we join another BT participant, Nizam (Turkey) and had a night around the fire :D

Zrze -> Bitola

Going down from Zrze Monastery

Because Benoit bicycle had a non-easily-fixable problem in the pedal he caught a train to Bitola and we decided to go one day faster so we could meet him there.

Water Buffaloes

In the morning we cycled downhill back to Debreste (where all the locals in the central coffee were asking for me :p) and, after breakfast, we visited a local project of protection of water buffaloes, a local specie that almost disappeared some years ago because of the lack of male buffaloes...

I carried one of the biketour trailers for the first time :D...nice experience...now i will be not in two wheels, but in three some times...eheh

After lunch, lily (Australia), bapsy (Austria), jordan (israel) and i got "lost" (after missing one biketour sign) and went uphill for 10km...luckily leshek (poland) also got lost and we meet him in the way...

Riding to Bitola, Bapsy with two local (small) cyclists :D

Arriving in Bitola, a big city, we left our things in a student dormitory where we would pass the night and went out to visit the center and have dinner in a local restaurant...

Prilep -> Zrze

In the morning cycled to Debreste, where i planned to catch up with the biketour in the next day, i arrived there early and was the local freak attraction (as it will become normal around Balkans), a cyclist from portugal, giving me cigarettes and coffee in the local bar...

tobacco plantation

Contacted Daniel, from the biketour, and decided to meet them today in Zrze, an orthodox monastery in the top of a mountain, trying to find my way to the place i found Benoit, the first biketour participant i meet, he was lost from the group with a broken pedal!!..we passed all day together trying to find our way to the monastery (communication in this place is not easy and every sing person send us in different directions!!)

Mulberry treewalking with benoit :)
pulling benoit bicycle with a rope :p

Finally we arrived in at the top and i meet all the actual group...some of the people were immediately cool and i felt at home :D

Zrze Monastery

After visiting the monastery with one local monk, we mount the camp and made a fire (and an amazing dinner - Israelite hummus from Jordan and mushroom from ianya, Croatia)