Monday 27 June. Day 11: Janče to Ohrid

June 27, 2016

Breakfast consisted of sandwiches left for us by staff at the reception desk. About 7.30am we unlocked the front door of the hotel with the key left out for us and headed down the hill to the main road. We met a policeman walking up the hill after his nightshift carrying a large bag of tomatoes and a second of cucumbers. Also we saw one of the staff from the hotel arriving by foot for their shift.

Today was a lumpy ride. It started with a bit of a downhill run past gravel mounds and sulphur springs (and two donkeys) until we crossed the new concrete bridge and began the climb to Debar.

The smell of sulfur (and some signage) suggests that the building across the river is a hot spring hotel.

Off to the side of the road was a Knauf facility, so we shared the road with heavy trucks on their way to load and unload gravel. Eventually we got some lovely views down to the lake (another dam!).

We descended to the outskirts of Debar – a fairly uninspiring town – to visit a supermarket and buy drinks, then turned left towards Lake Ohrid passing ugly apartment buildings and vacant lots.

Stopping for (not these) drinks at the supermarket in Debar

The road took us along the dam wall at one point and I stopped to take a photo over the edge down to the valley and the hydro plant, only to incur the wrath of a frantically gesturing and yelling security guard further up the hill. Oops. No photography allowed!!

Then the climb started again, through some forest, then nice little towns and agricultural areas, mostly with views down to the lake and Debar. At this point the border to Albania was only kilometres away and we passed many abandoned security points and gates.

Looking back to Lake Debar (and the town of Debar) as we climbed, heading south

A man cutting grass with a scythe, a lovely stone retaining wall, a fence and gate of twigs, and two cows drinking at a little stream (out of frame!)

Eventually we followed a small river (the Black Drin) upstream along a valley, protected from the sun by a valley wall. Hooray! As always the hot sun was proving tiring. Long after we fell like a lunch break – but no suitable place had presented – we just stopped and snacked on peanut butter and biscuits by the side of the road. The road was not busy, but on one side it butted up to the rocky cliff and on the other a guard rail (over which was a steep drop to the river). So there was no relaxing. Of course, when we started riding again about 2 km later there was a wooden seat next to a water fountain in the shade, and after another 1km two shops with chairs and tables outside (near Lukovo?). So we stopped again for ice-creams and drinks - basic ice-cream on a stick only about USD0.30 or less!

Delivery trucks and minibuses going back and forth between Debar and Struga/Ohrid keep passing us multiple times over the day. It was at this stop that a truck we had seen twice already, branded Coca Cola but actually delivering Skopsko beer (Скопско, with 64% of the Macedonian beer market), was also stopped. As per many other truck drivers, road workers and the like, the driver and his offsider were sporting green overalls and red t-shirts.

After another climb (and more evidence of hydro plants) we reached a plateau where the road became busier. More car wreckers, petrol stations, Yugoslav era hotels and restaurants plus an increasing number of really large (but seemingly mostly empty) houses. Finally we made a stop at a little shop in Vranishta for more cold drinks and chatted with a mate of the proprietor whose English was pretty good. He explained, when we asked, that the houses we had seen were owned by the 80% of people in the area off working in Europe. It’s only over about 5 weeks of summer that the town feels ‘normal’ when everyone returns for the summer holiday. The houses are what is built from the money made in Europe as the pension/superannuation plan. He himself does regular 3 months stints – the last in Norway – presumably limited to 3 months as none of it is legal. We didn’t like to ask!

We rolled down to Struga (on Lake Ohrid) and first off headed to a chemist for nose and eye drops as my hay fever was back with a vengeance. We rode down to the shorefront at sat in a bar watching the holidaying folks. Particularly the young people: smoking, high-fiving, back slapping - and sitting in groups checking each other out.

The old road around the lake to Ohrid was a great route – although I was pretty knackered at this point and took no photos. Old Yugoslav hotels, a clinic, allotment style gardens, reed beds on the shore, little beaches, locals out riding their bikes (including old blokes going fishing and an old lady somehow balancing a rolled carpet twice as long as the bike), and learner drivers practicing on the quiet road.

This road was also awesome because it entered Ohrid through the old Albanian suburb on the other side of the hill from the main tourist town and old fort. In the crazy touristy environment of Ohrid which we got to see in the next few days, it was great to know that the other ‘normal’ suburbs existed! The pedestrian streets were full of ice cream parlours, clothes shops, stalls selling Ohrid/Macedonia themed trinkets and baubles and numerous cafes. We found our hotel in the old centre, not far from the lakeside and had a bit of a relax in our comfy room.

The view from our lower ground floor hotel room window to the church Mal Sveti Kliment (after which the guesthouse was named).

Dinner was at a restaurant for tourists on the lake front, called Dalga. It was OK but not really good. It was initially hard in Ohrid, until we got better bearings, to find interesting food. Positive Tripadvisor reviews were all written by people with hardly any real experience of Macedonian foods, and one review we found by an actual local recommended a pizza shop as having the only decent food in town…

Rolled pork stuffed with cheese and ham, local trout

The restaurant was redeemed by a stunning lake view and the changing light with the setting sun.

Taken from our dinner table in the restaurant

Today's ride: 85 km (53 miles)
Total: 271 km (168 miles)

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