Saturday 25 June. Day 9: Mavrovo to Janče

June 25, 2016

We checked out of the hotel before 7am and cycled around the lake (dam really) past the Submerged Church and after a couple of kilometres turned onto the road to Galičnik. The climbing started immediately. It was steep and the road was crap. We walked quite a bit!

You know how it's hard to get a sense of the steepness of a road from a photo? Hopefully this one gives some indication.

The route was through a peaceful birch forest with lots of birds, butterflies and lizards. There were only a couple of cars and we could hear cuckoos.

We were barked at and chased by the 2 dogs as we climbed. They finally headed back to the sheep. They were good guards.

Eventually the forest gave way to open, alpine country. We reached the top of the climb to find ourselves on the Bistra Plateau, and next to the highest runs of the winter ski resort of Mavrovo. This point was the intersection of a number of mountain bike and hiking routes. There is an extensive network in the Mavrovo National Park as well as lots of other outdoor pursuits on offer. Climbing things and jumping off things etc.

At the top. Mountain biking trails and maps behind us.

The plateau was full of pasture land and shepherds with their sheep. The sheep seem to be kept in pens over night and walked up into the pasture each day by the shepherds and their many dogs (dog to sheep ratio was much higher than I am used to seeing in Australia). In the very heart of the plateau, we saw small stone huts (with the smoke from fires coming out their chimneys); circular stone enclosures; and shepherd/sheep/dog communities living temporarily in the mountain over the summer. I really wanted to photograph this but felt too shy...

More sheep and a local Sharplanina sheep dog (found around the Mavrovo area).

We began a gradual but satisfyingly long downhill to Galičnik, past a place offering horse rides in the park. The town is one of the oldest Mijak villages in the region and known for a wedding festival that we were missing by several weeks. There was a small shop and café at the start of the village where we ate some disappointing burek (reheated) and had some cold drinks. Lots of older people were out working in the gardens, pulling weeds and tidying up – I assume in preparation for the festival. The views were stunning. Well, except for the view of the town tip which involved chucking everything over the side of a cliff.

The view from Galičnik to Skudrinje - up that squiggly road on the hill across the valley.

Apart from the road we came on, the only other access is via a walking track to Janče. Although this was our destination for the night, we were going to be cycling by ‘road’ via Selce. As it turned out, road is a term that should be applied very loosely to the route we tackled after our break in Galičnik.

First we had to climb back up the road we had descended to Galičnik. That was tough after lunch!! Then we made the sharp turn onto the road to Selce. Surprise! It was a dirt track – like a badly maintained fire trail with lots of water damage. Every possible crappy road surface in rotation, sand, gravel, rocks, mud and big puddles. But at this point we kind of had to commit to all 9km of it.

The first km or so was a steep uphill, part of which we had to walk because the road surface made riding on that grade too hard. Then lots of downhill. I actually really enjoyed it with my 2” tires and disc brakes. Malcolm less so!!

The views were incredible. There were - conservative estimate - millions of butterflies and lizards. Every now and then something BIG would be disturbed by us and crash off through the undergrowth (maybe a Balkan Lynx! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_lynx). We thought we were being so intrepid in the wilderness, then came across a mobile phone tower… there were also a fair few electricity pylons… but still – it was great!! But hard work.

Selce appeared from around a bend - a couple of traditional houses, a church and a natural spring water pipe and pool (with a seat next to it). It also delivered us a tarmac road surface to the bottom of the hill. The road was still narrow, steep and crap – but cars could at least get up and down!

Traditional house and the water fountain/pool nearby.

At the bottom of the hill was a field of horses, including foals, and a lovely clear mountain stream. As we looked on, a family with Skopje number plates stopped and took out kites to fly on the grass near the horses. It was all kind of bizarre! Then a road bike appeared. Slobodan was heading back to Selce after his loop ride to Tresonche, Gari, Lazaropole and other small towns – up and down the steep crappy roads. He was a superhero!

On a little bridge over the mountain stream.

We followed the stream as it got bigger and bigger becoming the Gardska River, until it hit the Radika River. Shortly before this we found the 600 year old Deer Leap Bridge supposedly built by an Ottoman lord to commemorate the death of a deer he was hunting – basically it took ages for the hunter to kill it. Hunting is weird.

On our way down the hill, alongside the rushing waters.

The final 8km to Janče felt harder than it was.

From the main road looking across to Janče, our destination for the day.

It was really hot and the last climb had to be walked it was so steep. Thankfully the hotel was lovely – although the local shop (ice-cream and cold drink fantasies!) promised in Booking.com did not actually exist. Arrrghhh!

Cold water and juice, salty baked potatoes and a self-saucing chocolate pudding with a scoop of ice-cream from the hotel restaurant was pretty good!

After a little nap we went down again for dinner. Grilled vegetables and meat and excellent sarma (little cabbage rolls with minced meat, onion and rice). I slept a very long time that night. Not even the drums and call from the minaret pre-dawn to signal the start of the fast could wake me!

The rest of Janče from our hotel room at Hotel Tutto. A really lovely place with a decent restaurant and seven very nice rooms. Built and run by a Macedonian who had lived and been a builder in Italy for 20 years before coming back to start his business...

Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 186 km (116 miles)

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