North Macedonia 2022
The pandemic has become a distant memory - did we really stay at home under lockdown? This means international travel is back. Therefore, the 2022 ‘adventure’ trip headed to North Macedonia. We packed our bikes and hopped on a Wizz Air flight to Skopje, the capital. Our preparation was unprecedented. We had booked a motel to stay in after the late flight arrival (no more airport sleeping), had mapped out a comprehensive route, and brought reliable bikes with decent disc brakes and pre-fitted bike bags.
Our arrival at Skopje airport was a wonderful experience. We cleared immigration in minutes and our bikes were already waiting for us. At 4 am we reassembled the pedals/handlebars and rode the 5km to our motel where a very worried host was still waiting for us.
Day 1
We woke to torrential rain. Not a good start. As ever the inclement weather is no barrier to us, and so we found a restaurant to enjoy a casual late breakfast and the first of many Macedonian coffee stops. By midday, it was clearing and we tackled the first 20km of flat roads into Skopje in good time. Skopje was well equipped for sorting a few essentials (new helmet to replace the one left in Luton airport, sim card, lunch) and we were soon on our way out to the hills. The initial steep ascent led to a more gradual climb up toward the Jasen Natural Park. 50km later we reached the road’s summit and were eagerly anticipating the descent into the Matka Canyon to the dam where we would pitch for the night. Sadly the Macedonian military had other ideas. The road through Jasen is closed to bikes, ‘Thou shall not pass’, said the Macedonian military. Cars can go past but under strict instructions about the time they must arrive at the next checkpoint.
Slightly dejected we went back toward Skopje and pitched in a copse near the viewpoint of the canyon. A four-hour thunderstorm engulfed us minutes after pitching and by morning a dog had eaten our food stowed in a bag hanging in a nearby tent. Not the best first day. The view the following morning was partial compensation.
Day 2
The ‘Jasen incident’ meant a hefty diversion. Back to Skopje, then north to Radusha before heading up a wide valley where we passed through Tetovo and Gostivar. Eager to make progress toward the hills we rode quite fast with few stops, though we did find an excellent pizzeria lunch (also the first of many). It was the fuel we needed on a long day. After leaving Gostivar the road began to climb and the sun had set behind the hills. We stopped in Vrutok (also at a pizzeria) for the day happy that we had made up some of the lost time from the diversion.
Day 3
Vrutok is nestled at the edge of Mavrovo National Park. It took an hour on a double track winding up through the trees, watching the locals preciously collecting chestnuts, to reach the National Park entrance. Shortly afterwards we found ourselves in Mavrovi Anovi. This small village, on the shore of the reservoir, was a nice stopping point for a second breakfast and coffee. Mavrovo and Jasen are both national parks, but luckily Mavrovo is much more welcoming to mountain bikes. We followed a marked trail for 40km which went up to the Mavrovo ski resort and then over to the next valley. It was a mixture of quiet mountain roads and double track and was lovely riding.
After a quick descent, we then took the road to Novak which was a shorter but much hillier route to Lake Ohrid. There were several more hairpins, and Day 3 was the biggest climbing day on the bike. It was on the way to Novak we tried to register with the police (as is ‘required’) and were unsuccessful due to being outside the 24-hour window.
After grazing the lower slopes of Novak the road quickly descended to the Black Drin river. Once we were in the valley a tailwind encouraged us to storm a final hour in darkness to reach the shores of Lake Ohrid.
Day 4
Our push to Lake Ohrid, specifically the town of Struga, was rewarded first by successful registration with the police thanks to an extremely helpful hotel and second by a glorious morning drinking sipping Italian coffee and gazing over Lake Ohrid. It is supposedly the oldest and deepest in Europe.
By Day 4 we’d decided a ‘rest’ day had been earned. Especially since our next goal was to climb Mt Korab, the highest peak in North Macedonia. Choosing the direct route we retraced our path down the valley to Debar, covering 50km by lunchtime. From Debar, the road re-entered Mavrovo National Park and started a gradual climb. We had a leisurely late lunch at a lovely roadside Macedonian restaurant and then traipsed the final 12km offroad up to the starting point for the climb of Korab.
Day 5
Overnight on the mountain was cold, cold enough that the condensation on the tent froze solid. Despite our best intentions of an alpine start, it was a more casual 8:30 when we left camp, following the trail to Mt Korab.
It took 2.5 hours to cover the 9km up to the summit and the route was easy to follow. Mt Korab is also the highest peak in Albania and the views into Albania were stunning and cloud-free. Meanwhile, Macedonia had scattered and atmospheric cloud covering. Mt Korab is one of only 5 mountains to be the highest peak in two countries. I wonder if anyone has climbed all 5. Two of the others are Everest and Mt Blanc and the final two are obscure peaks in Africa.
We were back at camp by lunchtime and packed the bikes for the ride back to civilisation. The 12km back to the main road was fun, albeit quite slow since it was off-road. Rejoining the main road we followed it up to Mavrovi Anovi and then down to Vrutok. Keen to camp again, we had dinner in a pizzeria in Vrutok and then plugged away for 30 minutes in the dark to get out of town and pitched at the side of the road.
Day 6
This was probably the best MTB of the trip. A long double-track climb led to an awesome path that was fairly flat and wound its way along the side of the mountain range. The views were spectacular. Unfortunately, we were on a schedule to get back to Skopje that day so the MTB section was cut short and we descended to the much faster roads and followed those back through Tetovo to Skopje.
Skopje itself was intriguing. The city is split by the Zadar River and the vibe is very different depending on which side of this natural border you are. The Warrior on a Horse statue was cool.
Day 7
It took much longer than expected to source bike boxes for the return trip but eventually, a shop gave us two 29-er boxes. To kill time I got a Macedonian haircut and we wandered the Old Bazaar. The bus from Skopje to the airport was easy and had ample luggage space for bikes.
A word of warning - don’t try to take bike tools through Skopje airport hand luggage. They will be confiscated and you may then end up with a sketchy ride out of Luton airport where no bolts have been tightened.
Reflections
- First up, the government website advises registration with the police within 24 hours. We would have had no issues if we didn’t register. However, the process was fairly easy and next time I would book a reputable hotel on the first night and sort registration then.
- Macedonian people were all kind and the country felt safe. The roads were extremely quiet and well-paved.
- Our route ended up scattered, but I am confident that a loop could be completed. We rode ~70% on paved roads, but there were plenty of good off-road routes that could be explored.
The GPX of our route can be found here
