http://connect.garmin.com/activity/288828900 (Click "Spelare" or "Player" to see it playing out, top right corner)
If you zoom in just south of Vrutok you can see the hardest part.
Monday, 25 March 2013
Summer yesterday winter today!
Well this day was Hard with a capital H. I started out with hotel breakfast and packed my gear.
I left Gostivar with no problems aiming for Mavrovo National Park and the plan was to go towards Debar after that. A short ride after Gostivar I found a small village where the villagers shook their heads when I said I was going to Mavrovo by the route passing their village - in hindsight I understand them. It was a nice village tho with damns with like hundred upon hundred of fish!
At the picture above I had pushed my bike mostly up steep, horrible stone and gravel roads - when I saw a small pile of snow I smiled to myself thinking I wasn't expecting that. But it got alot worse, the road consisted of stones, sharp ones that made pedaling impossible, then to mix things up alot more snow started to scatter the road with tracks from big offroad motorbikes. The parts without snow was mud and leaves that got stuck at the brakes on the bike together with snow and then it started to pour down raind - all this while pushing my bike so my arms hurt in roads going like "s" and steep upwards.
After a long while I reached asphalt, I couldn't take pictures of the road before that due to rain however a shelter near the road just before Mavrovo made it possible,
After reaching Mavrovo town my toes was freezing and my hands as well, the shoes and gloves are the Achilles heal of my gear so far - mostly because the shoes are summer shoes with a lot of venting so the rain goes straight through and the gloves seem somewhat waterproof but not completely
I was so cold so I cut the route short and check into a hotel as there is active ski season here still, 3 Swedish mil took 5 hours compared to a training run back home in Sweden when I did the same distance in 2 hours.
A well deserved pork chop with fries and Macedonian coffee afterwards.
What was great about today is when it was the hardest on that damn hill climb and I was freezing with snow up to my ankles and rain showering me I noticed several times I smiled to myself despite the sweat pouring and my heart beating like a jackhammer - I am living my adventure.
 |
| Omelet with coffee and juice, yum! |
I left Gostivar with no problems aiming for Mavrovo National Park and the plan was to go towards Debar after that. A short ride after Gostivar I found a small village where the villagers shook their heads when I said I was going to Mavrovo by the route passing their village - in hindsight I understand them. It was a nice village tho with damns with like hundred upon hundred of fish!
 |
| Fishies! |
 |
| Ponds of fishies on the right! |
After the village I got onto smaller roads, and I ended up being chased by 4 big dogs, they just barked away tho and their owners came running like mad to stop them. Ceasar Milan could work 100 lifetimes in this country and not get away the anger in all these dogs.
After them dogs left I started a steep climb on stone and mud roads, after a while I reached a beautiful spot and shortly after that an tree looking to fit in Lord of the Rings.
 |
| Panorama of mountain village. |
 |
| Me, my bike and Treebeard. |
At the picture above I had pushed my bike mostly up steep, horrible stone and gravel roads - when I saw a small pile of snow I smiled to myself thinking I wasn't expecting that. But it got alot worse, the road consisted of stones, sharp ones that made pedaling impossible, then to mix things up alot more snow started to scatter the road with tracks from big offroad motorbikes. The parts without snow was mud and leaves that got stuck at the brakes on the bike together with snow and then it started to pour down raind - all this while pushing my bike so my arms hurt in roads going like "s" and steep upwards.
After a long while I reached asphalt, I couldn't take pictures of the road before that due to rain however a shelter near the road just before Mavrovo made it possible,
 |
| Just after reaching top of the worst road I've ever seen. |
I was so cold so I cut the route short and check into a hotel as there is active ski season here still, 3 Swedish mil took 5 hours compared to a training run back home in Sweden when I did the same distance in 2 hours.
A well deserved pork chop with fries and Macedonian coffee afterwards.
 |
| Tasted as good as it looks. |
 |
| After dinner I strolled away to a shop for some late night snack - this church is quite a known tourist attraction here and its usually half submerged below water but it was low tide I guess. Still beautiful at dusk. |
What was great about today is when it was the hardest on that damn hill climb and I was freezing with snow up to my ankles and rain showering me I noticed several times I smiled to myself despite the sweat pouring and my heart beating like a jackhammer - I am living my adventure.
Oh. My. God. (Day 1 cycling)
Today I started the real vacation, the plan was to go from Skopje to Gostivar and a little past it to pitch my tent for my first night outdoors. At the moment I am sitting in a Hilton hotel and I ate a hamburger from a place called Amigo here in Gostivar last night.
So why did I end up here, well to make the story somewhat short I will try and cut it short.
Leaving Skopje after going up and down sidewalks and getting chased by my first dog wen't fine - it took a while but I managed. I headed to Matka Canyon, a incredibly beautiful place - a natural reserve with huge mountains and rivers with crystal clear water. The ride there was through a small village with quite a steep climb and the sweat was pouring and my thighs was burning after only two hours on the trip - I had to walk parts of it since it was too hard.
After that I decided to use my compass and took a chance at going further up the mountain by using the compass and my map and just using the GPS as a tracking device. I went through some really poor villages as well as a lot of buildings that was half finished, big mansions scattered some parts of the route kind of in mid production.
After really getting high up and when the villages, people and civilization disappeared I realized I needed my GPS - it started with suggesting a mud road which was terrible, scattered rocks all over but I was happy because it was this I were looking for. Then it suggested a turn in the road where there wasn't any road to turn to so I just went offroad and hoped the road would show up - it did a few minutes later, two dirt tracks cutting through grassy plains.
After 30 minutes or so I started reaching small villages where people looked with big eyes on me, I smiled and waved left and right - it was amazing.
A little later I realized something had gone very wrong with the navigation, I had pre-planned a route to cut across and go diagonally between Skopje and Gostivar and skipping Tetovo tho since I just used the GPS to get me to Gostivar and not use the road I had planned it took me straight down to the highway again not anywhere near where I planned to go.
So I felt I didn't have the strength to climb up on the mountain again I started following the route along the highway, a mid-sized road not with the best scenery.
But with those delays I ended up in Tetovo late and after going around there for quite some time to find the way out of the town and south towards Gostivar I realized it was gonna get dark before I reached my goal.
My legs were aching incredibly and I just battled on, small towns seemed to scatter the entire route and in the dark with potholes, speed bumps, cobblestone streets and very bad patching on the asphalt parts I was getting quite low.
When I finally reached I felt I had to choose an hotel because it was too late to pitch my tent somewhere where I never been before. I asked a guy who walked with me to a hotel called Elena but it had stairs right in the entrance so I looked for something else. After a couple of people that I've asked talked a bit among themselves they suggested Hilton and for the second time another guy and his kid walked with me for like 10 minutes to show me where it was - the kid guarded the bike while me and the man went inside and asked for a room of which they had.
So that's my first day cut short, the longer version will be in my video diaries when I get home.
Oh, this is the route as tracked by the GPS: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/288662192 (Click "Spelare" or "Player" to see it playing out, top right corner)
So why did I end up here, well to make the story somewhat short I will try and cut it short.
Leaving Skopje after going up and down sidewalks and getting chased by my first dog wen't fine - it took a while but I managed. I headed to Matka Canyon, a incredibly beautiful place - a natural reserve with huge mountains and rivers with crystal clear water. The ride there was through a small village with quite a steep climb and the sweat was pouring and my thighs was burning after only two hours on the trip - I had to walk parts of it since it was too hard.
 |
| Matka Canyon |
After that I decided to use my compass and took a chance at going further up the mountain by using the compass and my map and just using the GPS as a tracking device. I went through some really poor villages as well as a lot of buildings that was half finished, big mansions scattered some parts of the route kind of in mid production.
After really getting high up and when the villages, people and civilization disappeared I realized I needed my GPS - it started with suggesting a mud road which was terrible, scattered rocks all over but I was happy because it was this I were looking for. Then it suggested a turn in the road where there wasn't any road to turn to so I just went offroad and hoped the road would show up - it did a few minutes later, two dirt tracks cutting through grassy plains.
 |
| At the start of the mud road. |
 |
| Mud road turned into this. |
 |
| This is the road I ended up on after going offroad where the GPS said I should turn . |
A little later I realized something had gone very wrong with the navigation, I had pre-planned a route to cut across and go diagonally between Skopje and Gostivar and skipping Tetovo tho since I just used the GPS to get me to Gostivar and not use the road I had planned it took me straight down to the highway again not anywhere near where I planned to go.
So I felt I didn't have the strength to climb up on the mountain again I started following the route along the highway, a mid-sized road not with the best scenery.
But with those delays I ended up in Tetovo late and after going around there for quite some time to find the way out of the town and south towards Gostivar I realized it was gonna get dark before I reached my goal.
My legs were aching incredibly and I just battled on, small towns seemed to scatter the entire route and in the dark with potholes, speed bumps, cobblestone streets and very bad patching on the asphalt parts I was getting quite low.
When I finally reached I felt I had to choose an hotel because it was too late to pitch my tent somewhere where I never been before. I asked a guy who walked with me to a hotel called Elena but it had stairs right in the entrance so I looked for something else. After a couple of people that I've asked talked a bit among themselves they suggested Hilton and for the second time another guy and his kid walked with me for like 10 minutes to show me where it was - the kid guarded the bike while me and the man went inside and asked for a room of which they had.
So that's my first day cut short, the longer version will be in my video diaries when I get home.
Oh, this is the route as tracked by the GPS: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/288662192 (Click "Spelare" or "Player" to see it playing out, top right corner)
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Hotel breakfast!
Got some big bread thing and some sour milk/yoghurt type thingy!
Besides that, it was freezing in my part of the hostel last night so a handyman came with a radiator - guess it's a soft start for camping eh?
Slept like a baby!
Besides that, it was freezing in my part of the hostel last night so a handyman came with a radiator - guess it's a soft start for camping eh?
Slept like a baby!
Saturday, 23 March 2013
On the way!
Two shots of me with my baggage waiting for the cab. I'm in it now, destination Arlanda.
Friday, 22 March 2013
A map...
... to the right of the route I plan to take, it's not written in stone tho and to view it fully you have to open it in a separate window and be sure to select page 2 when you have viewed page 1.
A box!
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| The box! |
Here is the small box, I pack it in a cardboard box so I can discard it once I reach Skopje, Macedonia as I fly home from another town ( Thessaloniki, Greece ).
I bought some candy since I plan to travel the road less traveled as much as I can when I reach those small villages I plan to give it away to the local kids.
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