Day 45 – Qukes to Kozjak

They were all up early wondering around the house, so I got up and joined them on the balcony. The father had a shot of that stuff that almost took my head off last night for breakfast as well as a couple of fags. We sat round while the mother fried some raw pasta before putting it on to boil as cook up some sausages. It was an unusual breakfast, but I embraced it all.

I was sad to say goodbye; the family had been so kind, I felt like I need to return the favour, so I gave them a bottle of Olive oil that I was carrying. There was a bit of a climb before I got into Macedonia, again just before I did I stopped for a drink, and there the owner came over chatting away and gave it to me on the house.

I was up and over by lunch time and into a town by a lake where I opted to relax for the afternoon. The lake was beautiful, we were quite high up, and it was surrounded by mountains and luckily very few tourists, it was completely unspoiled. I was away in the afternoon and cycled late into the evening. I didn’t want to find a place in the dark like last time, so when I saw a spot in a what looked like an abandoned farm, I went off the road and pitched my tent behind one of the building out of sit from people. I had a climb tomorrow before I get into Greece but for tonight I can just relax although it feels very cold.