Macedonia

From Rila we cycled West, then South, then West again, into Macedonia, to the town of Delchevo. The last bit of this journey was over range of hills that involved climbing several hundred metres to a border crossing up on high then a long descent into Delchevo.

EV13 then goes pretty well due South and this took two days. To start with, out of Delchevo, it was easy going. But the countryside became very remote and the road, which was a good one, became steep uphill. Then down to Berovo, even though Berovo is nearly 1000 metres up. Anyway we enjoyed our stay there and had very good wine with a very good supper.

The next day was well in the mountains with 3 mountain passes to cross. After the last the descent to a broad and prosperous-looking valley was a long one.

We stayed in an appartment above a private house. The owner gave us coffee and we chatted a while. Among what he said, Macedonians are looking forward to EU accession, noting that neighbouring Bulgaria was now richer that Macedonia, and before they joined, they were poorer.

Next day was along the valley and back into Bulgaria with the Rhodope mountains ahead.