Day 5 – Janche (Macedonia) to Kukes (Albania)

71 miles (114 km) – Total so far: 291 miles (468 km)

I was at the Hotel Tutto last night. A really good option in theory at 25 Euro with breakfast. There was a wedding on when I arrived, at about 4 pm, and though it was interesting the novelty value wore off after an hour or more of waiting to check in. It was a bad start, as smelly and dirty I didn’t really fit in with the wedding guests. Muslim wedding, and no alcohol to nick either, but after that it was pretty good, the food was excellent, particularly the breakfast, and not surprisingly, the Macedonian beer was very average.

Today will probably be the toughest day of the tour. It was all about the SH31 road. Few touring cyclists may be aware of it at present, but in years to come as Albanian tourism grows it will be far more known and popular.

A sleepy Macedonian Dougal dog in Janche
The dogs here and in Albania have not yet caused any problem, they are well behaved and know their place. They can be a big problem for cyclists, but not here.

One of many little villages up in the hills of the National Park

Back into Albania 5 km out of Debar.
This is a common sight here, even in the towns.

Sunday morning Debar – busy.

Across the border very quickly- then 25 km up and down on a busy road as it’s the road to Tehran and into Peshkopi, again, very lively on a Sunday morning

Out of Peshkopi and on to SH 31.
This would be a slow road for cars and there are few of them. There are lots of little hills and 3 big ones, many potholes and lots of washed out sections. Gradients are incredibly steep in places, 20-30%. It’s slow going, even downhill. Good brakes and wider tyres needed.