Trieste to Thessalonika
By Catherine Dixon (Cat) and Rachael Marsden (Raz)
It’s hard to believe that we have cycled through the Balkans and have arrived in Greece having ridden over 2,440 miles. We will soon be out of Europe and riding across Turkey. The ride through the Balkans has been amazing – at times hard, sometimes grim but mainly beautiful and spectacular especially climbing high into the mountains.
We left Trieste and headed over the Slovenian border. We climbed into the Slovenian mountains which were quite and unspoiled - like stepping back in time. We saw partisan strongholds and plaques remembering Villages which had been destroyed in World War II. We were soon over the Croatian border and heading for the coast with its rugged mountains, incredible sunsets and the beautiful Adriatic Sea.
Zadar was a bit of a staging point for us. When planning the route we had calculated the first stage to Zadar – not sure why! Anyway, we arrived ahead of schedule having completed the exact mileage, 1775 miles (even though we had changed the route from time to time). The old town was simply lovely and it was temping to stop for the day and wander around the old streets taking in the atmosphere but we had miles to do.
We cycled late that evening and it was dark by the time we finally reached a campsite. We had stopped for a snack on a traffic island (the only bit of grass we could find), but we were hungry and I set about cooking dinner. My camping stove nearly caused a diplomatic incident when we caused a not insignificant fire which was quickly splashed out with water from our bottles.
Split was our next destination and it was a day of traffic. We had two near misses a bus and a lorry which we could almost feel on the hairs on our arms as they passed so close. Then a driver in a Renault 5 (not that this is relevant), hit my arm with her wing mirror as she passed us. They stopped to see if we were still on (which we were) and then drove off.
From Split we continued up the coast excited about seeing Dubrovnik. We camped that evening, the showers were cold, Raz’s air bed deflated in the night (it had punctured), and I had a cold bucket of water full of disinfectant thrown over my feet because I was in the toilets when the cleaners wanted to clean them - I felt bad for the rest of the day! The tent pole had also broken so that evening we stopped in Bosnia at a guest house and tried to fix stuff and get some sleep.
The next day took us into Dubrovnik. The city is stunning and we wandered around the narrow streets with Alice (the tandem who doesn’t enhance sight seeing) eating ice cream. Dubrovnik was also the film setting for the Game of Thrones (King’s Landing for the connoisseurs), and it was fun to talk about some of the scenes. It was a massive climb out of the City on a narrow road but we made it out and headed over the border to Montenegro.
We rode across Montenegro in one day. We both liked it. Perhaps a bit more laid back than Croatia and certainly less developed with green mountain ranges and crystal blue sea – castles, monasteries and the odd relic! We rescued a puppy from a busy road heartbroken that we couldn’t take him with us and rode into the late evening crossing the border into Albania.
Albania certainly has a different feel to it. It’s communist past is still in clear view with bunkers and crumbling memorials. The countryside was lovely and climbing into the mountains was wonderful with magnificent views. The biggest problem for us was the road conditions. Dug at the side of the road is a trench which goes on for miles like a pipe/ cable (probably broadband) was laid but the road never properly filled in. If you rode in it you would come off the bike. If you road along side it – you were too far out into the traffic. With a heavy tandem it was hard work and I spent hours staring at the trench and steering the tandem in and around it as the traffic thundered past.
After a few days of of climbing we arrived at Lake Ohrid and decided to head into Northern Macedonia the next day. We headed over the border and spent the next few hours climbing though a national park and amazing forest – switch back after switch back so we could drop down into Macedonia and the next lake. We rode into the clouds with stunning views of the lake. The road coming down was full of pot holes which slowed us down and we saw a big cat run in front of us which was a real privilege. We arrived in the first Macedonian village at around 3:30 having not had any lunch. We needed food.
We rode hard to get over the Greek border finally finding a hotel. A morning of climbing and a hard ride across the country got us to Thessalonika for a day off. In the suburbs we were chased by 2 snarling dogs. Normally we squirt the dogs with water and this stops them. However, we had run out and short of hitting them with the last ice cube in a flask of iced tea we had to out sprint them on the bike after 95 miles of hard riding. We set off with the dogs snapping at Raz but what loomed ahead of us was a very uneven railway crossing. We had no choice and ploughed across, gaining air and landing the tandem mountain bike style with a big thud. We laughed as this frightened the dogs off who couldn’t match the speed (or our style). Relaxing in Thessalonika for a day off – at last!