Bitola to Veles (Macedonia)

After a restless night of sleep due to the wedding reception below (the last time that I woke up to music to check the time was 1:15 am), it was time to hurry up, get packed, and breakfast. A 126 km (78 mile) day today. The small dog that had greeted us yesterday walked with us to the back of the hotel to get our bikes. It was shivering in fear of the big dogs back there but led us bravely there and back. The nearby supermarket was so well stocked that we thought we’d grab some more snacks this morning. However, as it’s Sunday, all the supermarkets were closed.

It was a sunny but chilly start. We’d taken off layers waiting in the sun for the morning briefing. But as soon as we were out of town, we put on extra gloves. Along the way, two road cyclists passed us! We saw them a bit later when we stopped at a gas station. They came over to ask where we were from. They were from Bitola and doing a 60 km today. It’s so surprising to see other road cyclists after having not seen any for so long! Around this area, we also saw a car with lots of road bikes on top. We had many more friendly drivers wave and friendly honk at us around here.

Today was mostly flat. Woohoo! For once I could help pull a little bit. While we were in the flats, the mountains still surrounded us. In the valley, the fields were now full of corn. We were so intent on pounding out the distance that we didn’t even stop for a photo this morning! 

Lunch salad and strawberry juice

Coffee stop was at a small shop in Prilep. They did have hot milk. The new sweep went and got us snacks from the supermarket. Then, we were climbing the hill for the day. Only 700 meters of climbing, but, my legs still complained. At least the downhill on the way to lunch was gradual. The lunch stop was off the main road; and, they had a pig with piglets outside in a large enclosure. It was so nice to see pigs have so much room to roam! Pork was one of the items on the menu; however, I ordered a delicious salad instead. The menu was entirely in Macedonian; and, we pored over it using the Google Translate photo feature. The other cyclists before us had ordered each of the three salads, so, I could pick which one looked the best.

Leaving the lunch restaurant

After lunch, it was back to flat terrain almost the entire way into Veles. We ground it out and made it to the hotel by 4:30 pm, before the tour leader started searching for us. Since all the supermarkets were close today, was forced to eat in the hotel restaurant. Several of us will try to start early tomorrow, as it’s 132 km (82 miles) to the border crossing; and, we all have to cross together with the van carrying our luggage. There’s also 2000 meters (6500 ft) of climbing to get to the border crossing, then another 28 km (17 miles) downhill from there to the hotel. I’m dreading tomorrow.