Kosovo - The Long Journey East - CycleBlaze

September 22, 2022 to September 24, 2022

Kosovo

22nd

Took a detour up a steep hill to a village called Bob (mainly for the name) and chatted to some builders there. Not sure Bob the builder was big in Kosovo though so couldn't make any jokes.

Decided to stay off the main roads and along the smaller tracks which was definitely more of a challenge and required a lot of pushing.

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A woman pulled me over as I just got going and insisted that she buys me a coffee, who was I to refuse? This lead to some long conversations in the cafe with some locals and I pretended I knew about football (i don't).

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Nice addition to dinner
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What happened to the path?
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Felt strong cycling up the main pass to prizren with the snow capped mountains in sight. Total elevation today was over 1600m.

Met a German couple who were traveling by bike, they were staying in a hotel which I was a little jealous of but they let me use their shower.

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-2° at the top so another fire was in order, took a hot brick for my sleeping bag which worked a treat until 4am!

Next best thing to a hot water bottle
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70km

23rd

The hour long ride down hill though the gorges and valleys to Prizren was a great way to wake up. I must have looked strange dressed in all of my layers in the warm city below.

What a way to wake up
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Enjoyed some local cuisine in a restaurant, not realising that they only accepted cash. With my debit card shaped in half, this was a bit of a problem. I did get to explore the city in the hour long pursuit of a contactless cash machine but not in the best way. Treated myself to a cheap hotel and was able to take out cash here fortunately.

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Was exhausted after the pass yesterday and the lack of sleep, so I cooked stealthily in the hotel room and got some much needed sleep.

25km

24th

Unsure whether the small border crossing was open I headed back south up the start of the 2000m mountain pass. The initial track was mostly very loose gravel so i had to push a bit, but I enjoyed the lack of traffic. Rejoined into the main road and was flying up the tarmac feeling stronger, people seem more perplexed here by me passing them on a loaded bike as they stare blatantly out of the window. I found a small track off the road and a fire pit with prepared wood all laid out for me, time to cook! Just a shame there is so much fly tipping in these countries, it really ruins the landscape.

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20km

Today's ride: 125 km (78 miles)
Total: 6,305 km (3,915 miles)

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