Lakes in Western Greece and North Macedonia.

Sometimes, advice comes from the strangest quarters.

I buy cheese regularly from a stall at Victoria Market in Melbourne. The cheese seller is a biker and of Greek heritage. His mum lives in Niki on the Greece/ North Macedonian border. He told me the lakes and mountains in this area we very special. They are let me show you!

Arnissa is a beautiful little village on the banks of Lake Vegoritida, nestled in the mountains on the Greek/ North Macedonia border

But the best lakes were over the border in North Macedonia.

I was guided to these lakes by a chance aquaintance at Victoria Market.

This is where I buy my cheese and the cheeseman is a biker of Greek origin whose mum lives in Niki on the Greek/ Macedonian border.

He told me the riding and the scenery around Lakes Prespa and Ohrid was magnificent. And his advice was true.

Lake Prespa and Lake Ohrid are divided by a large limestone mountain range. Lake Prespa sits in a mountain basin and is 150 metres higher elevation than Lake Ohrid. The mirky shallow water of Lake Prespa is filteres through the limestone emerging form spings into the crystal clear waters of Lake Ohrid. The Lakes are believed to be the oldest in Europe, having been in existence for more than 1 million years.

Lake Prespa is a place for birds and fishing. The shores are primarily agricultural with a few hotels.

The mountains between the two lakes form the Galicica National Park.

The trails in the forests are beautiful for walking, and the roads are magical for motorbike riding.

The spring sourced from Lake Prespa flows at the southern end of the lake is the Monastery of Saint Naum

The mountains provide beautiful views of the lakes and countryside.

The mountains also allow for paragliding over Lake Ohrid.

The water of Lake Ohrid is just beautiful. The eastern side of the lake in North Macedonia and the western side Albania. The City of Ohrid sits at the Northern end of the lake.

Small villages are dotted around the sure as well as big resorts. This is a tourist lake with some amazing history.

At the southern end of the lake, there is the Monastery of St Naum, which is reputedly the oldest Byzentine monastery in the world.

This is where the mountain filtered spring water from Lake Prespa flows into Lake Ohrid.

In Ohrid the Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon is also a historic treasure. Both the church and the Roman ruins.

Doing this post reminds me I must once again thank the cheese seller for his wonderful travel advice.

Riding across northern Greece

After leaving Konista, it was a misty ride through the mountains of Western Macedonia skirting Thessalonika to Kavala.

I had decided I wanted to make, what is a bit of an Australian Pilgrimage, to ANZAC Cove on the Cannakale Peninsula in Turkey. Hence, it was a blast across northern Greece.

What were the highlights?

The most fascinating stop was the Porto Logos. A little fishing village on the coast between Kavala and Alexandroupoli.

A quaint village with a small port and restaurants, a secluded beach and flamingos and other bird life.

It’s also the site of the Byzantine Monastry of St. Nicholas.

The monastry is set in the middle of the lake with each of the churches containing amazing frescos and etching.

The Byzantine Madonna and Child in the photos are etched and coloured directly onto brass plate and were breath takingly beautiful.

The city of Alexandroupoli is a beautiful coastal city at the top of the Aegean sea close to the border with Turkiye.

The sad part of crossing this part of Greece was the largely blackened forests and farmland, the legacy of recent wildfires in Northern Greece. Wherever I travel, there are ever present reminders of the current climate crisis

From Albania to Greece via the Vjose River

From the coastal resort town, the villages and landscape changed quickly as rode south east in the general direction of the Vjose toward Greece.

The route meandered through tittle villages, past monuments, and derelict oil fields. Connecting and reconnecting with the Vjose River.

It was easy to pick the Vjose as it carried much more water than other rivers. Drought has ravaged this area, and most of the other rivers had lost their flow to irrigation and electricity.

The town of Memaliaj is built on the edge of the river and a great place to stay and have a swim.

From Memalaij, it was a slight diversion to visit the Lengarica Canyon and the Thermal Baths of Benja.

Unfortunately, the river was very low but the thermal sping was beautiful.

On rejoining the Vjose, its mood had changed. Flooding rains in Greece had turned the Vjose gently flowing blue river into brownish torrent.

A return to high mountains herealded the approach to the Greek Border.

The first night in Greece and last beside the, now, Aoos River was in Konitsa with its Ottoman bridge at the end of the Aoos Gorge.

It was tempting to follow Aoos further south into the Greek mountains to its origin at the Aoos Spring, but my route was across the top of the Aegean Sea to Turkey.

Albania

The mountains of Montenegro continue over the border into Albania.

Spectacular hairpin roads, coming up from the coast.

Near the border is the Theth National Park. A beautiful alpine area for both riding and walking.

There are a number of restaurants, guest houses and hotels in the area. The local food is delicious and plentiful, and if you are lucky you will be invited to share a campfite with the locals.

The next destination was Vlore on, what is termed, the Albanian Reviera.

Vlore is also where Europes last wild river empties into the Adriatic Sea.

The Vjose River’s headwaters are in the Mountains of Western Macedonia, Greece, where it is called the Aoos and my route through Albania.

Vlore has beautiful marshlands as well as beaches.

But I was keen to aquaint myself with the Vjose River. Next blog will follow the Vjose river into the mountains of Greece.

A small tour in Victoria’s High Country.

Victoria’s high country is about my favourite riding ground in Australia. I’ve ridden most of the roads in the region and in the nearby Snowy Mountains, but there were a couple of dirt roads that run between three iconic high country towns; Corryong, Omeo and Dargo, that I was yet to ride.

It was a good chance to try out my new Moto Guzzi V85tt adventure bike.

I camped the first night at the Eskdale Caravan Park and had a lovely site right beside the Little Snowy Creek.

John, the publican at the Eskdale Hotel, is a keen adventure bike rider and a reliable source of information on the state of all the local trails.

Armed with local knowledge, I decided to take the scenic Great River Road that runs beside the Murray River. Toward Corryong.

Along this road, there are beautiful roadside stops with views over the river valley with tables for a picnic lunch.

There are sculpture along the road and in the back ground of the above photo you can see a Bogong Moth sculpture.

My favourite sculpture along this road is the Murray Cod sculpture at Tintaldra.

The sculture is mounted on the remaining structure of the old bridge. The photo is from the new bridge.

Enough sightseeing it was now time for some serious riding on the Corryong -Omeo Road.

Its a good quality gravel road that allows a good pace to be maintained and I was into Omeo late afternoon and set up in the camp ground beside Livingstone Creek

After a hot dusty ride the creek swimming hole was the perfect spot to wash off the dust and cool down before dinner. (Ps I had a special request for a swimming selfie!)

I met some friends for dinner at the Hilltop Hotel, which has an interesting piece of taxidermy.

From Omeo to Dargo its only 50km of dirt through the mountains. Dargo is an iconic village in the high country, and I was excited to get there. The dirt road goes over Mt Birregun, a 1350m high mount in the Victorian Alps.

Its a beautiful ride.