Our house overlooks a mountain range. In the evening you can see a number of small mountain villages lit up along the bottom of these mountains, the mountains themselves are covered in lush green conifers and seems to be screaming out to be explored.

We had asked someone from the area if it is possible to drive up the mountain, he said it is possible but only with a 4-wheel drive and someone who knows where to go.

Not to be deterred we thought we would at least drive around the villages and view the mountains from close by.

Johan cycles a lot and had explored one or two villages but had never ventured any further.

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We drove along through typical Macedonian villages where time has stood still. We stopped the car on a number of occasions to stand and admire the stunning views.

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We would have liked to explore further on foot but with temperatures reaching the back end of 30 we decided against it. It seems as though this is undiscovered territory but the locals know the area like the back of their hand. We heard that the father-in-law of a colleague of Johan’s has a hut on the mountains and the promise of a visit is in the offing.

Growing up in the countryside my mother would often offer words of wisdom such as ‘red sky at night shepherds delight, red sky in the morning shepherds warning’, she would often warn, in the early spring, that there was going to be a cold spell as the blackthorn was in flower. It seems that a lot of this folklore has been lost in the last years of urbanisation in Western Europe but in countries such as North Macedonia it is relied on without question.

Driving around we were forced to drive slowly for two reasons, one was the herds of goats and sheep crossing the road.

The other reason was quite simply the road came to an end. I guess that is when you need a 4-wheel drive!

It seems that the locals manage quite well as the only form of a 4-wheel drive we saw was this:

Johan was on the look out for small shops or cafes as when he is out cycling he likes to have points where he can stop for refreshment, he very quickly came to the conclusion that when cycling around this area it would be necessary to bring enough food and drink with you.

Although the hospitality of the locals would probably ensure you didn’t go hungry, however we noticed that the few people that we did see were quite curious as to what we were doing.

The eastern part of North Macedonia is not used to, or indeed equipped for tourists, I can imagine that for some tourists arriving in a place like this would be their worst nightmare and for others, like us, just what they are looking for, far from the maddening crowd, a big dose of nostalgia coupled with sunshine and unspoilt landscapes.

Maybe we should actually keep quiet before hordes of tourist descend on Kocani!