Johan is an avid cycler when in Macedonia, you would think this comes naturally being born and raised in The Netherlands but he often says he cycled so many kilometers until he got his driving licence that he sees no need to improve his record.

Until of course he got to Macedonia and discovered the joy of cycling in the mountains. The garage appears to have changed into a bicycle shop with 4 mountain bikes of varying weight and sizes standing ready for visitors to Kochani.

Meaning of course there is no excuse but to get cycling!

We headed out towards the mountains, adamantly stating that there was no way we could do steep inclines, also we were not dressed for off-road cycling which meant we kept to quiet roads where an occasional car passed us. Cars are very aware of cyclists and give them plenty of space, which is always reassuring.

We cycled from Kohani to a small hamlet called Pribachevo, there we saw country living at its best, according to the latest census, which was taken in 2002 388, people live there.

We passed the village square where the locals were gathered on the bench having an afternoon chat and watching the world go by.

We cycled on past acres and acres of rice fields, surrounded by mountains and wonderful views. We came to a small crossroads with a cornershop where we could buy some water and continued along the road to Zrnovci. Although it didn’t look like a steep incline it was a slow deadly one and we were certainly burning a lot of calories by this time.

We arrived in #Zrnovci to find all the restaurants full, at this time restaurants are only open outside, which considering the climate is not a problem, and as it was the weekend everyone was making use of the new found freedom.

So we had no choice but to continue our cycle ride back to Kocani, fortunately the hard work had been done and we had a good bit of free-wheeling on our way home.

We cycled through Grdovci, which lies between the Breglnica River and Orizarska River, with a population of 1288 this is the most well-urbanised village in the municipality of Kocani and one of the oldest inhabited regions, it boasts no less than 6 foodstores and 2 markets and 2 kafana’s.

Headed back to Kocani for a well deserved beer we found a small taverna that made a pretty decent attempt at serving nachos’ so after 23,5km cycle ride we were quite satisfied, and we got home before the dreaded mosquito’s came out to play!