Macedonia 4

 Wednesday was the big day. I was returning to Lomnice, the village in the Sar Plannina mountains that I first visited in 1984 when I was on the Walk. I revisited two years ago, and was overwhelmed by people remembering my visit, and being typically kind and wonderful. Since then I had kept in touch with many new Albanian friends online.

Danielle had no idea what to expect, neither did I. I had been in contact with Enis, a young man from one of the families who were in my original photograph. We met up in the village and were soon in one of the few remaining inhabited houses. The house belonged to Enis's grandmother, whose late husband I met in 1984. Strands of her family (several of who now live and work in Switzerland) were all there. It was very emotional for all of us. Lovely children, Turkish coffee, water melon, just a great day.

Macedonia 3

 We hired a car for a few days, and drove up to the mountains between Ohrid lake (shared with Albania) and Prespa lake (shared with Albania and Greece). Lovely to walk up high with butterfly rich meadows for company.

 

Macedonia 2

 

Monday we walked high up above the lake, had a coffee and a cake in a restaurant then took this mountain path contouring along the mountain. Beautiful.

Macedonia 1

 Just back from our holiday in Ohrid Macedonia. I wanted to share the joys of the country with Danielle so we went together. As the flight left Manchester and 6.15 we went the day before and stayed at the Radisson hotel in the airport, which is a bit of a treat and cheap at the weekend. 

The flight was great, with views of the Alps and the Adriatic before the sweep over Albania to Ohrid. The weather was perfect, around 30° a warm dry heat at 770 metres above sea level. Sitting by the lake as the evening closed in was a good start to the holiday.

Stroll 74 iv

 I also passed near Brindle, on top of a hill to the west of the canal. This is where my maternal grandfather was the vicar for a while, and where my mother and auntie lived when they were children.

This is the nearest the canal gets to Brindle. It was a hot afternoon, some of the cattle were looking for shade, some were just enjoying the sun.

Stroll 74 iii

 

This is where the Walton Summit canal branched off from the Leeds Liverpool canal to connect with the Preston tramway that joined up with the Lancaster canal in Preston (the names get confusing). That canal went north to Lancaster and, ultimately, Kendal. When were kids in Preston my father would show us the old tram bridge over the Ribble. This was out of bounds, as were nearly all the old industrial rail lines even if they were abandoned. Now it is much improved, like a lot of things. 

Stroll 74 ii

A ruined factory beside the canal, well and truly on its way to being reintegrated into the natural world.