Rest Day

ENGLAND 2 captain John Quinn dropped rested me today, so I took the chance to walk to Ohrid, a city declared a world heritage site by the United Nations' agency Unesco.

Since the route is about 20 kilometres (12.5 miles), according to Google Maps, I set off asap after breakfast to ensure I escaped the hottest part of the day.

The early part of the walk, from Hotel Izgrev, through the nearby village of Kališta, and on to Struga, is largely along a dedicated walkway with which I have become very familiar.

At first I thought this was an exotic bird - perhaps a fledgling, although it flew quite well - but a cafe owner with whom I have become friendly said it had probably escaped from one of a number of chicken coops beside the beach 

Yellow foxglove (maybe - I am pretty ignorant when it comes to flowers) with a minaret in the background

After Struga the route is along a wide pavement between a busy road and Lake Ohrid.

Tourism plays its part for a long distance from the centre of Struga

The road turns inland, but it is possible to continue along an old track that runs alongside the beach and is now apparently only used for service-access to hotels and holiday villas.

Lake Ohrid is regarded locally as very commercially developed, but it is easy to find peace and calm even beside the water

Thick reed-beds are common, but this seems to be one in the process of forming

Once the disused track runs out, one is left to walk along a verge-less road which, while not exceptionally busy, sees traffic bomb along (I lost my sunhat to a speeding lorry, but was able to retrieve it from the ground easily enough).

After Ohrid was captured by Turks in the late-1300s, Christians were for a time confined to a ghetto in the old town, with only Muslims allowed to live outside the walls.

Evidence of Muslim occupation, including this mid-1400s mosque, abound on reaching Ohrid's outskirts

Upper Gate to the old town