Day 12, from Ohrid to Dihovo

September 11, 2019

Day 12, from Ohrid to Dihovo

This morning I had to get up at 5 am because I wanted to take a bus ride to Resen to give my injured foot some rest. Upon arrival in Resen, I started walking towards Dihovo. My foot hurt more than the previous evening, but it was manageable. After half an hour, I got lost for the first time. The path ended in an apple plantation just about 100 meters before the road - please, not through the thickets of blackberry bushes again. After a bit of back and forth, I finally reached the road without any major scratches. Since I had taken a wrong turn, I now had to walk about 4 km along an asphalt road, then up and down a no longer used granite cobblestone road. About 10 km of granite cobblestones measuring about 8 x 8 cm, that was quite exhausting to walk on. The path led along the Pelister National Park, where there are also bears! Along the way, I also came across a ranger car (see photo). From the village of Capari, I continued through meadows and forest paths. Suddenly, I saw a big animal skeleton 🦴 (see photo) lying in front of me on the trail! All the parts were there, and there were also large piles of feces from berry eaters and other non-berry eaters, hmm 🤔🐾- I keep going - after about 100 meters, another one, I immediately started singing because my bear bell was still well stored somewhere in my backpack among all the stuff! Luckily, the wind was also blowing in my direction. That was a bit eerie, especially when the trail suddenly disappeared and I had to find my way through the undergrowth. With the help of OSM, I found my way out of the bushes after about 15 minutes and was glad to be back on a relatively good path. After that, I continued through meadows, small forests, and two villages until I reached my destination for the day after 30 km, the village of Dihovo. Once again, I only ate fruits found along the way, especially blackberries and cherries!