Skopje/Vevcani, Macedonia

I left Rila for country number 22, Macedonia. The border crossing was a bit worrying as they tried to tell me my insurance wasn't valid and that I would have to pay €50 for temporary access or turn my sorry arse back towards Bulgaria. After talking the border guards around, they were really friendly and even insisted on sketching a map of the way to Skopje with detailed directions.

Once through the border, the landscape is fantastic. Steep hills covered with trees rise above blue rivers and majestic lakes in the valleys below before the land becomes a horizon of golden plains of straw in the middle of harvest season. When I eventually reached Skopje, I booked into the Bellvue Campsite a few miles from the city centre and run by the Best Western hotel chain.

Their hotel is on one side while on the other is a really bizarre place called "Rogers Pjiano". I never found out what the building actually was but it looks like a cross between a mansion and a theme park with extravagent front gates, statuettes everywhere and a few classic cars littering the driveway.

The next morning October hit with a bang and the drizzly rain began to fall for the first time in several months. After blowing the dust off my waterproof jacket, I biked into town and found refuge in the city musuem. The building used to house the old train station and the clock on the front is stuck on 5:17, the time when the last big earthquake hit Macedonia in 1963.

Skopje is quite a modern city in general though (with shopping centres galore) and it has new buildings shooting up everywhere at the moment. The shiney new national stadium has just been built and in the town centre another Arc De Triomphe wannabe is well on the way to completion. Indeed, the only really old area of the town is the Kale Fortress but that was closed when I visited. It can be said then that if you are here to see picturesque sights then you will be left largely dissappointed.

It is only when you look a little deeper that you start to discover the charm of Skopje with it's friendly people, thriving bars, imposing statues and all-natural surroundings. The biggest discovery for me though was the Skopje Wine Festival held in the city's main square by the scenic Stone Bridge.

Here, dozens of the country's biggest and bestest wineries have stalls serving wine by the glass from about 40p and by the bottle from around £2. Add to this some live music, free bar snacks (and a 4am closing time) and I was sitting in my own little corner of heaven.

If there is one sight that Skopje is famous for though, it is the Millenium Cross on top of surrounding Mt Vodno. The cross, which is the biggest in the world, is illuminated at night and you can hike up to it and get a great view of the city below as well as the other hills further in the distance.

Back in town, it is worth a trip to the Sveti Spas Church. Among the narrow alleys of the Albanian and Turkish quarters, which are mostly lined with jewellery shops and tea houses, it is easy to miss the church as the vast majority of it is below the ground.

Under Turkish occupation, it was deemed that no church could be taller than a mosque so the dark wooden frescos and navy blue ceiling were hidden underground. National hero Goce Delcev has his tomb in the courtyard. Back across the (Darth?) Vardar River is the much more modern cathedral which looks like it has come straight out of a jelly mould.

Skopje is a tough nut to crack but it is definately worth the effort to get to know better. With a glass of wine in one hand and a backpack stocked with clinking bottles, I made my way back to the campsite soaked through but in high spirits thanks to Skopje. After a top-up of oil and fuel for Vanny, and some water and a haircut for me, it was time to get back on the road.

The weather improved as I made my way on to Vevcani, a little town in the southern mountains and right beside the Albanian border. The place tried to declare its own Republic after Macedonia split from Yugoslavia and even made their own flag, passports and currency which you can pick up as a souvenir.

The town itself is a pleasant mix of old houses, narrow streets, stockpiled wood and flowing water channels from the nearby mountain springs - all set on the edge of the snow capped Jablanica Mountain. Climbing this mountain brings you out at a little secluded church and bell tower but it is worth the long hike for the views on a clear day.

The panorama takes in just about everything, green fields, snow covered peaks, glacial valleys and forested hills. Little settlements dot the landscape and in the distance you can see my next destination, Lake Ohrid, looming large.

That night I decided to have a drink with the locals. Much like my village back home, everybody knows everybody here and I ended up sharing a few drinks with an artist, a fireman, a security guard, a florist, a canoe maker, and the country's chief court prosecutor.

It may not be the biggest place in the world but so far Macedonia making a strong bid for my heart.