The failure to find the farm campsite put a dent in our
plans for today. We wanted to spend time in Kastoria today, expecting to spend
a second night in the campsite but we needed dumping and fresh water services
and therefore had to travel into Albania a day earlier. On deserted roads, we
crossed the border north-west of Kastoria with only the minor hassle of having
to buy third party insurance for the van at €49 for 14 days.
We were heading for Lake Ohrid, most of which is in North Macedonia but a
section of the west and south is in Albania. The route took us through the
centre of Progradec, a busy town in the south west corner of the lake and the
biggest conurbation on Albanian Lake Ohrid. It was a slow drive through with
lots of double-parked cars and suicidal pedestrians.
We wanted to go some tombs just beyond Lin but the satnav tried to take us down
a tiny dirt track of the main road and there were no signs anywhere to the site.
In this area there is obviously lots of available water as car washes lined
both sides of the road with water pouring out of their hoses to advertise their
services. We were tempted to have the van washed but decided to go back to the
lake and our campsite. Camping Erlin Beach is on a small peninsula on the
opposite side of which is the village of Lin. There is a lovely view of the
lake from here and of the mountains of North Macedonia on the opposite bank. We
had dinner in the campsite restaurant (ok but not brilliant) and then watched a
very pretty sunset.
As I was paying the bill, I heard an English voice. This was confusing as every
other van on the site was German – a very common occurrence on this holiday. It
turned out that the couple were English but had lived in Germany for many years
and therefore had a German van. We had a long chat and they mentioned that they
had met a couple with twins who ran a fish restaurant in Mikrolimni on Mikro
Prespa Lake in Greece. We were able to tell them that the restaurant was
temporarily closed and that the owner was restoring a watermill in Agios
Germanos!
Photos: View down onto Lake Ohrid and the Lin headland with the village on the
left and our campsite, out of sight, on the right; Sunset from the
campsite beach.
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