At a guess, the “Accursed Mountains” aka the Albanian Alps that run through northern Albania and form the border with Montenegro. I didn’t know there were bike routes. Sounds like a good article. Is it possible to buy one digital magazine at a time?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accursed_Mountains

This for me was the highlight of the mag this time. I want to be inspired by a place and the riding even if it sounds out of my league (yeah, it’s Jerome Clementz and co. so that’s not surprising really!). Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro intrigue me but you only ever hear bad shit about the first two on the list so have never put them on my bucket list. Might do now.

It’s a recognised hiking route, they will have pretty much followed this:

https://peaksofthebalkans.com/

I’ve walked one section of the route in the opposite direction, Valbone to Teth, and spent most of the day wondering if sections “would go” on a bike.

Thanks Singletrack for the excellent article, my limited experience in the region echoes a lot of Jerome’s sentiments and reading it brought up some of my favourite memories! Such as being chased by a pack of pigs and drinking raki in a saloon with horses with chainsaws in their saddle bags tied up outside!