I’ve driven this route many times, and I’ve always been aware that Macedonia is in general a few degrees warmer than Kosovo – farther south, less elevated, gets the tail end of the warmer Mediterranean breezes before they are deflected by the mountains. But this is the first time I can remember doing the route when the temperature difference straddled freezing point: it was a tremendous contrast to emerge from the Vardar gorge after crossing the border to find the ground covered in snow, and bedraggled bushes covered with frost like last year’s decorations. Macedonia, twenty minutes drive behind me, was a bit chilly, but there was no visible evidence of winter weather having hit. It’s quite rare for international frontiers to actually coincide with such a dramatic change in the micro-climate.