Two hours of waiting to leave the country at Bogorodica. Thirty minutes to enter at Tabanovce. If you are driving back from Greece or from Ohrid today, that is the schedule to plan around - and the afternoon has barely started.

According to the Automobile and Motorcycle Association, the Bogorodica border crossing is seeing significantly heavier traffic and the wait to exit the country is around two hours. At Tabanovce the wait to enter is around 30 minutes. There are no longer delays at the other crossings on the Macedonian side, but the situation can change quickly depending on the flow of vehicles - Medzhitlija, Dojran and Kjafasan are running normally for now.

Kichevo - Ohrid: driving through a construction site

On the Kichevo - Ohrid route, traffic is moving with diversions and a temporarily altered regime due to construction works on several sections. It is much the same on parts of the Gostivar - Kichevo road, especially in zones where construction or repair work is under way. So on the busiest weekend of the season, the country's most heavily used tourist link is partly a building site.

Jasen is only open in time slots

The section through Jasen runs on a strict timetable and traffic is not let through outside the slots. From Makedonski Brod towards Skopje, travel is permitted from 06:00 to 07:00, 10:30 to 11:00, 13:00 to 13:45 and 18:30 to 20:00. In the opposite direction, from Skopje towards Makedonski Brod, the slots are 07:30 to 09:00, 12:00 to 12:45 and 16:00 to 18:00. Arrive five minutes late and you wait for the next one.

Lorry ban

A ban on heavy goods vehicles with a total mass over 15 tonnes applies across the country today, from 09:00 to 22:00. On the Skopje - Ohrid - Skopje route the ban is stricter: over 7.5 tonnes, from 07:00 to 22:00. Carriers of perishable goods, fuel and live animals are exempt.

The heaviest wave of returning traffic towards the capital is expected in the late afternoon and evening, on the Ohrid - Kichevo - Gostivar - Skopje and Gevgelija - Veles - Skopje routes. Heavier density is also possible at the entrances to Skopje, particularly on the western and southern approaches.

The practical advice is the same every year: check the situation just before you set off, because waiting times shift through the day. The less practical conclusion is that here, the timing of one family's drive home from the coast depends on a slot through Jasen, a diversion at Kichevo and a queue at Bogorodica. If that sounds like travelling through a construction site, it is because you partly are.