I woke up today with a nice surprise. Only found a Gummi Bear down the side of the tent didn't I! I knew I had one left last night as I had placed them all on my chest. I felt him slip away but couldn't be bothered to get the torch out so i just left him. Nice little breakfast surprise instead!
I had a leisurely morning as I didn't have to leave the camp till 12 and I had a few things to do. Firstly, I noticed that one of Nigel's drinks bottle holders was broken. Trying to think how this could've happened it clicked and I glared at him. He cowered behind the tree, he thought it could've been a result of the supermarket tantrum as well! I'm not certain as I've noticed the bottles trying to fly out before that but didn't think anything of it. Nothing that some duct tape couldn't sort out though, next job was shower/laundry.
I don't care what anyone says, washing your clothes in the shower isn't wrong, it's efficient, I'm saving water and time. I'm a big believer of cleaning the footy boots in the shower after a muddy game and in my case remembering all the goals I scored...
So I had a couple of pairs of socks, 2 T-shirts and my shorts. Got a few dodgy looks from the speedo wearers whilst i carried that lot into the shower as well as wearing some clothes as well, let me tell ya. Didn't faze me though, they can judge all they like, they're probably just mentally noting it down as quite a good time saving way of going about the household chores. As I've previously mentioned, showering at a campsite is a military operation and I won't go into detail but I completed my mission with supreme precision. I dumped the wet clothes by the sink and looked at myself in the mirror for the first time in a while. I shook my head with disgust and at least tried to groom the thing downwards to make it look presentable, no chance. That's all I'm saying on the matter at the moment, I need a day at least to gather my thoughts.
After packing up my things I said goodbye to the lovely lady at reception who will be reading this as she went on it straight away yesterday when I told her about it! Dania I thank you! Then I head south to no particular place I just knew that I wanted to stop somewhere just before Split (about 65 miles away) so I could go to Split the following day and see if I can send my camera back and possibly get a new one.
As I began cycling my legs felt good. The extra rest yesterday must've recharged them a little bit and with the added push of a tailwind I was flying. I've said it once i'll say it again, the ride and the little coves were beautiful. I must've been enjoying the ride so much I hadn't even checked how far I had gone or what the time was and before I knew I saw a sign saying 4km for Split! I couldn't believe it, i hadn't even stopped for lunch! I decided to stop just before Split and sat on a bench at a Marina that overlooked a little section of the industrial Split. I've been to Split before on a Cruise and to be honest, i wasn't really that fussed on it. My plans to sort my camera out soon changed so I thought i'll just ride through Split and find a place for the night just over the other side. After eating a whole baguette (bought 2 and saved the other for breakfast, just incase I was out in the sticks-always thinking) with chocolate spread (this time choc duo, it has white and milk chocolate all the way down the sides of the jar so they're not fooling me this time!) and a family pack of paprika crisps, I decided to walk Nigel a bit around the Marina. As I mentioned before, I don't like going back on myself and Marina's tend to put you in a situation where this is possible as they have a least one dead end. I also hate being in a public place and have the people see me turn back on myself. In a shopping centre for example, if I'm walking along the street and realise I have to go back the other way to a shop in the opposite direction, I won't just turn around, i'll walk into another shop for no reason other than to walk out of it in the direction I should've been heading in the first place! It's a weird thing I have I guess. So I'm walking Nigel and already getting a few looks as there's some local families playing by the side of the water and sunbathing etc and some outsider has now entered their turf. I could see an exit across the Marina that leds me back onto the road towards Split so I jumped on Nigel and freewheeled around all the starers. The closer I got to the exit the more I realised it wasn't an exit so I began to search around like a meerkat looking for another. As I did this I could see out of the corner of my eye that two local men knew I was lost so I was trying not to cause any public disruption. I could see steps by the two men that may help me, I wasn't happy about it because Nigel weighs a ton and the last thing I wanted to be doing is struggling to push him up steps in front of a load of people. I rolled up to the steps right in front of the men and went for the cool, "no problemo" dismount. One foot safely grounded but as my right foot swung over the bike my heel clipped my baguette. This effectively resulted in giving my baguette an almighty roundhouse kick to head causing it to break in half and fire half the flying loaf across the pathway. Meanwhile, the impact on my foot has knocked me off balance and I lost all control of Nigel. I was about 3 steps away from having a bread-based supermarket-esque disaster right in front of two old men with about 30 distant onlookers. Luckily my quick feet recovered the situation and all I had to do was wander over to retrieve half of my baguette. As I bent over to pick it up one of the locals said, "hello" and pointed to the ramp that led me up and out of another embarrassing situation. It's lucky I don't get embarrassed that easily but was it that obvious I was looking for a way out or did he just not want my baguette booting kind around his Marina!
When I arrived in Split the madness of traffic combined with about 20 cars all beeping and flashing their hazards (maybe some wedding tradition) confirmed why I wasn't too fussed on the town in the first place. I checked out the stadium which was fenced up and then approached the part of the town that I had been to before via an English speaking tour, so got a bit of local knowledge on the way. I must've missed a bit last time because I actually came across quite a nice part of Split but there were a lot of people manically walking around having just got off or just getting back onto cruise ships etc so I made a b-line for the other side of town.
As I got to the other side of town I was again greeted with signs of holiday apartments and nice restaurants on the coast. I ended up motoring past a small caged football court right on the beach. It was a perfect size for 4v4 or 3v3 and I was annoyed that I didn't stop to check it out. It was getting late but it only highlighted the different issues I have during my ride and the different factors that can effect what I do.
The ride is called "a ride for their lives" because I'm doing it to raise money for other people and awareness for my two charities. It's also a ride for myself, a personal challenge that I have managed to combine with two charities so some other people are benefiting from it as well, not just myself. It's also an eye opener, in football culture and in life itself and I have incorporated this by contacting and stopping at certain football clubs/charities especially in Africa. Then to top it off, it is a bike ride. Therefore some emphasis has to go on how my bike is doing, how my body is doing and how my mind is doing. If it were me hitchhiking for example then bike and body aspects don't come into it, that's more of a mental and kindness of strangers thing. I even have that aspect also so what I'm saying is that, it's not just me on a bike and getting from A to B. It's so much more than that and its hard for me to make a judgement on when and where to stop for the football/local culture and when to push on to actually get to where I'm supposed to be heading. In this case I decided to miss out the 3v3 game and stopped at a restaurant on the beach for a well earned beer and sus out whether I could fulfil my aim of sleeping on the beach. I spied a couple of bushes that would make a nice bit of cover and settled down there for the night. As the sun set, my perfect view was ruined by 3 rather large people that kept looking back at me every now and then to see what I was up to. At first I was sunbathing, just like them. Then listening to music, just like them. Then i was drinking, just like then. Then I was covering up Nigel for the night, getting my sleeping bag out and cooking some pasta for dinner, so what? They eventually left and I laid down with my last packet of Gummi bears and gazed up at the stars. I thought to myself, only 2 hours ago I was sat in that bar having a beer contemplating on whether or not to sleep here for the night. Then I thought, only 4 weeks ago I was laid in bed in Bishopstoke, Eastleigh, ENGLAND thinking tomorrow I ride to Brighton on the first day of a ride that will take me to a completely other world. Time flies, ay? Then I thought, this whole dream idea of sleeping on a beach isn't all that its cracked up to be as that seaweed absolutely honks! I probably could've chose a better beach to be honest. The restaurant was quite busy so I must've startled at least 20 people walking past as my hiding in the dark was exceptional. There was also a rogue piece of seaweed that I have no clue where it came from but that was right by my head and omitting quite a fowl smell. Then finally, the bus stop on the road above my head had a lamppost next to it that kept everything illuminated, I was nicely in the shadows of the wall and bushes but that didn't really help me get to sleep that quickly.
In saying that, as always, something to tick off on the list and another great day cycling.
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