This morning was absolutely freezing. You have to be pretty dedicated to spot the birds at 7am, I pulled my sleeping bag hood over and rolled over. I could eventually feel my toes again at 9. I had breakfast which consisted of ham sandwiches and gave Nigel an oil before carrying my things back out to civilisation. I experienced a few strange noises last night below where I was sleeping but couldn't work out whether it was an animal or a disgruntled homeless person annoyed that someone had inhabited his den first. I could hear the music over the lake from the town and then I heard a noise that no one can deny. A car pulled up off the road and down my little driveway section for someone to get out and release a bit of excess drink or possibly a dodgy gyro. Reminded me of home when I was younger and my eldest sister would do the same!
The hilarious kebab man that sent me round the houses yesterday also told me how to say thank you and goodbye in Greek. As I'm not stupid I checked what he told me with my translations that I prepared before I left. It turns out, he was not being honest about the lingo either! I remember when I was 13 and did the same to the German exchange students, great joke....
Today's cycling was the best so far. It started with a long climb but not that steep just ongoing. It's interesting to compare how different countries attack their mountainous areas in different ways. I've mentioned the Italians etc The Greeks have long bendy roads that are no more than 5% but last forever. The good thing about this was when I had completed it I had the same the other side and the road between B and C was flat so I was happy. I've named them B and C because I have no clue what they were called. I even outdid my navigation skills by arriving at my destination without seeing any signs for it. This was mainly thanks to those plucky greeks either shooting every sign for where I wanted to go, or painting over them with some sort of football supporters logo. They wrote PAOK over most of them and coloured the whole lot in so it was an absolute miracle how I completed today's riding.
I would've asked someone for directions but it being a Sunday I saw as many people on the streets as you see eating a kebab during daylight hours. The whole ride was bliss compared to Albania, no noise, no bumps and no mountains after the first one.
This being said I did manage to find one open shop. I needed pasta, something to take the richness off my tomato concentrate and something for pudding. Now I didn't know that the Greeks were world renowned for being Chocolatiers, I thought that was the Belgians. However, for some reason I just payed £2.40 for a bar of "ya^akt•$" In my eyes there is only one bar of chocolate that can warrant that sort of money and that is the Lindt extra creamy so I will be judging that price tag intently.
So cycling wise I was flying, no stops again because there was nowhere to stop and I tried to eat an apple on the go that I picked en route but however you like to call it, floury or dusty, the thing could bake bread and make the roads of Albania look clean so my advice would be to stick to apples from Italy for the next few months.
I was set to arrive at Edessa in record time, downhill from where I was, find a field and make dinner because I hadn't eating since the birdbox, lovely jubbly I thought. Bang! Dududududud, what on earth was that? I looked down to find my pannier sitting on my gearset. Oh no, I thought but at least I was only 2 miles from Edessa. The rack was fine, even worse, the bit of the bike that attached the rack had sheared clean off! Now it's Nigel I have to worry about! Luckily Nigel has two points where the bracket can be attached so knowing this I made a little bracket so the pannier could survive until Edessa and nursed him into town. I found a bar with wifi and tried to find a campsite that I could go to so I didn't have to fix him in someone's garden. There were no campsites for miles! I still had a few daylight hours so I decided to forget about it for a bit, the footy was on so i bought a beer and I watched that. I am pretty good at prioritising my time and worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but it gets you nowhere! The footy finished so I was just going to carry on coasting down the hill to find a farm. As I was pushing Nigel he didn't feel right, I looked down and the front tyre was flat!!! How did that happen? And why do things always happen in pairs!!!
As i pushed Nigel through the high street I spotted a gap in between some houses and it turned out to be a little fenced park that about 8 balconies overlooked. The park was next to an enclosed basketball court where kids were playing. As there was nobody on the grass I set out fixing Nigel and adjusting the rack. I couldn't find the puncture on the front so the "unpunctureable" tyres I have are still under investigation. This means i have another double threat on the front as well as the back now though anyway so that should see me till Lesotho... As far as the rack is concerned its ok but under some tension as the other holes are positioned slightly wider. I have some big decisions to make as its not the rack that's the problem it's Nigel! I can't keep fixing Nigel as he will end up like Triggers "original broom" with 4 new heads and 5 new handles. I will see what Greece and Turkey have to offer by way of cycling shops then make my decision I think. I'm not one to stop and change something on the case of "ifs" but I will wait and see and I'm sure there will be many many more twists and turns in my journey to come.
After my two little issues were dealt with I pitched my tent up in the corner of the field. I looked at myself up and down, I was filthy. A mother saw me in the corner and called her kids in from playing, I was that guy! That filthy, hairy weird guy camping in the corner that would scare your kids to tears if he got too close! I laughed to myself about it, these people probably pay more for their lovely balconies that overlook the park and then beyond that, an amazing view towards Thessaloniki. Here I was, cooking pasta, clipping my toe nails and looking like Stig of the dump right in the middle of it all. Then all of a sudden a lady from the balcony caught my eye with her waving and shouted over, "would you like some water?" I couldn't believe it!! "No thank you" I said and showed her my bottle. What amazing generosity again when you think that you can't be more unappealing to the general public, you're offered water! It was probably meant to wash me but I vow from this day on to never be afraid of a dirty man in a park and offer him water if I have some because of what that lady did for me. This is true for all the acts of kindness I've experienced so far. If other people are like that then theres no reason why I can't be from now on! A-mazing.
As I write this blog I'm eating the chocolate and I wouldn't even put it above a "crunch" bar. A quid tops, It's thick, I'll give it that but the picture of a milk jug on the packet in true Albanian menu style, is just that, a picture. Fooled again by those cheeky Greeks!!!!
Another day, another couple of issues smoothed over and another new place to add to my list of places slept!!
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