Today began with an exceptionally leisurely and friendly start. There must've been around 10 different camping groups on site whether that be 2 in a tent or 2 in a van and 1 motorbike tourer etc but either way I must've spoke to about 8 people about my trip before 9am! Everyone seemed to mill around and I was offered coffee which I denied this time and I had cheese sandwiches which I offered back but let's face it, who wants cheese sandwiches from a grease monkey at 9am? But it's always nice to offer ay?
I thought to myself, is there any point cleaning Nigel? No it could still rain and the road was still going to be atrocious so I opted out. Then I thought to myself if there any point cleaning Chris? No his clothes are still going to be dirty, the road is still dusty so I opted out. It is amazing how cleaning ones teeth can make a whole body feel cleaner though. After giving my bad boys a scrub this morning not only did my whole body feel amazing but they looked sparkling. This is probably due to the filth on my face combining with the tan to bring out the whiteness in my ivories but either way they looked like a load of blank scrabble tiles sat in a birds nest. This brings me nicely to my next subject. I think now after a couple of no music days, I have had time to assess the situation and I think it's time to talk about Beirdre. Yes I've given her a name, if Nigel has one she can have one. Quite a lot of things have been said about Beirdre by my family and friends so I thought its best I put some things straight so we are all clear on whether she's a "phase" that I'm going through or not. The fact is, Nigel, Beirdre and I are a tripod. One goes we all go. If I go then Beirdre is naturally coming with me. Beirdre can't go anywhere without me and if Nigel goes then the trip ends, simple as that. There is extra sponsorship money added to the fund if Beirdre stays for the duration and at first it was possible she was going after a week. Now however, I've seen her a few times she knows to stay Lear when I'm eating etc and what can I say, she's growing on me...
So after saying my goodbyes to the happy campers i got back on the rocky road towards Pogradec and my 2000mile milestone. Luckily the terrible road only lasted for half an hour until I got out of Pogradec and as the cars seem to strangely vanish backwards into the town I was left with blue skies, flat roads and at last, a bit of peace! Progress was excellent today which it needed to be if was going to cycle the 120km to Kastoria. I found myself top cogging it for 3 hours solid before I decided to eat the energy bar that jasmine had given yesterday. This allowed me to keep pushing hard and it wasn't until I bumped into another 2 cycle tourers that I actually stopped for more than 5 minutes. They were on a tandem and Fabienne and Jean-Marie from France had a combined aged of 126. If I'm still fit enough to enjoy cycle touring at that age then I will be a very happy bunny! They had just been to Kastoria and I asked them how it was and how the terrain was. Sometimes this is a good thing to do, other times you get told things you don't want to hear, this time it was the latter!
Fabienne told me I still had around 50km and it was very mountainous after the border so I decided I should maybe stay in the wild lands before Kastoria. She warned me of bears and wolves as well, Bears? I thought they like honey not Greece?... We said our goodbyes and I trundled on again, 50kms I thought, that's another 30miles and I've already done nearly 50. That's also another 3 hours that will take me to 7pm I'm going to have to stop before.
I got to the border behind a huge cue of coaches and taxis. The line wasn't going anywhere but I knew I could fast track. I cycled past hundreds of Albanian men all staring at me until I got to the front. I waited 5 minutes behind a car before they turfed out one of the guys that was sat in the back. There seemed to be no unrest so i don't know what the problem was. After that I was straight in to my country number 12 Greece, one more and I've crossed the whole of Europe, a whole continent!
I remembered what Fabienne said about the mountains but when I entered Greece I had a downhill that lasted about 10 miles then a flat valley for another hour. I think what happened is that you remember what you yourself go through as a cyclist and don't reverse it for someone going the other way. Jackpot for me! It was a breeze and I saw a green mountainous Greece that I would never see on holiday. Sure enough I saw the "Beware of the Bear and Wolves" signs but what troubled me the most were the road signs. I came to a T junction and some joker had changed the font on the road signs to Wingdings!! Didn't have a clue which way to go. One way to"£&@)(?" was 45km and the other way to "P>€¥>^¥" was 25km so I naturally went for that one.
I managed to arrive in Kastoria at half 5 their time with the extra time difference. I even shocked myself! Today was definitely a day for the human body to step up and take a bow. I've said it in my "about me" section, I'm not an athlete and before this ride I did not eat within reason and I certainly didn't drink within reason but after 34 out of 35 days cycling and feeling like my legs could do no more, I have just cycled 80 miles with just a half hour stop to talk. I think even my mind was shocked what my body could do it and this is no different to what anyone else can do, you just have to try.
I arrived in Kastoria and thought a treat of a kebab would go down well as the sun was just setting. I bought a gyro for 2 euros which is a sort of wrap thing and the kebab man pointed me left towards a campsite. The kebab man turned out to be leading me up the garden path and I cycled for at least 10 miles around a half island shape that stuck out into the lake and took me back to very near where I started.
I had no time to be annoyed so I just kept pedalling and found a place that I was very happy with. Just by the lake stood a tall wooden Bird watching hut, perfect! There was a bit of a walk through some brambles to get there so clearly bird watching isn't the done thing in Kastoria. I carried everything separately up into
the hut and set up in there. No need for the tent, another quick meal as the gyro was never going to fill me up and I was sorted with a lovely view of the lake also. A slight error occurred when my tin of tomatoes that I bought last minute in Albania to go with my pasta turned out to be pure tomato concentrate but I made it work.
A successful day for the body today for sure. On to Edessa tomorrow then the bright lights of Thessaloniki.
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