Today marks my 3 week milestone. A lot has happened in those 3 weeks, I've stepped foot in 6 different countries for starters which not everybody does in just 3 weeks! I think it's gone quickly though and I can't complain with my experiences as I think I've been eased fairly gently into the cycle touring lifestyle. Today I woke up with a view to cleaning things, my body, my clothes and my stove. It's been over a week since my last shower and my clothes haven't been washed at all apart from the odd downpour. Even if I had a body wash, putting the same clothes on over the top is essentially like putting a good sausage in a mouldy ubun, your hotdog is still going to taste wrong! So my aim was to get things clean. I started doing this by having a leisurely breakfast of tomato, cucumber and Gorgonzola sandwiches whilst giving myself a manicure and a pedicure. A shovel probably would've been better suited to cleaning my nails but nevertheless I felt like a horse with new shoes.
I went to thank Stefano and family for their hospitality but remembered that he is a farmer and farmers wake up before the sun does so just said goodbye to an old lady who I'd never seen before but was loitering by the door. so I guess she was grandma!
The navigation side of things today was the easiest so far, one road. The road experience was not so easy as there was no cycle path, a pretty poorly conditioned road, a headwind and of course our resident drivers. I think they're the main reason why I'm not taking to the Italians so much as the hospitality has been the best so far and they are always open to talk to you. Unfortunately I spend more time on the roads experiencing near misses then I do talking to nice Italians though and this kind of puts a black mark by their name. I have also noticed that they can't do distances. This has been justified today when I initially past a sign for Trieste saying 22km, then 5 minutes later it said 18km. I thought to myself wow, that was quick, maybe their first sign was wrong? I then past a sign saying 24km to Trieste. I also had the situation at a roundabout where my desired town was 1km away if i took the first exit or 1.5km away if i took the second exit! Being a cyclist especially, why on earth would you not want take the first exit? And finally, there are many signs for Shopping villages or Mcdonalds on the roadside that state the shop then the time it takes to get there like Mcdonalds in 4 minuti for example. How is this accurate? Maybe the nutcase drivers are just trying to prove the signs wrong. Either way, I cycled to Palmanova shopping village today, i started 16 minutis away, half hour later i was 20 minutis away, i had stayed on the same road! So there you have it, the signs are pointless and you only really know you've arrived when, well I guess you don't really unless you're actually standing in the building, but as far as townships go then I don't have a clue!
At around 12 I decided to stop at a supermarket car park for lunch. I don't know why I did this because I normally try and get to a nice park or find a bench or courtyard in the middle of a nice town. Today though I chose the window sill of a supermarket to eat some tomato, cucumber and Gorgonzola crackers this time. I think my intentions were to buy some apple juice or if there were any cravings I had I could just pop in and get them. I finished lunch and sure enough had a craving for some orange juice (had no apple) some haribo and a pair of new socks. (My two pairs that I've rotated every few days for the last 3 weeks are indescribable, not even my best similie could do them justice) As I packed up my things I noticed a man cycle past with a trailor on his bike. I could see by the flags on the back he was from an area of Catalonia (it was red and yellow striped but had a different crest in the middle) but i didn't know what the other flag was. He had stopped over the road by a restaurant so I walked Nigel over to say hi. Sure enough he was from Spain and his name was Sergi. Sergi is cycling around the world, he's 41 and one day decided he didn't like his material loving self and quit his job and up sticks. When he told me this I instantly admired him. He was stopping to have some food and asked if I wanted to join him. Having just destroyed some crackers i declined but we compared where we were both heading and it was pretty much in the same spot. Sergi stays at campsites because he needs an electrical point to charge the battery on his bike. He said he had found one in Aqualila for just 10 euros. Having not paid a penny for accommodation thus far i thought I could squeeze out 10 euros and that would also mean, clean clothes and shower sorted! Boom! Sergi showed me where the campsite was on his map, it was easy to find as there was only one in the town he said and so I decided to push on and meet him at the campsite. I was really looking forward to a bit of company, clean clothes and a shower and with this I flew to the campsite despite the strong headwind.
I arrived at 4pm and sure enough the plot was 10 euros but it had a cheeky little added extra, a pool! Paying just 10 euros you don't really expect a toilet block let alone a pool. I checked the showers, no meter, bonus. I checked the toilets, still no paper, I will take it now that the Italians do not provide toilet paper on campsites. Again I was caught napping and paperless in this situation but just experimented a b-day Italy style in a weird cubicle that had a hole, two islands for your feet and about 2 feet of hose pipe. Haven't a clue what it's really used for but it did the job and you could give yourself a clean that karcher would be proud of if you half covered the hose pipe hole with your thumb. After setting up camp and cleaning my clothes or at least squeezing the dirty water out of them, I had a bit of a swim and sunbathed waiting for Sergi. It became apparent very quickly after I jumped in the pool that I have lost all of the little bit of strength that I possessed in my arms to start with. It must've all gone to my thighs because I could hardly lift myself out the pool after doing just two lengths, may have to do some morning push ups!
Sergi arrived at half 5 and that's when I could get to rummage through what things he had in his trailor. The man must be Spanish Tetris champion! His bike is a big old beast of a thing with bags and gadgets all over. I thought I was completely self sufficient but Sergi even has a few luxuries like a laptop etc. We sat and ate together and it was great to chat to a like minded person that has just started a massive tour aswell. He was inspired by my ability to just go and talk to farmers for a place to sleep and I wished I had his ability to be away for longer than 7 months or so! We decided we would ride together tomorrow as our intended stop is only about 60km away in Koper, Slovenia. Then after that who knows. I can't keep paying for campsites and Sergi will eventually need to charge his bike batteries. Either way, tomorrow will put a different spin on cycle touring for me having a riding buddy and it was great to push the reset button and get everything cleaned up today.
Don't you cry for the lost, smile for the living.
Get what you need, and give what you're given.
Life's for the living so live it,
Or you're better off dead.
Passenger, great lyrics.
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