Distance: 62km
Getting going today was harder than we’d hoped. We spent the morning trying to work out how we’d get to the Saint Bernard Pass on the border of Italy and Suisse (Switzerland) in time to meet Sev and Francois. We had no luck with the buses and trains, and so we worked out a separate route where we’d go to one of Italy’s most famous island mafia strongholds. But first, our destination was Potenza, a city in the Italian foothills at over 800 meters in elevation, we hoped it would be a little colder. By the time we cycled out of Bari it was almost 2pm, and almost 35 degrees. We didn’t figure on not being able to find water, so we left with our bottles half full without realizing what was ahead of us. All afternoon we pedalled hard and seemed to cover little ground. The service stations were all closed. At one service station, which was open, the shop was locked so the attendant gave us some water he had in his car. It was a simple act but improved our mood dramatically. In the evening we stopped in the city of Altamura and found a supermarket. The altimeter on Sam's watch said 420m - we had been climbing all day. That partly explained why it had seemed so hard. The sun was setting and we rode furiously to get away from the city and find somewhere to camp. Sam located the perfect spot - under a bridge next to a rail line. There were no houses around and we were looking forward to a quiet night.
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Distance: 18km
As we rode out of Bar we found a bushland area that was perfect for camping. So perfect, we decided it shouldn't be wasted. The beaches were secluded, the ground flat and the whole area shaded by beautiful trees. The perfect spot to spend an afternoon and then do some free-camping. As we scouted for the perfect spot strange looking characters walked past us, including one that looked suspiciously like Super Hubert (Novocastrians know what I mean)... We found a perfect spot, overlooking a small protected beach - which was covered with naked bodies. Mostly old, overweight and wrinkled. That explained the suspicious looking characters... We didn't want to seem to be watching the sunbathers, so we found another place on the other side of the headland, where there was a path down to another little beach. Also with nude sunbathers. Wow, these Montonegrians love a bit of nudity! We found ourselves a different patch of water where we kept our clothes on. Or did we? It all turned a bit sinister when Sam noticed a guy hiding amongst the rocks with binoculars... And we realised many of the men weren't getting their kit off, but were sneaking around amongst the rocks, trying to stay hidden. One man even sat on the rocks with a video camera, pretending to point it ahead, but then changing his aspect to include the nudists. What a strange country!! Hours later, as I noticed Super Hubert leave, I knew my view of Montenegro would always be coloured by the day we camped outside Bar. Distance: 91km
Awoke to sound of waves rolling along the beach... and noisy kids running around our tent. So we packed up and left as quickly as we could, with the fat mans angry dog trying to bite Shanna's heels, until I got off my bike and chased it into the damn ocean, were it drowned... At least I imagined doing this anyway. After we'd bought some milk and had some breakfast we felt a little better, got back on the bikes and cycled to Igoumentia. Our legs were much more tired and sore today, and we had to cycle up a more hills than usual. The first of these began from the ocean and stopped at 240 meters in altitude, went back down quickly (past a huge landslide that had spilled out onto the road) to 40 meters and then back up suddenly to 230. Although not so high, the hills kept on coming, and we struggled through the heat, having to go our own pace up the hills, rather than cycle together to block the wind. Around 6pm we began looking for somewhere to camp, and actually ended up cycling around ten kilometers in the opposite direction to were we thought we'd find a perfect secluded spot.It wasn't to be, the cliffs continued along the oceans front and we eventually gave up, riding into the city itself. From here we cycled another five or so kilometers further along the exposed Greek coastline until we came to an Isthmus. As you can see from the photos it was an amazing beachside camp spot, with the first real sand beach we have seen since Thailand, warm ocean temps, and even a fresh water shower close by were we washed ourselves and our clothes!!! Despite the disco/parties that blasted music from who knows where, again, the men cruising past staring from their 'fully sick cars', and the almost gail force winds that preceded the incredible lightning, hail and thunder storm (amazing, scary!!) that erupted during the early hours of the morning, we had a memorable time here, one I think we'll both reminisce about fondly years into the future. Distance: 122km
Temperature: 38C Wind: Crazy! We both felt great after a day off from riding the bikes, but by the time we finally got ourselves organised and left it was 11am and already the temperature was 35 degrees celcius. Despite this we marvelled at the incredible view the road presented us with as it wound its way around the coastline, and even began saying to each other that this made the Great Ocean Road look tame... By 6pm we had covered 100kms and we finally arrived at what we thought was a bridge but what turned out to be a tunnel, connecting one side of the peninsula to the other. Without the use of this tunnel, a 600km round trip or a ferry ride would be necessary, so we were surprised to find that bicycles were not allowed, particularly as the tunnel was only a kilometer long, shorter even than some of the unlit tunnels we rode through in China. Eventually a man pulled up in a ute though, so luckily we were able to load our bikes on the back, getting a free ride across. Two hours later, our stomachs full with 1.60 Euro lamb gyros and we had finally found what we thought was the perfect camp spot on the beach, with only one caravan 00 meters from us in sight. We dozed off to sleep almost immediately after swimming and washing our things in the ocean, but were woken at 11pm by some sort of disco somewhere (it was so far away we couldn't see it but loud enough that even with ear plugs in we struggled to get back to sleep.) Sleeping once again and at 1am a couple with two young children and two dogs arrived. Deciding they liked our spot even more than us, they camped right near us, and set about setting up camp for the next year, or so it seemed... Finally back to sleep and two hours later at 4am the family's caged dogs began letting loose with a cacophony of growls and barks... Distance: 122km
Often it is the difficult days that we end up covering the most distance... I started the day feeling like I was pedaling through quicksand, and skeptical that I would make the 60km to the bridge near Patra... but I was surprised at how much distance we covered. Especially given the fierce headwind, that seems determined to plague us no matter where we are in the world, and which direction we are riding. We often dream of what it would be like to be going the other way, and firmly believe we're going the wrong way around the world. Around lunch time we stumbled upon a sight familiar to us in Bayswater, but which we haven't seen for the past 5 months. Aldi. We dumped our bikes at the door and excitedly scoured the aisles. 500ml chocolate milk for 50 cents. Chocolate and vanilla pudding for 28 cents. The bargains were even better than at home! We grabbed a heap of food, spent 6 euro, and proceeded to gorge ourselves outside. Boy did I feel sick! There are very few occasions I can remember feeling so sick... Once I regained my ability to function we rode to the huge suspension bridge (for my roads friends I read that it is the world's longest multi-span cable-stayed bridge) joining the Peloponesse to the mainland. It was quite a sight! The bridge is considered an engineering masterpiece, as the difficulties around its construction were deep water, insecure foundations, seismic activity, and expansion from plate tectonics. But the engineers met the challenges and the bridge stands! We were lucky that a lane was closed for roadworks, but no works were happening, so we ended up with a whole lane to ourselves while we crossed the 2.25km structure. On the other side we met a German couple cycling the 'right' way. In a combination of English, German, French and Italian we managed to communicate about our trips and the conditions of the road each was about to face. We were told no hills. Less than 10km later we were hit with two massive hills. Through the wind we battled. We were inland and we wanted to make it back to the coast, so we could wash before going to bed. In the late afternoon we arrived in Mesologi. Our legs ached and we were tired. We ate some delicious souvlaki pitas for 2 euro and rode to a pier for a swim. The water in this area was surrounded by land on all sides, not really an ocean after all, so a bit dirty and stagnant. We found a pier to jump off, but when we landed we sank into various silt and sea plants that made us even dirtier. We crawled out not sure if the plunge had been worth it. Our camping spot for the night was on a patch of dirt, behind some trees along the main road into the town. Barking dogs, noisy cars and the heat made sleep hard to come by... Distance: 58km
Waking to the sound of the waves rolling along the beach and the sun rising was nice, pushing and carrying our bikes up the steep rocky path back to the road was not so nice. But of course it was worth it for getting to camp in such a beautiful spot. But before we packed to leave we went for a swim in the ocean, again. Nice and cool, great start to the day. After approx 20kms we came to Mellisio, a town with a post-office (were we sent some more things home), an internet cafe, two bike shops (the first we have seen in Greece) and a nice little supermarket. All of a sudden it was almost lunch time so we headed off, only to be greeted by another incredible head wind. Wow, it is so hard riding into this kind of wind... so we stopped on the side of the road at an abandoned beach cafe, and went for another swim, and laid on the deck overlooking our own private beach... When we got started again it was almost 5pm, and still the wind was strong and the sun high and hot. But after an hour or so of riding we rode through an incredible little village were the waves that had been strung up by the wind were crashing into the side of the road as we rode along, spray streaming through the air and sprinkling us as we rode past. After a while we looked at each other, smiles on our faces, wondering at the amazement of such a road, by the ocean... if you close your eyes for a moment, maybe you can picture it too, the wind and the water spraying you through the twilight of the evening sun, the centuries old Greek villas lining the road on your right side, nothing but ocean on your left... Distance: 93km
Very hot day, feels almost like Thailand! Left our beautiful campsite, and rode for most of the day through a really difficult headwind along the coast. Saw some amazing villages, houses, streets... and we rode across the Corinth Canal, way cool!!!! Here is an excerpt from wikipedia about the canal: The Corinth Canal (Greek: Διώρυγα της Κορίνθου) is a canal that connects the Gulf of Corinth with the Saronic Gulf in the Aegean Sea. It cuts through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth and separates the Peloponnesian peninsula from the Greek mainland, thus effectively making the former an island. The canal is 6.3 kilometres in length and was built between 1881 and 1893. Remains of Nero's canal project in 1881 Several rulers in antiquity dreamt of cutting a canal through the Isthmus. The first to propose such an undertaking was the tyrant Periander in the 7th century BC. He abandoned the project due to technical difficulties, and instead constructed a simpler and less costly overland portage road, named Diolkos.According to another theory, Periander feared that a canal would have robbed Corinth of its dominating role as entrepôt for goods. Remnants of the Diolkos still exist next to the modern canal. The Diadoch Demetrius (336–283 BC) planned to construct a canal as a means to improve his communication lines, but dropped the plan after his surveyors, miscalculating the levels of the adjacent seas, feared heavy floods. The historian Suetonius tells us that the Roman dictator Julius Caesar (r. 48 to 44 BC) projected, among other grandiose engineering schemes, a canal through the Isthmus.He was assassinated before he could bring the scheme to fruition. The Roman Emperor Nero (r. 54–68 A.D.) launched an excavation, personally breaking the ground with a pickaxe and removing the first basket-load of soil, but the project was abandoned when he died shortly afterwards. The Roman workforce, consisting of 6000 Jewish prisoners of war,[14] started digging 40–50 m wide trenches from both sides, while a third group at the ridge drilled deep shafts for probing the quality of the rock (which were reused in 1881 for the same purpose). As the modern canal follows the same course as Nero's, no remains have survived. The modern attempt at construction began in the 1870s following the successful opening of the Suez Canal. A French company was hired to build it, but due to financial difficulties, the company ceased work after only the two ends had been dug. Finally, in 1881 the Hungarian architects István Türr and Béla Gerster, who had also been involved with early surveys for the Panama Canal, were hired to plan a new canal. A Greek company led by Andreas Syngros (the main contractor being Antonis Matsas) ultimately took over the project and completed it in 1893. On April 7, 2010, Australian daredevil Robbie Maddison performed a moto-x jump over the canal. ____________ So that night we found what we both considered our best campsite ever, in a perfect secluded spot right on the beach. Maybe you can also be the judge of this from the photos... αντίο Distance: Maybe 30kms...
Stayed in Athens for 3 days waiting for Sams fevers to abate. Saw some street fights, some beautiful buildings, a lot of big people (there are more here than in Australia guys, somebody is pulling our leg saying we take the crown...), ate some average food- All in all Athens was so so. But maybe thats just because I was sick with the measles... Anyway, after 3 days I was finally well enough to ride again and we left the city via the coast, finding the second best camp site of our entire trip... you should have seen it, overlooking the ocean where there was a huge ship laying overturned. We swam out to the ship, washing ourselves from the sweat, and dived off what used to be the officers quarters! Wow, beautiful water, perfect spot, photo's with proof to come soon. Distance: 73km
We spent the day moving towards the mountains. We knew we were moving towards the mountains because on the GPS map the road ahead was very squiggly - indicating it wove through the hills. My legs were tired and aching so I was dreading what was awaiting us. On one uphill section (before we came to a real mountain) Sam was just off the road and I was checking the GPS against the distance sign in front of me, trying to work out where we would make it that day, when a truck driver pulled over. The man indicated I should put my bike on his truck and get in. I politely refused but he came closer as if to take my bike. I said no and told him I was riding with my husband. He still didn't seem to get it until Sam came out of the bushes and started towards us. Then the man jumped in his truck and took off. Late in the afternoon we could see the mountains in front of us, and the road led upwards. We stopped at a service station at the bottom to load up on sugar. Although my legs were tired, the road wasn't as hard as I'd feared. In a low gear I could keep my legs turning consistently and keep moving forwards and upwards. We stopped at a particularly steep section to have some food before the final climb. I set off before Sam, knowing he would catch me, and sure enough, as I started the flying descent he was passing me and cheering with exhilaration. The sun was getting low, and thick cloud cover meant it was darker than normal, so when we saw we were approaching a town we decided to find a camping spot on the mountain. We followed a dirt path off the main road and found a mound littered with tracks and the remnants of small campfires. We set up our tent on the flattest section we could find, spending 10 minutes trying to clear all the rocks and sticks. We fell asleep to the sound of shepherds singing to their goats (and the occasional grinding of gears as trucks struggled up the mountain), and were woken during the night by a downfall of rain. Distance: 40km
Our heads were full of the things we'd discussed with John as we boarded the ferry to take us to Canakkale on the other side of the Dardonelles. Our path today would take us within 5km of the ruins of 'Troy' so we decided that it was a worthy detour, even if we'd heard the city was not as preserved as other ancient cities. In Canakkale we stopped at a chemist to buy Sam some more antibiotics, tried to find a bike shop (which turned out to be just a department store that sold some cheap bikes) to buy some chain, and grabbed some cheap kebabs before heading towards Ayvalik - our destination to sail to Greece. It was only 40km from Canakkale to Troy, but harder than we'd expected. After having such a long break to recuperate in China our bodies were feeling the strain of riding every day in strong winds and up steep hills. After one particularly long, steep section we stopped at a restaurant overlooking the mountains and ocean and enjoyed some cold drinks and pide before the final descent to Troy. We arrived at Troy 50 minutes before closing time and were surprised to see we weren't the only ones arriving so late in the day. The place was still bustling with tour groups and the sun still shone bright (hence the overexposed photos) at 6.30pm! As we'd heard, the ruins weren't great. And we couldn't make out the buildings the signs were telling us had once stood on those spots. But there was still something magical about walking in a city that dates back to 3000BC and is part of one of the world's greatest legends (although who knows if the city of Troy really existed, and if this spot was even the right one). Satisfied with our visit, we were ready to leave as the site closed and we headed off to find somewhere to camp. As we entered Troy we'd been approached by four people offering us various places to camp. They ranged from 5TL to 20TL. We checked out all options but ruled them out for various reasons - roosters that would wake us up, a restaurant with noisy patrons, camping sites right on the side of the road with not even a bush to protect us from the noise... the most expensive place had hot showers and internet but the man was very rude, and insisted on us staying even though we told him it was too expensive and too noisy. He got angry and he and Sam exchanged heated words before we rode off. We'd decided to find a place to free-camp and were buying supplies when approached by yet another touter. He offered us a camping spot on his property for 5TL - with a toilet and shower - so we went to check it out. It wasn't great, but he was so friendly and seemed to really want/need us to stay. So we relented. Before we'd managed to set up though the guy mentioned he had a group of German archiologists from the ruins coming for dinner and we knew we had to leave - we would get no sleep! He fought against us, told us he would ban music and tell them to be quiet, but we were firm. We needed sleep! So we thanked him profusely and left. Sam had noticed an area next to the official Troy site which he wanted to investigate so we headed back that way, and within 10 minutes found the perfect spot - hidden from the road, in an empty field outside of the fence of Troy. That night I was again plagued by the midnight monsters, this time they howled like a pack of wild dogs... |
AuthorSam and Shanna Evans are from Melbourne, Australia Archives
September 2012
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