Since the last time I wrote something two days worth of stuff has happened. This is predominantly due to two days passing.
I got a bike. A nice Greek man drove me across the island and dropped me in front of a place full of motorbikes. Slightly worried there had been a communication malfunction I tentatively made my way inside. At the back of the shop I saw an abundance of bicycles. I asked a man in my slowest English (which is still pretty fast) that I would like to purchase a bike. He looked confused and ran to the back to gather a man who I could communicate with. After a while I had a bike and a plethora of free stuff including spare inner tubes, a multi-tool, and puncture repair kit. What nice Greeks. The bike is more of a mountain bike. While this means I can't pick up up the same amount of speed on flat roads I have already been glad of its existence multiple times when finding myself climbing up stony, dirt tracks. I've heard the road conditions in Albania are awful so I think I have made the correct decision.
I took my new bike for a 30 mile jaunt around the island and quickly decided to start my trip a day earlier. The thought of doing a 70 mile day followed by a 90 mile in this heat made me sad.
Before that there was another performance of the Central Asian Experience (not its actual name) to attend. Before hand we all sat outside and they played music whilst the dancers danced. Their enthusiasm for always playing music and generally being upbeat is really nice. At one point later in the evening we went on a tourist car/train ride around the town and they clapped and danced for the whole 40 minutes. I happily joined in for about 15 minutes before having to sit back and relax, they instead went fully loose for the duration.
The next day I planned to head off early but unfortunately the day before I had combined beer and watermelon which apparently disagrees with my stomach. I am told this combination doing bad stomach things is common knowledge; it is nothing I have ever heard of. So after a rather unsavoury morning including multiple toilet trips I felt well enough to leave at 11, about 3 hours after my planned starting time.
Due to splitting my 90 mile day in half this was my longest day. It was a mixture of really tiring and amazng fun. During ascensions I am constantly thinking 'Why am I doing this? It is so hot. I'm an idiot'. Whist going downhill I am thinking 'AHHHH!This is amazing! Weeeeeeee'. The downhill sections more than make up for the climbing.
Here are a few things I noticed whilst cycling about:
Farms smell different here. Perhaps it is the heat or the different combinations of animals but I'm not getting the homely smell of manure that permeates the majority of the English countryside.
There are so many unfinished homes. My guess is that due to the amount of spare land people buy it thinking of building their own house and then cant afford to finish it; perhaps when the Economy went wrong. Sadly you see some people living in the single finished room of their massive shell. Luckily, I'm sure the people who are selling housing foundations are laughing.
People are generally friendly. I stopped for an ice cream and the woman there gave me free water and let me sit in the back of her little shop whilst I cooled down.
That will do for now. Here are pictures:
I got a bike. A nice Greek man drove me across the island and dropped me in front of a place full of motorbikes. Slightly worried there had been a communication malfunction I tentatively made my way inside. At the back of the shop I saw an abundance of bicycles. I asked a man in my slowest English (which is still pretty fast) that I would like to purchase a bike. He looked confused and ran to the back to gather a man who I could communicate with. After a while I had a bike and a plethora of free stuff including spare inner tubes, a multi-tool, and puncture repair kit. What nice Greeks. The bike is more of a mountain bike. While this means I can't pick up up the same amount of speed on flat roads I have already been glad of its existence multiple times when finding myself climbing up stony, dirt tracks. I've heard the road conditions in Albania are awful so I think I have made the correct decision.
I took my new bike for a 30 mile jaunt around the island and quickly decided to start my trip a day earlier. The thought of doing a 70 mile day followed by a 90 mile in this heat made me sad.
Before that there was another performance of the Central Asian Experience (not its actual name) to attend. Before hand we all sat outside and they played music whilst the dancers danced. Their enthusiasm for always playing music and generally being upbeat is really nice. At one point later in the evening we went on a tourist car/train ride around the town and they clapped and danced for the whole 40 minutes. I happily joined in for about 15 minutes before having to sit back and relax, they instead went fully loose for the duration.
The next day I planned to head off early but unfortunately the day before I had combined beer and watermelon which apparently disagrees with my stomach. I am told this combination doing bad stomach things is common knowledge; it is nothing I have ever heard of. So after a rather unsavoury morning including multiple toilet trips I felt well enough to leave at 11, about 3 hours after my planned starting time.
Due to splitting my 90 mile day in half this was my longest day. It was a mixture of really tiring and amazng fun. During ascensions I am constantly thinking 'Why am I doing this? It is so hot. I'm an idiot'. Whist going downhill I am thinking 'AHHHH!This is amazing! Weeeeeeee'. The downhill sections more than make up for the climbing.
Here are a few things I noticed whilst cycling about:
Farms smell different here. Perhaps it is the heat or the different combinations of animals but I'm not getting the homely smell of manure that permeates the majority of the English countryside.
There are so many unfinished homes. My guess is that due to the amount of spare land people buy it thinking of building their own house and then cant afford to finish it; perhaps when the Economy went wrong. Sadly you see some people living in the single finished room of their massive shell. Luckily, I'm sure the people who are selling housing foundations are laughing.
People are generally friendly. I stopped for an ice cream and the woman there gave me free water and let me sit in the back of her little shop whilst I cooled down.
That will do for now. Here are pictures:
The musicians
Resting in the shade
Unfinished house
Thought I'd try and take a selfie
Second Attempt...
No more selfies.
I'm doing this on my phone ap sorry for any typos/errors.
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