Across the sole and then over to the top of the boot

Day 235 - 241

After a coffee and focaccia, I manage to leave town at about 11. It's a lovely ride down to the coast, blue skies, windy downhill run through green fields, quiet roads and then a tail wind along the flat. It doesn't get much better than this. 

Until I end up on a busy highway with no alternative.  I turn off soon enough into a beachside town.  In the evening I eat dinner on the beach before setting up my tent in the pine forest. Eating dinner is a little tricky - my spoon has joined my missing sock and lost towel. I manage not to cut my face off and eat spaghettie with a knife. 

After finding a new spoon in town I head west, with a tail wind! The road is busy but eventually I find a secondary road. I turn away from the coast to cross over to the top of the boot. 

I have to hide in a cafe for a couple of hours to hide from a creeper that was stalking me for about 10km in the countryside. Seriously, I am so over this harrasment. He must have gotten bored of waiting for me and when I reemerge from my hiding spot I can't see him. 

I find a nice spot amongst some olive trees to camp. My tent is covered in frost in the morning. 

I continue up hill, crossing over a pass at 700m. The climbing is nice and steady, not too steep.  I still stop often to 'admire the view' (not that my legs need resting *cough*).  There are rolling hills and snow capped mountains in the background. It is chilly up this high, the raincoat and winter gloves come on for the descent. 

Despite the tunnels this was one of the best descents I have had for ages. The road zigzags down the side of the mountain, through a tunnel, across a very high bridge contecting the ridges, switchback and repeat. 

Once back at sea level I speed along the flat road with the help of the tail wind. As I am looking for somewhere to camp I cycle past an older man with his pants down that seemed to be enjoying showing everyone what's on offer. I cycle into the next village, find a shop keeper that speaks English, tell him about the flasher and ask if he wants to call the police. 'No, he is probably just bored'. Right. I keep cycling. 

I find a caravan park that is closed for winter and sleep in an unlocked caravan. Nice and warm. 

The following day I continue south. The cycling is fairly unintersting unfortunately. There is a train line blocking my view of the ocean most of the time. I am in my own little world, listening to a podcast, spinning the pedals and in the distance I spot another cycle tourist. The first one I have met since Turkey! Dazzla is from Cornwall, heading to Istanbul and then back to England. He is also sick of all the rain and cold weather.  

As the afternoon wears on the sunshine and blue skies are replaced by very ominous looking clouds. I finally make it to Tropea and call my warm showers host, Salvatore. Only about five km and a steep hill to go. I am starving. As I start cycling up the hill I spot a sign with a picture of chocolate. I get very excited at the prospect of a quick chocolate stop. As I get closer it turns out that it is a picture of bricks. I am very disappointed. 

Just as I arrive at Salvatore's house it starts pouring. I am put in front of the fire place, given some tea and a plate of bread, cheese and ham. A perfect welcome. 

Dinner is soup and pizza. Very tasty. My home for the next few days is a self contained bungalow in the back of the garden. Salvatore and his wife usually rent it out during the summer. 

On Sunday Salvatore takes me for a drive to some scenic sights in the area. We visit and old ruin, buy some locally made cheese and salami from the back of a van and admire some great views. It is drizzly and windy all day. I am glad I am not on the bike or sleeping in my tent. 

Despite the best of intentions of leaving today, I don't. The weather is horrible. Very windy and gusty and raining off and on. I do a little work in the garden during the not so rainy periods but most of the day is spent drinking tea and reading my book. 

The next day it is the same. Salvatore is very kind and tells me it is ok for me to stay until the weather clears. 

18/2 Matera - Nova Siri Scalo: rode 75km

19/2 Nova Siri Scalo - Before Tarsia Nord: rode 78km

20/2 Before Tarsia Nord - Before Cerocea: rode 93km

21/2 Before Cerocea - Caria: rode 87km

ODO: 7085km

Athens and my last few days in Greece

Days 210 - 215

Due to the crazy wind my boat to Athens was delayed. Instead of arriving in Athens at the reasonable time of 1pm, I arrived at 2 am. I wondered what to do. Cycle around the city until the sun comes up? Find a secluded spot in the city to sleep? Try and find a cheap hotel? 

About 15 minutes after I hopped off the boat it started raining. That confirmed option number 3. The safest option and would have happened anyway. I found a hotel pretty quickly for 30 euros. Not so expensive as a once off but I definitely can't make a habit of this. By 3 am I was in a warm bed. 

I had arranged for a couchsurfing host but he was busy until late afternoon. I whiled away the day drinking coffee, eating pizza and battling crazy Athens traffic. 

I managed to find Dimitri's house and was welcomed in. He recently cycled across the states and then across Europe, back to his homeland. We enjoyed some of his mums cooking and a few beers that evening, swapping bicycle touring stories. He is planning to go to Central Asia next year so it was nice to feel helpful, giving some route and visa advice. 

The next day I headed to the city to meet up with another local that was going to host me but was unable to. He treated me to a delicious lunch and a beer (happy Australia Day!) and we wandered around the city. One of the highlights was going down an alleyway of butchers, where you can purchase a whole bunny rabbit with its tail intact. We also went to a camping shop and after months of (not) sleeping on a a crappy closed cell foam mat I finally upgraded to a therma rest neo air. Oh and there were a couple of old buildings as well.

For dinner I cooked some sausages with mash potato. Not authentic Australia Day tucker but the best I could do in the circumstances. Of course this was washed down with a few beers. 

The morning arrived with a whole bunch of rain. Dimitri kindly let me stay another night. I spent most of the day of the couch. Dinner that night was an olive oil and garlic extravaganza. Home made bread served with olive oil and feta for a starter. Pork chops cooked with olive oil and garlic. Zucchini fried with olive oil and garlic. Eggplant cooked with olive oil and garlic. Left over mash potato made into a patties with garlic cooked in olive oil. Washed down with a few beers and followed with some fancy little deserts. Delicious. 

The sun eventually arrived the following day and I made my way towards Patra. Unfortunately I had to battle a whole heap of horrible city cycling to get out of Athens. I do not reccomend Athens for cycling. I made it unscathed and followed the old highway. Unfortunately at one point a creeper on a motorcycle took a liking to me. Normally I try not to write about all the creepers but this one was very persistent, trying to ride me off the road. 

After a bunch of swearing and yelling from me he must have got the idea and left. I cycled the rest of the day with a large rock easily accessible, checking every time I heard a motorcycle to make sure it wasn't him. I hate that one incident like that can have such a big impact on my day. I mean the weather was nice, I had a tail wind and the scenery was good. But I had my guard up all day. I thought that once I left Turkey this would stop but apparently not. 

Anyway, I ended up cycling past a whole bunch of refineries as the afternoon wore on, wondering where to camp. I found a bit of land with a few gum trees and set up my tent there, just in time before the rain arrived. 

It continued all night. I put on all my rain gear and packed up a wet tent in the morning. By lunchtime the rain had cleared and the cycling became more scenic again. I passed small towns along the ocean. 

I found one of the best spots of all time to camp. From the old highway I spied a beach with a few empty looking buildings near it. I went and had a look and found a bar closed for winter. Undercover, protected from the wind with ocean views. The best. I dried out my tent and set my sleeping pad behind the bar, hidden from prying eyes and the wind. There was even electricity to charge my phone. 

Sunrise was beautiful but was quickly followed by more rain. No matter. On goes the rain gear. I only had about 65km to get to Patra to catch the evening ferry to Italy. 

My legs did not want to play the game this morning so I found a bakery and recharged with a very large pastry and coffee. I then cycled through some roadworks and ended up very muddy. As if I didn't look like enough of a hobo now my jumper and only pair of pants were splattered with mud. Not to mention my bicycle. 

After battling a chilly headwind for the last couple of hours I finally made it to Patra. By 5pm I was settled on the boat, ready to go to the land of pizza and pasta. 

25/1 Athens: 25km

28/1 Athens - Before Corinthos: 89km

29/1 Before Corinthos - Before Diakopto: 84km

30/1 Before Diakopto - Patra: 64km

ODO: 6179km

Last days in Iran

Day 109 - 113

The bus ride from Shiraz is about as fun as a 20 hr bus ride can be. I hop off the bus in Tabriz and all of a sudden realise that winter is coming. It is drizzly and cold. My sandal tan had been progressing very well but I think it is as good as it's going to get this year. 

I find my couch surfing host and spend the day eating, visiting the museum and bazaar and eating some more. I have the nicest baklava I have ever tasted. 

We have dinner at my hosts parents house and eat an amazing meal.  I continue to be overwhelmed by the hospitality given to me. Also the food is delicious, my favourite Iranian meal.  

The weather is a little better the next day and after buying some food, including bread straight out of the oven I head toward lake Urmyia and the Turkey border. 

It is only about 190km to the border but I know that it is uphill so I give myself three days cycling time and one day to spare. I don't want to see what happens if I overstay my Iran visa. It seems a little excessive at the time but it turns out I made the right choice. 

The weather is cool with the occasional drizzle of rain. Iran continues to deliver more boring, flat riding, with the occasional head wind for good measure. 

I find a pretty nice campsite next to the old, unused highway. There is even a pile of hay for me put my tent on. My tent flaps in the wind all night. 

I continue on in the morning, into the head wind and eventually cross lake Urmyia - a salt lake. 

After a cup of tea (I love my new thermos) it starts raining. I have lunch in a shelter in the town of Urmyia. Just as I pack up to head out of town I am invited for chai in the office of a trucking company. With the miserable weather It doesn't take much convincing. 

I eventually muster up the motivation to head out. A couple of hours later I pitch my tent near a village. I had tried to find somewhere under cover to camp but everyone is hiding inside. 

The rain continues and I forfeit a hot meal for a picnic inside my tent. I have a restless sleep and it rains all night. It is also cold. 

I lie in my tent and the day slowly grows more bright. As it does I realise that my tent looks as though it is about to collapse. Turns out all that rain last night was actually snow. Outside it is a winter wonderland. This would be great if I wasn't camping in it and my shoes weren't frozen and my gloves soaking wet. It's not nice, dry powdery snow. This is wet snow. 

I manage to pack my panniers and take the pegs out of the ground before my hands stop working. I wander up to the village and a very kind man notices me. He has a confused look in his face. 

I mange to invite myself/ get invited inside and I defrost my hands and dry my gloves next to the stove. He eventually figures out where I came from and together we finish packing up my tent and move my gear to his house. I am plied with chai and bread and eggs for the next couple of hours. 

During this time I am wondering what to do, continue uphill to the border? Go back to Urmyia and take a bus? For the first time during this trip I turn back. The weather is horrendous, my shoes and gloves are soaking wet and I do not want to spend all day riding uphill in the snow. 

The ride back to town is horrible. My toes goes numb. It feels like a am continuously having a slushie thrown into my face. 

An hour and a half later I stumble back into the office where I had chai the day before. I take off my soaking rain gear, shoes and socks and gloves and I am given a chair in front of the heater. Also countless cups of chai. Amazing. 

It turns out there is no bus to Van, my next destination in Turkey, but a truck driver can take me to the Turkey border and from there I can get a bus. 

We drive up to the border and I am so glad I am warm and toasty in the truck. The snow is continuing to fall and pile up next to the road. Once at the border town of Serov we park the truck next to about 50 other trucks and head out for my last Iranian kebab. 

The Turkey border is closed to trucks so my driver, John, is spending the night in Serov. It is late and I still have one day left on my visa. I spend the night in a bunk in John's truck. It is awesome. And dry. This is the most bizzare place I have slept since leaving home. 

The following morning John is still stuck in Iran and unable to cross the border. I load up my bike and thank Mother Nature that the snow has stopped falling. I cycle the last couple of kilometres to the border and leave Iran. 

The Turkish customs is in shambles but I manage to get through after about an hour. Two buses and about four hours later I find myself in Van, waiting to meet my warm showers host, Levent

That evening Levent, two of his friends and I sit around drinking beer and eating delicious kebab that Levent cooked. I even indulge in a shower beer.  My new Turkish friends have never ears of this concept but promise to give it a go. After nearly a whole month without beer this is bliss. 

17/10 Tabriz: rode 17km, ODO 3278km

18/10 Tabriz - lake Urmyia: rode 85km, ODO 3364km

19/10 lake Urmyia - village: rode 84km, ODO 3444km

20/10 village - Urmyia: rode 18km, ODO 3462km

21/10 Serov & Van: rode 6km, ODO 3468km