Could Do Better !

The bears, horses and warden all stayed clear of my encampment last night and I slept like a baby, undisturbed by man, beast or nightmares for about 9 hours. It must have been the exertions of yesterdays typing as it couldn’t have been the riding; looking at the track log I downloaded from my GPS last night I managed a whole 96.4 miles yesterday… Joel will be proud of me!

Yes, I rode it all the way up and all the way down again !

I am slowly discovering that there is a lot I’ve got wrong on this trip, starting with the planning such as it was! The overall plan was way too ambitious for the allotted time frame, something I guess I have always been guilty of; trying to cram in too much into too short a space of time. Although in my defence, in the past I have usually only had two week in which to play, so time was of the essence! However, on this and hopefully future trips that is not the case, so as Joel and Taz demonstrated so admirably, less can well be more. Another interesting statistic from the GPS track; my average speed was, wait for it….just 11mph!  Wow, I could do better than that on a push bike, that is until you look at the plot of the elevation !

The second thing that I got wrong was packing… I have always been guilty of “belt & braces” when it comes to kit and this time I have excelled. I have identified a whole pannier load of stuff which I haven’t used and that I am unlikely to use. Bivy bag, Hammock, Tarp, a couple of spare storage bags, all sorts of electrical gizmos and at least 50% of my clothing. Although to be fair some of it is cold weather gear which I did need until I got to Spain; France was very cold and wet on the way down. Oh, and do I really NEED 4 very sharp knives? Unless of course I get serious about the bear hunting and not to forget about 6 ways to start a fire !!!

My  third and possibly most serious error was my choice of entertainment i.e. reading material and music. Given the dates of the trip and my current state of mind I could well have chosen something more suitable than The History of Conflict in Afghanistan!  Perhaps Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance, or even Monty Python’s The Life of Brian; needless to say I have barely opened it. And Celine Dion, well do I have to say more?

And of course there are a few quite important things which are missing. I guess top of the list for me must be my pillion passenger, as I commented to Corinna in a text the other day; I never realized what lousy company I was till I had to spend 5 weeks with myself!  Then come a few practical bits and pieces such as a decent pair of sandals. Joel tried to convince me to spend 48 euro on a pair whilst in Italy but I was too tight and now I’m paying the price as mine disintegrate around my tootsies! Some hand/foot cream would be nice as my feet are so sore ; and whilst on the subject of feet,some  Compeed blister patches would have made sense as I knew I was hoping to do some hiking.  

My ultra wide angle lens, what was I thinking leaving it behind in favour of my tele-zoom when coming on a trip where the landscapes are to die for! In reality I could have done with both as the telephoto is great for candid portraits; important had I got as far as I had planned.

One of the many reasons for not travelling too fast!

Silly bits which I have found useful  are mainly to do with food. Top of the list must be my little folding table as it keep food off the ground and way from the myriad of ants and other crawly things that abound over here:  my herbs and spices, which can turn the ordinary meal  into a feast; an art at which Taz excels.  Although I lost a lot of them in the drenching I got in France.  The non-stick frying pan which having purloined from my kitchen, with the handle suitably shortened does so many jobs so well; not least my breakfast staple of sultana bannock! Hot from the pan with a nice cup of Lipton’s Yellow Label Tea; a joyous way to start the day.

Talking of which I guess it’s time I had a brew and got moving. Chores and ablutions long since completed, all that remains is to get the cooking kit packed away and head off into the sun. It’s now nearly 9am and I’ve been up since 6. The morning is nice aired and time to leave my lair and head to town for supplies. Hopefully, tomorrow my feet are going to stand up to a 14Km hike through the Vikos gorge so I may well be back here tonight ready for an early assault in the morning.

Err! Slight change of plan, on the way down to Ionnina this morning II spotted a war memorial by the side of the road. So parked up and walked up to it… all 385 steps up and of course 385 steps  down again. Not a problem as such but it did make me think that perhaps my feet aren’t quite up to the hike yet! So having had had a pleasant but sometimes frustrating ride round the coast to Prevaza and Igoumenitsa, I now camped right on the beach, and a semi-private beach at that, just yards from the Albanian border! I saw the beach from the road and watched as a campervan came up the track. I walked down a little way and it seemed passable; mistake! I should have walked the whole track although to be fair I wouldn’t now be camped in this wonderful location just north of Sagiada. How the hell I’m going to get up out of here tomorrow I have no idea. I suppose if push comes to shove I could always walk up with the panniers, but not a job I relish. The problem is that the track is a lot rougher and looser than it looked and the best of the car tracks is of course the one closest to the edge !  Oh well! I’m sure it will be fine…

The reason for the frustration on the ride today was these damn new roads. They just seem to cut through and block off the old side roads so that there is no visible access to them, so I ended up doing a few u-turns before I found the right one and my Michelin map dated 2008 has so many of the new road missing ! Comes back to what I said the other day… No wonder Greece is broke, she’s squandered all our EU dosh on un-necessary motorway!

I always go on about the innate goodness in people, and today I have had two random acts of kindness directed at me. The first was in a Petrol station where I stopped  for some drinking water. He didn’t have any large bottles so I picked up two half litre ones which I promptly drunk, having first been ushered into a shady chair by the attendant who spoke not a single word of English. He then pointed me to the hose pipe used for the car radiators so that I could cool off by dowsing myself with the cold water. Then when it came to leaving he wouldn’t accept any payment for the water but instead thrust a third bottle into my hand. Then tonight having been granted permission to camp which was first refused, when I went to fill a water bottle from the tap, as I returned I was greeted with a 1.5Lt bottle fresh from the couples freezer! It couldn’t have tasted better if it was ice cold beer!

Having swam in the Ionnian Sea until I resemble a prune, I suppose I’d better sort myself some food. As I need to use up the last of the Chorizo, I think I will have it with a nice Greek salad and some of Taz’s recipe dressing. Now an ice cold beer would go down well with that! Oh well mustn’t be greedy!

Now sat on a deserted beach watching the sun  set behind Corfu… Priceless!