If yesterday was Diamond then today has definitely been
something the cat dragged in…. The wonderful camping spot I found last night
turned round and bit me for starters. It began with a gentle cooling breeze
last night which was great, but during the night the wind just got stronger and
stronger till I had a full blown gale tugging at my little tent precariously
perched on the edge of the mountain… that’ll teach me! So not a lot of sleep
was to be had with much rustling and flapping. Needless to say as the weather
had been so good I hadn’t thought to put out guy lines or, to be honest, even
pegs at the corners. My little home is usually quite stable with just me and my
clobber in it. I though perhaps it was just a night blow, having sailed in the Ionian
I know that they do have odd winds at particular times of day but dawn broke
with the wind still howling. I didn’t
bother to get up to early still being optimistic that as the mountain warmed up
the wind would drop; some hope! In the end I decided I would have to get up and
pack. I skipped breakfast as I didn’t think there was a cat in hells chance of
getting the stove going, at least not without setting fire to half the mountain.
I headed off just as a herd of goats came round the corner… I’m not sure which
of us got the biggest surprise!
The plan was to continue to make my way north towards the Albanian
border. Now you may recall I have mentions a coup[le of time about the roads,
where part of the carriageway has just disappeared down the hillside…well today
it finally happened, I rounded a bend to find that there was about 100 metres of gravel then…
nothing! Yes, the whole shooting match had just gone walkies down the hill.
There was no warning, no diversion, no road! So I had no alternative other to
turn round and head back the way I had just come.
Not really too much of a problem as I had no definitive destination
in mind I was after all just meandering, however something else was bothering
me as well, I had noticed that I had flecks of oil on my rear tyre and I couldn’t
work out where it was coming from. The left side of the gearbox had a bit of
oil film on it whilst the right side was dry. At first I suspected that the oil
pressure switch which stopped working some weeks back, was leaking. (Dimitris
our host at the Greek HU meeting has picked up a new one for me.) So I cleaned
off all the oil that I couild, topped up the oil with about 200ml and pushed
gently on, thinking I would head over to Ionnina for some shopping whilst
keeping a close eye on the oil level and leakage.
The next time I checked about 10 miles further on I couldn’t
believe my eyes. The right hand side of the tyre tread was running with oil and
as I parked on some gravel, a pool of oil soon formed under the bike. As with
many problems once it gets that bad it is much easier to find and the source
was soon traced to a leaking banjo bolt on the oil cooler pipe. I tried
tightening them both up but to no avail. So I removed them both as it was
difficult to be sure which was leaking and applied a smear of gasket silicon to
each washer face and replaced them.
To give the sealant time to dry I wandered off to a garage I
had passed just before I stopped to get some more oil and a cold drink. When I
returned the leak remained, it seemed the only solution was going to be to replace
the copper washers; not something not something I have in my spares. When I
went for the oil I had noticed a VW/Audi service garage almost next door, so
removing one of the banjo bolts I went along with it and a washer to try my
luck… and to be sure lady luck was with me! Four new washers procured and the
guy wouldn’t take a cent for them… Yet another of those Random Acts of Kindness
that I mentioned. New washers fitted, leak sorted, oil topped up and I was on
my way to Ionnina for the second time on this trip.
However, this time as I approached I spotted a camping sign,
so tonight sees me “going official” once more camped right on the edge of a huge
Lake with showers, WiFi and cold beer! I wonder what tomorrow will throw at me,
but then that’s the joy of travel !
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