My day at the Hotel Kalina has been spent alternating between  sleeping, contemplating my life on road and abject horror at the realisation that not too far down the road I must return to what passes in our so called “civilized” world as normality. For me the world can never be as it was, far too much has happened over the last three years for a simple return to the status quo of “ normality”. Not least over the past two months I have been given a glimpse of an alternative life style, lived by many , many people that I have met, that offers for me at least, something far better. My only problem is how to reconcile the opposing torments within me to finally arrive at an equable solution!

Living on the road can be amazingly cheap if you do it right and I have a host of people to thank for showing me just where I was going wrong. Foremost must come Taz and Joel, their gentle humour and quiet ways have taught me so much in the weeks we have travelled together and I can only hope that in some small way I have been able to return just a little to them from the way I travel. Hanno, our German friend that we met at the Horizons meeting and who travels on less money than many spend at the pub over a weekend; Alex, another German and one who must rate amongst the luckiest of men, for not only finding salvation from his depressions in the world of travel but also for finding the girl of his dreams, the very beautiful  Mila, on the road! Just how lucky can one man get? He supplements his travel budget by writing articles for an agricultural magazine. There are many more I could mention such as Iain and Debs, at present in Korea, living their dream but as the song says “ behind them the queue stretches right down the hall”.

One of the first questions that always crops up when you talk to wannabe travellers (amongst whom I classify myself) is the thorny one of cost. “ How can you afford it?”  The biggest problem is that there is no single answer, and certainly not a simple one. I remember being told when I was very young that I could do anything, be anything I wanted ,if I set my mind to it; and to be honest that was not too far away from the truth! You just have to want it bad enough! Taz and Joel live like students in rented accommodation when they are not travelling shoving every penny they can earn from long working hours into the bank for the next spell on the road. Iain and Debz sold their comfortable home to finance their dream of travelling the world together. Hanno, lives for his small amount of benefits to arrive, sometimes staying on a wild camp site for days, until the cheque hits the bank. One thing however, that all have in common is that they have learned the art of managing quite comfortably on a very small budget.  Many people also use a variety  of web sites such as www.workaway.com , www.couchsurfing.com, and www.housecarers.com  to find both accommodation and work to help along the way. It is also fascinating and an utter joy to learn how quick like minded people are to offer their help and their homes to fellow travellers. On this trip we have been offered a 10 bed roomed mansion in the Italian hills for the winter, a village home on one of the Greek Islands, Chios for whenever I want to go there. Not to mention similar offers from Athens, Munich, Chalkidiki and various other points around Europe.

So where does that leave me??? Until I get home and do my final reckoning, to be absolutely honest I don’t know. What I do know however is that my daily budget has dropped dramatically  over the past two months or so, partly due to travelling less miles each day; after all, what’s the rush? My 4/500km per day average is now down to around 200km or even less. With fuel being the largest part of my budget that means I travel for twice as long on the same money and an added bonus is that by travelling slowly I see far more and meet more people because I stop more often! By finding wild camps rather than paying over inflated prices to pitch my tiny tent on a patch of land and use their filthy toilets, I save another 10 to 15 Euros, easily enough to pay for the odd restaurant meal or, as at the moment, a couple of nights in a reasonably priced hotel. My guess is that the final tally will be around £25 or 30Euro per day and for that I get to see a myriad of beautiful places, meet amazing , very interesting people AND choose what weather I want by just changing my destination!  This could really be heaven I guess! Although there is still a little fluffy thing missing from my paradise !!!

So where next? Again I have to answer that I don’t yet know, possibly Bansang, possibly India or Thailand! But one thing I do know is that spending the winter in cold, wet Wales looks ever less attractive.

Saturday 11th August 9am

Ooo, that was a rough night by any standards…. After leaving our 6000ft wild camp, we continued to make our way slowly through the Rodapi mountains past lakes, reservoirs, forests and … athletes ! Yes, that’s right, athletes, it seems that the area through which we were riding is used extensively for the training of athletes for the winter Olympics and everywhere we went there were people skiing down ( and up) the roads on inline skates, sculling on the lakes, mountain biking and just running. I don’t mean your usual weekend keep fit nutters, this was very serious stuff being undertaken by some very fit athletes!  However all those fit young bodies did nothing to detract from the incredibly beauty of the area. Every where you turn you are confronted with one mind-blowing vista after another!

All day long we had been hearing the rumble of thunder behind us and as we rode into the afternoon it became apparent that we were losing the battle to out run the following  storm. So in spite of it only being about 3pm we decided that it would make sense to find somewhere to camp before we got a thorough soaking. We turned off the main road in favour of a little side road, as it’s generally easier to find a good wild camp spot on the smaller roads. A couple of likely tracks were investigated and dismissed, then I spotted some abandoned building by the road side, one with a huge Red Star on the end of it… Walking up the track into the yard I found that there were 3 partly demolished buildings and a fourth which was in a reasonable state of repair, even having a fence around it, although It didn’t appear to be inhabited and to top it all off there was even a working tap in the yard. Perhaps I should explain for those reading this that have never wild camped; carrying sufficient water for drinking, cooking and washing is always a bit of an issue. We have it down to quite a fine art and carry 8 x  1.5lt full water bottles between us which we fill from local springs by the side of the road, of which there are many. However, if we can find another water supply by way of a river, spring or tap it makes life a bit easier as we can wash out some clothes and even have a good shower in the morning before we leave which sets us up nicely for the days riding.

Anyway, we got the tents and tarp up just in time before the rain started hammering down and got down to the serious business of preparing the evenings repast! I have always thought I eat well whilst camping, but Taz takes it to a whole new level, we had even bought some frozen meat, although it proved not to be quite what it seemed, as the picture on the packet clearly showed minced beef from which we were all looking forward to a nice Spag Bog… but without the Spag as Taz tries not to eat flour or other grains. Instead we found that we had bought a form of sausage meat, so we had a sort of Meatball Bog! Either way, as always, it was delicious, particularly when washed down with some 1Euro/Lt Red wine !

The rain continued on and off for most of the night, although it takes rather more than a little rain to stop us all sleeping soundly once ensconced in a nice peaceful, wild camp spot. I don’t think organised camp sites with their myriads of people and sounds will ever be quite the same again! As morning broke it was obvious that for the first time since leaving France in early June the tents were going to have to be packed away wet!  So breakfast over, which incidentally tends to be my job and this morning was scrambled eggs cooked with onion and spicy salami, we had a break in the rain to get everything packed away, shower and get back on the road… that was where I made the mistake that would come back to bite me of filling two of my water bottles from the tap!

Our goal for the day was to be Smolyan and easy ride by any standards, even at our leisurely pace! The scenery continued to fill senses whilst after a couple of hours or so the thunder once again filled our ears. We stopped for a quick coffee at Dospat, where we also bought a freshly cooked chicken straight from the Rotisserie and on we rode. Lunch came and went in a roadside shelter and the temperature dropped so much we all fastened our coats right up, another first for some weeks!

Stopping at the picturesque little town of Siroka Laka to take some photos and have another coffee, the storm finally caught up with us again. The rain started softly but by the time we were ready to leave it was bouncing off the road, making the thought of riding, never mind camping decidedly unattractive. At first we though we would just sit it out, but about an hour later there was still no let up. It was at this point that as she paid for our coffees, Taz noticed that the bar we were in also had letting rooms, it looked a bit beyond our budget but it was worth asking anyway. Taz’s jaw dropped as she discovered that it would cost us just 20 Lev or about £8 each to stay at the hotel; and that included breakfast. It didn’t need a lot of discussion – wet camp or warm dry room? We checked into a 2 roomed 3 bed apartment for less money that we had paid on many camp sites…and none too soon, as that was the point at which my mornings mistake of filling my water bottles from the tap started to bite me.

At first I though it was just a little bit of indigestion from the chicken and warm bread we had eaten for lunch so I took a Zantac tablet. However to no avail, my distended stomach was now beginning to really hurt and I was also feeling very tired and a bit nauseous. By the time I got to my bed  I was really beginning to feel bad, dinner was out of the question, as was the nice ice cold beer I had been looking forward to.  Trying to analize what I had eaten or drunk different to Taz and Joel ,who were so far unaffected, suspicion centered on the tap water in my bottles. I had only drunk a little of it at lunch time as it looked a bit cloudy and had an “off” taste, but although I had spit most of it out, I had probably swallowed a little. It took another hour or so before the suspicion of food (or water) poisoning   was confirmed and I just made it too the bathroom before being violently sick.

Thankfully that was the worst of it over although I did run a very high temperature for most of the night and had just one more trip to the big white phone! Today I’m hopefully on the way back up although feeling very weak and wobbly. Breakfast in the hotel consisted of a rather heavy pancake covered with fresh fruit jam about ½ inch thick and a nearly cold cup of coffee. I guess I managed about half of it and take the fact that I now feel hungry as a good sign!

In view of my condition (to say nothing of the fact that it is still pouring of rain!) we have opted to stay at the Hotel Kalina for a second night and see what tomorrow brings… That’s one of the joys of not having a fixed schedule, we can afford to just chill for the day!

Bullshit and Bunkers

Wednesday Aug 8^th

What a day! We started the day at one amazing wild camp and ended an even more amazing one!  Last night we camped way above Rila Monastery in an ancient forest in a clearing beside a small river. It was at just over 1200m in the Piran mountains. The scenery was stunning and our location was about as remote as it was possible to get on a motorbike. We had ridden about a mile along an unmade track before we came to what appeared to be and old communist holiday retreat. Passing straight on through the old buildings, some of which were inhabited, although we have no way of knowing whether as permanent or holiday homes, some way on we found a small clearing which had obviously seen previous duty as a camp site and the remains of an open fire could be seen. It really was a beautiful place to stop! After the intense heat of the day, stripping off and pouring bucket after bucket of the ice cold water over our heads was just so refreshing and it set us up nicely for dinner. It was a particular joy to find as we had intended to stay on an organised camp site, but after one look at the toilets and showers which were filthy, we were unanimous in opting for a wild camp (much to the disgust of the owner).

Morning dawned bright, clear and already warm, we had decided on a fairly early start back to the monastery to try to beat the crowds. Arriving at the almost empty car park we were confronted by a sullen oaf of a man telling us that we couldn’t park there as it was reserved for coaches. Our queries of alternative parking was met with nothing but shrugs until he eventually decided we could park at a charge of 10 lev (about 5 Euro) per bike at which point we left trying hard to run over his toes on the way out! Parking on the other side of the Monastery we then encountered a Danish guy who had stayed in the monastery overnight and was shall we say, less than complimentary about his stay !

I guess the confrontation with the idiot in the car park together with the crass commercialism of the place had sullied my mood somewhat as I could take little joy from the beauty of the place, taking just a few photographs, although I did light a candle for Sam in the church. Even as we left an hour so later the coaches for which we had to move, had failed to materialise. Next stop was a small supermarket where we had shopped the previous day; Taz and Joel were amazed to find that the two Bulgarian brothers and their father who ran the place, all spoke perfect Spanish, a language in which they too are fluent. Discussions about the local Hooch, Rakia, elicited information that they could “obtain” some home distilled for us and we were calling to collect. Sure enough a 700ml bottle was produced at a cost of just 8 lev (about 4 euro) something to look forward to later! It was then time to head for the hills once more and away from the intense heat, although that involved a 40km ride along the main highway to Sofia amongst the homicidal Bulgarian drivers which was “interesting”!

Our first attempt to get into the hill was blocked by a park ranger who informed us that the road had a barrier across it some way up to prevent vehicle access to the national park, so we turned around and headed off on the road to Borovets, one of Bulgaria’s major ski resorts. We stopped to try to get some shopping at a small supermarket on the edge of the town, but found the shelves almost bare, indeed as it was out of season the place was almost deserted and whilst there were a lot of very modern hotels there, the rest of the place had a distinctly run down look about it

 Joel had spotted a lake on the map which looked high in the mountains and this was to be our destination for the day. It took a little bit of searching to find the right road but once on it we had a great ride into the hills. At one we rounded a corner to find a raised barrier by the road with a policeman sat beside it, however he made no attempt to stop us so on we went.  Finding a turn off to the left, the direction of the lake, we took it and not only ended up a dead end, but in front of us was a huge steel door blocking entry to a bunker in the side of the mountain, it was to say the least a little spooky! So we beat a hasty retreat back to the main road and carried on up the mountain. Spotting a concrete road heading off to our right on the apex of a hairpin bend, or switchback as Joel insists on calling them , we tried our luck again and surprise, surprise, this time we found two more bunkers in the mountainside along with a couple of semi-demolished barrack buildings and a long dead straight concrete road which on later investigation ran absolutely north – south. 

Things were getting spookier by the minute, when Joel came back from another little track with a huge grin on his face and beckoned us to follow him. Just round to the side of the buildings he had found not only a perfect camping spot, but it came complete with a picnic table and benches built around a huge pine tree, a stone built barbecue AND a spring dispensing ice cold water right next to the table. Wow, that one will be hard to top! And it was far enough from the road to mute the sound of the odd passing car so we spent a blissful night talking, laughing, eating and sipping Rakia… A little to much Rakia if I’m honest, as I hadn’t blown up my sleep mat and it seems that I had to get Taz, who had also consumed a little too much, to blow it up for me as my lips apparently didn’t want to work ! I have absolutely no recollection of this you understand !!! Then in the middle of the night it started raining and neither of us had flysheets on our tents. Trying to attach a flysheet in the rain whilst half-cut and half asleep takes on a new dimension, but with a little help from my friends it was accomplished well enough to keep most of the rain off me and I was soon snoring peacefully once more.  So this morning saw a rather slower that usual start to our day, partly due to the Rakia, but mainly due to us waiting for the tents to dry out in the morning sun which was a little weak as we had camped at almost 6000ft !

Bulgaria

Crossed into Bulgaria at about 4pm yesterday with a minimum of formalities and found a superb wild camp 1274m up a mountain complete with a crystal clear mountain stream for a nice cold shower this morning. Whilst at the stream this morning what looked like a pole cat came slinking down from the forest behind me. I'm not sure which of got the biggest shock!

We are now at a little place called Melnik sat at a small Mexaha enjoying a coffee and local food.

About Turn !

Sunday 5^th August

Sorry no photos, but uploading at a quick internet cafe stop. Will try to add pics later.

We arrived in Thessaloniki at about 5pm just nice for our 5.30pm rendezvous with Lefteris who came along with a surprise package… A young Russian girl “couch surfer” called Elena. She had only arrived in Greece the previous day to try to arrange accommodation for her forthcoming years study at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki . I was amazed that she could actually attend university in Greece and study her chosen subject of Economics in English! Anyway, having met up with the two of them Lefteris guided us up to the house in Vavdos, owned by his grandmother, where he has a ground floor apartment. The house is over two hundred years old and situated high up a precipitous mountain road which had a deep drainage gully in the centre… quite in interesting ride on a heavily laden bike but well worth the stress! They have a bar and a restaurant inn the square just a short walk down the hill and we took good advantage of both.

The night passed peacefully and was relatively cool thanks to the altitude ( almost 1000 mts) however awaking early as usual I made the mistake of taking a stroll around at about 6.30 am to take some photographs and managed to set every dog in village barking…  Whilst packing the bikes after breakfast we had another demonstration of just how differently Greece interprets the EU rules and regulations that blight our lives in the UK. The local goat keeper arrived in his 4x4 pick up with a big tank  in the back, which was not in any way refridgerated, into which he dipped jug after jug as he sold his fresh goats milk to the eager locals!   Try that one at in the UK and see how long you stay out of court! We were then  invited into the terrace of the hours opposite by Lefteris neighbour to sample her homemade apples in syrup; they were delicious although not exactly diet food. 

We finally got moving at about mid-day and headed up to a viewpoint even higher up the mountain from where you can see all three “fingers” of Chalkidiki, that is if the weather is clear, which unfortunately it wasn’t but it was still a nice walk from the carp park to the top. As it was Saturday and also peak holiday season the traffic was quite heavy once we got onto the main route to the middle of the three fingers, heading for a wild camp on the beach at a favourite spot of Lefteris’ . What he didn’t know was that the road to the beach had been improved, allowing not only hundreds more people to get to it but a beach bar had also been set up completely with the usual loud tuneless noise that passes for music. The whole place also looked like an open sewer ! It never fails to amaze me how people can so quickly destroy an area of beauty by their utter stupidity and carelessness. We did eventually find a relatively clean corner in which to camp but it was a huge disappointment to us all. The sea was wonderfully warm and crystal clear although very crowded and noisy the so called music going through until sunrise, at which point I got up and had a swim in a completely deserted sea… that’s far more to my liking.

Breakfast consisted of my famous sultana pancakes washed down with tea (or coffee), a quick swim and we were ready to leave… well to be more accurate three of us were, as Lefteris and Elena were nowhere to be found; in fact they were still in the sea.

We rode around the rest of the “finger” together before leaving Lefteris and Elena heading down to another beach whilst Taz, Joel and I headed North.  North? Ah, yes, North… there had been a bit of a change of plan; Joel was suffering badly with the heat which was running at about 44c at sea level , so instead of heading South to Chios and then Turkey we are now on our way to Bulgaria. In many way it makes a lot of sense for all of us as we would only have been able to do a tiny part of Turkey before heading up to Bulgaria and would then not really have had time to see either Bulgaria or Romania properly if I am to get back to the UK in time to compete in Sam’s Memorial Canoe Race on the 22^nd September… so Bulgaria here we come!

Tonight, Sunday, we are camped beside a forest track high in the mountains once more, about 170km south of a minor crossing into Bulgaria, with not a sound except the odd Cicada chirping. We should be far enough from the little road not to be seen by the odd car that comes along every couple of hours or so which is just how we like it

Edessa

Thursday Aug 2^nd

A quiet but very pleasant day in spent in Edessa. Martin left for Bulgaria at about 7.30am and with Taz opting to relax in their room, Joel and I decided to have a look around this rather nice little town. We wandered through part of the old town to find the famed waterfalls and were once again astounded to find a large tourist project which must have cost quite a few million euros, all but abandoned.

That Lift !

The main way down to this folly was via a two stage lift which was covered in graffiti and so badly vandalised that neither of us were very keen to risk life and limb in it, even though it silently and eerily appeared at the push of a button. Whilst the falls were certainly still attracting a few visitors, the huge Hemp Museum was completely derelict with it’s adjoining café bar complex looking as though it hadn’t been used for a very long time. There was a futuristic, water powered children’s play area and vast terraces all just left to return to nature. The aquarium was open but empty and even we didn’t part with our two euro to see it.The falls however were well worth the climb down countless steps ( and of course, up again!) with three separate chutes dropping spectacularly from the town above into the chasm.

The Hemp Museum

It was of course then coffee time and we were definitely spoilt for choice of where to sit and pass some time people watching. Eventually we chose a shady little corner outside a bakery shop in which to enjoy our Frappe which was served up with a fresh cheese straw to nibble on and passed the time in amiable conversation. It’s really nice the way I seem to have connected with both Taz and Joel and conversation is always easy and pleasant with all of us being equally comfortable with the spaces between! A bit of a wander then back to the hotel to check on Taz and it was time for lunch. Getting a little jaded with the ubiquitous Souvlaki, Joel and I found a Greek fast food joint with Joel trying the Chicken whilst I had an oven baked cheese and pepper dish with French fries all washed down with an ice cold beer…
Then the thunder started ! I’ll say one thing about the weather out here when it rains, it really rains. We sat in the café for well over an hour whilst another storm of tropical proportions rained torrent of water from the heavens sending everyone scattering for cover except a few hardly soles that appeared not to notice the deluge.

Late in the afternoon having collected Taz, now much recovered it was once more coffee time this time as ther sun had moved we sat at a bar on the other side of the square and Taz got into conversation with one of the waiters about a place to eat He recommended a little restaurant some way down into town that served mezes, a Greek version of the Spanish Tapas but slightly larger and so we had what we all agreed was our best meal so far in Greece. Three meat and three fish dishes were set before us with amazingly, a green salad rather than the more usual Greek salad washed down with a little tsipouro ! what a way to end a day…

So now we head off in the morning to Thessonaliki to meet up with Lefteris for the weekend and to see the countryside and coast around his home area and I for one can’t wait !   

Back on the road again !

Wednesday 1^st August



Pramanta Monastery

Tonight I’m sat in my room in The Hotel Elena in Edessa. It’s the first time I’ve used a hotel since leaving home on 9^th June and it’s due to Taz not feeling too well so we thought a bit of luxury might just help her recover her usual joie de vivre! For 25 Euro for a single room, it’s clean and comfortable and also well placed for a stroll around the town and down to what are supposed to be quite spectacular waterfalls just on the edge of the town.

It took us a long time to drag ourselves away from the Pramanta Refuge on Monday, leaving behind some really good new friends which I am sure that Taz, Joel and myself will surely keep in touch with. Dimitris looked totally exhausted, although that wasn’t helped by the fact that he was up till 4am drinking with Babis and a few of the refuge staff! We had all opted for a fairly early night before the Tsipouro got flowing too liberally.

A last Coffee with Effy in Pramanta

We left Hanno and Alex sorting a few minor repairs to Alex’s bike whilst Mila had a lie in! Martin is now riding with us although I think he may well head off north towards Bulgaria tomorrow which will leave our original trio to head over to Thessaloniki to meet up with Lefteris, whom we met at the HU meeting, for the weekend. We have had a really nice 3 days meandering through the mountains since leaving Pramanta traversing  a new pass which involved riding over 8km on the unmade section  of roadwhich is still being worked on .



Lunch/Swim spot



Then this morning after leaving our wild camp by a load of telecommunication masts we had another 10km of great unsurfaced road to cover which took us to a lovely little town high in the hills called Kleisoura. It is yet another town where all the inhabitants were shot by the Germans in 1941 with the town then being completely burnt to the ground. I had no idea before this trip just how much devastation was wreaked upon Greece and it’s people by the Nazis during the 1939-45 war. In most of the mountain ranges you come across village after village, town after town of what are described as “Martyric “ villages.

Kleisoura

The previous night had been spent on a free camp site just out side of Petruli. Apparently it was originally a training base for the local Forestry Wardens but it was then left as just a free camp site. Somebody looks after it, cleans the toilets and empties the bins… but nobody seemed to know who! However it was a good place to spend the night, peaceful and cool at just over 1100 mt. high.

Time now to try and find some food, something which is fairly easy in Greece as every town and village appears to have a plethora of bars and restaurants, far more than the local population and the occasional tourist could possibly support. How they all survive is a complete mystery to me!

Just left of center near the bottom you can sea the road we were on !