London to Istanbul
Day 20: 23rd May ’05
Distance: 43.31 miles
Total Distance: 1219.3 miles
Route: Ravenna » Rimini
Overcast and threatening rain as I woke this morning. Decided to ride some distance on a supposed day-off. This turned out to be a good call as it had cleared to blue skies by the early afternoon, and I had finished for the day by then.
Found a much better campsite than yesterdays monstrosity. Small is most definitely beautiful when it comes to campsites! Ideally, I would be camping in the true fashion; not in campsites at all, but in woods, fields and backyards along the way. But I simply don’t have enough (cooking) kit to want to do it that way, and the chance of a hot shower after 6-7hrs on the bike each day is a luxury too good to pass over by choice.
Roads remain terrible, but have decided to forgive the Italians – as their Ice-cream just about makes up for their woeful road-building skills. 3hrs in the early evening spent on bike maintainance. Messy and time-consuming but it has to be done.
Day 21: 24th May ’05
Distance: 77.61 miles
Total Distance: 1297.0 miles
Route: Rimini » San Marino » Fano
Diversion via San Marino today. Wasn’t sure if I could justify the 30+ mile detour from my planned route – just to say that I’d been to another country. However, the lure of ‘bagging’ another country was too much to resist, and the trip was actually well worth it. The whole country is essentially just one big mountain, with the old town (and ‘Capital’ I suppose?) sitting on the very top. Very beautiful, but a massive tourist trap.
Later in the day, had a great ride on the best road so far in Italy. A gorgeous, winding, climbing and descending road with stunning views out over the Adriatic. There were loads of club cyclists out today, and I also ended up riding on the same route as a Classic Motorcycle race.
It’s such a shame that for my money, the whole of this Adriatic coast has been really messed up from inconsiderate and poor development (for tourism). 3 straight days on this coast, and every night I’m absolutely convinced that I’ve been travelling in circles and have ended up back in the same place! The hotels (etc) are not actually that ugly, but the Italians have this weird fascination with ‘Bagni’ – which involves covering every grain of sand on the beach with paving stones, and forests of parasol holders. Still, Italy is definitely getting better for me as a cyclist; much more like how I’d imagined it to be.
Day 22: 25th May ’05
Distance: 68.55 miles
Total Distance: 1365.6 miles
Route: Fano » Lido de Fermo
Not everything went swimmingly today. It started with a comic incident coming out on the road from Ancona. It was a hot day sure enough, but I was a bit surprised that as I rode along uphill, the road started to melt and stick to my tyres. Just as I summitted the brow of the hill, I saw several Italian road-workers waving and shouting wildly at me. Sure enough, I was ploughing a narrow furrow through several hundred metres of their freshly-laid tarmac. No signs warning of road works ahead. No anything. Perhaps I should have realised that something was up when the tyres started steaming…
As a result of super-heating the tyres, the one (and only) puncture I’d had to date re-opened. Two attempts to fix the puncture failed, and the 3rd time I just used a spare tube. I came off the bike a bit later on, and scraped my left leg a bit (ah diddums). Luckily I was only travelling 5mph at the time! I have to admit that all of this is born of frustration and fatigue. I am tired right now; every morning I wake up early (5.30-6.00), and by the time I’ve been on the bike for a few miles (8.00-8.30) I feel fine. I know I need to rest though, but I want to do it somewhere more condusive to rest.
This coastline, although spectacular in parts, is not the place I want to chill. Most likely I’ll find a cheap room on Corfu, and have a mini-holiday there. It’s the ‘Champions League’ Final tonight (Liverpool vs AC Milan). Hope I can stay awake for the duration of the match!
Day 23: 26th May ’05
Distance: 75.03 miles
Total Distance: 1440.6 miles
Route: Lido de Fermo » Lido Riggio
Same shiz, different day. This coastline is really starting to bug the absolute crud out of me. It’s difficult to put into words; you’d just have to cycle it’s entire length to truly appreciate it’s awfulness. I’m not saying that ‘Blackpool’ or ‘Scunthorpe’ are amongst the worlds top beachside destinations, it’s just that you expect so much more from Italy, and unfortunately it has been a real disappointment so far.
I went to bed at half-time in the football last night, with Liverpool losing 3-0. The young Italian lads at the beach-side bar I was watching the game at had a talent for being annoying – trying to perforate my eardrums with their air-horns. I’m absolutely gutted I didn’t stay, as Liverpool executed a miraculous comeback to win the match on penalties. Still, god knows what the local lads would have been like had I hung around. Nice one Liverpool.
I’m desperate to get to Greece now and have some time off. I’ve been doing some good mileage these last few days, but Italy just seems to grow longer by the day. I even thought about quitting the whole ride earlier – but only very briefly. I know it’s just fatigue, and I know that with a bit more effort, patience and perserverence I’ll get through it. I have an insanely frustrating moment while setting up the tent tonight, which luckily as I calm down, manage to change into a poignant philisophical moment. I decide to store it in my memory banks to help solve future frustrations and label it the ‘Parable of the Guide-ropes’.
Day 24: 27th May ’05
Distance: 68.21 miles
Total Distance: 1508.9 miles
Route: Lido Riggio » Lido Campomarino
Walked home (to the tent!) last night feeling quite depressed, but on the way back to the campsite saw hundreds of fire-flies, which really snapped me out of it. What a truly wonderful sight to see on a warm summer’s evening. However, I woke up in a bad mood, and this was compounded thanks to an early diversion for a tunnel and then a secondary 15-20 mile diversion for a bridge that had collapsed.
OK, so these things happen, but by the looks of it this bridge had been out for months, if not years, with no signs that anyone was doing anything about it. This was on a fairly major road, and the detour that all traffic had to take to cross the river was substantial. For me, it’s representative of the Italian attitude to life: “F*ck it and let’s have something to eat”. However, I did still manage to finish the day’s ride quite early and managed to have 2 hours chilling on a beautiful beach which was bliss.
Day 25: 28th May ’05
Distance: 87.05 miles
Total Distance: 1595.9 miles
Route: Lido Campomarino » Margherita di Savoi
Very early start (pedalling before 8am) had me making good distance today, and with the added bonus of an early finish. I saw several black girls selling their bodies by the roadside on one particular stretch today. I’m sorry, but this kind of thing just doesn’t happen at 9.30 in the morning in rural England. Maybe at night down the Cornish lanes it’s different, but all the same I found this quite shocking. These girls obviously had clients, or they wouldn’t have been wasting their time by the dusty and increasingly hot roadside.
After plenty of time to ponder it, I’ve come to the conclusion that Italy is possibly not unsimilar to London, or any other big and rich city. London, like Italy, is highly polished in parts with immense wealth and beauty. However, you don’t need to travel far to find a much uglier and darker side. In a strange way, I find this duality to Italy a little more interesting, and realise that I can’t possibly expect to understand the psyche of a nation by passing through it in a few short days.
I was in ‘Moped-mode’ for large parts of today. This is the most satisfying effect of finding yourself hurtling along at speeds over 20mph – with very little effort. Strong tailwinds, long gradual downhills and choccie-induced sugar rushes are the usual causes. However, an Alan (B*stard) of a headwind to finish the days ride.
Phone call from Caroline in the evening which was welcome and needed after a falling out over the phone a few nights before; sometimes, I find that my daily exhaustion and the distance between us conspires to drive a wedge between us. It’s nothing more than that though. Just fatigue and distance. It can affect any couple in the same situation. Hotel tonight for the first time in 6 days. A bit of comfort wouldn’t go amiss.
Day 26: 29th May ’05
Distance: 51.08 miles
Total Distance: 1647.6 miles
Route: Margherita di Savoi » Bari
Whoa!! Quel Jour! I drank a full bottle of wine last night to no real ill-effect this morning. But my slight stupor was rudely shattered early on when a hell-dog came out of nowhere, and tried to take a leg off. I was suitably freaked swerving and shouting “F*ck off! F*ck OFF!” as loud as my lungs allowed before eventually careering into the path of an oncoming car, which luckily seemed to shake off the crazed hound.
So shaken by the incident, that when I saw another suspiciously mental-looking dog about an hour later on, I was concentrating so hard on the mutt that I went smashing into the back of a car. Not entirely my fault though, as the driver had stopped very abruptly. I think I may have buckled my front wheel slightly, but luckily no damage to the car or myself.
Arrived into ‘Bari’ later to a rather large police prescence. Thought that maybe there was an escaped convict on the loose, or it was the ‘Giro’ (Italian bike race) or maybe they were simply trying to round up a dog-worrying, car-colliding cyclist from the UK? It turned out to be no less than his holiness – the new Pope! I saw the Pope-mobile, but ‘God’s Rottweiler’ wasn’t to be seen inside [Bit unfair on the breed I reckon. All the Rottweiler’s I’ve ever met have been cute, sincere, obedient, intelligent, sensible about the Aids epidemic in Africa…]
Have a guess where ‘Papa’ was saying mass that day? Yes, at the port where I needed to locate the ticket office before my ferry to Greece tomorrow. Was almost crushed into an pulp by a couple of hundred thousand brainwashed (sorry – ‘The departing faithful’). No ferry tonight. A little disappointed, but not too badly. However, if I’m not out of Italy by Tuesday night I think I’ll top myself.
Day 27: 30th May ’05
Distance: 6.23 miles
Total Distance: 1653.8 miles
Route: Bari » Bari Port
Woke early after a fitful nights sleep. Some kids were playing ‘knock and run’ on my tent (although in truth it was probably more like ‘shake and run’). I wasn’t in the mood and it had me using some ‘vernacular’ that surprised even myself, and my Tourette’s syndrome. There’s a forceful, guttural quality to all profanity that is universally understood. Either that, or the little asbos got the message from watching way too many American films.
A thunderstorm broke while I was attempting to pack the tent. The English couple whom I’d said hello to yesterday took pity on me and let me wait in their caravan until it stopped raining. They wouldn’t let me leave without having 6 cups of tea and a bacon sandwich. That’s what I call solidarity.
Went to the port shortly after and was mightily relieved to (eventually) buy a boat ticket; even if it was on an absolute nail of a ferry. Met a very cool Dutch cyclist who gave me his Greece map (Nice one Dutch bloke), and also had a good chat with a very lovely Italian couple on the ferry. I spend about an hour trying to explain to them why the photo I’d taken of the ‘Irony & Wash’ Lavanderia in Bari was funny, and what the definition of ‘Irony’ actually was.
The ferry is cargo only, and I decide to sleep on deck to save the expense of getting a cabin and also to avoid the madness of the vodka-fuelled Croat truck drivers below.
Day 28: 31st May ’05
Distance: 21.50 miles
Total Distance: 1675.3 miles
Route: Bari » Igounemitsa (Boat) » Kerkira (Boat) » Kassiopi
28 days later! An interesting journey overnight. Sleeping on deck wasn’t too bad, but I had some seriously weird dreams most likely caused by a night of inhaling the fumes from the nearby funnel, and the bleatings of a lorry full of sheep in the hold below. Was lucky to catch the smaller local ferry to Corfu minutes after arriving at the mainland port. The local (1 hour) ferry to Corfu is ten times nicer than the mobile-shed I’d just spent 11 hours on! Corfu is much nicer than I had expected – which was an ‘All-day English Breakfast, 22 pints of piss, Union-Jack towelled, Union-Jack Shorted, Union-Jack twattoed’ nightmare.
Staying in a basic but comfortable room at the back of a restaurant in ‘Kassiopi’; a pretty town in the North-East suggested by Caroline who’d been there before. I thought it a little ‘English’ on arrival, but am now rapidly warming to it’s charms. To be able to get a good quality, good value meal at anytime of the day is heaven. I don’t miss Italy one bit.
Day 29: 1st June ’05
Distance: 0 miles
Total Distance: 1675.3 miles
Route: Kassiopi
OK, so perhaps I’ve been a little harsh on Italy, but when it comes to actually providing for tourists – then Greece is what it’s all about. I’m sure I’ll encounter difficulties on the mainland away from the tourist centres, but at least I’ll be expecting them. Today’s day is kindly sponsored by the words ‘Sloth’ & ‘Gluttony’.