Day 66: Lagos, Greece

Stats... 107.28km in 6hrs. We up and left at 8am only to stop 1.6km up the road for breakfast on a comfy sofa outside a closed restaurant. We carried on for 20km to Kavala where had an internet and ATM break. We biked on to Krini where we were all feeling hot, hungry and exhausted so we had meatballs and veal with chips and as much fizzy drinks as we could consume! We made it to 6km outside of Xanthi before we found a closed garage and slept in the shade on the forecourt. We turned off the busy highway onto small country roads that weaved across to Lagos. Although sign posting was not so great we found our way with the help of Bas who flagged down cars and asked several locals for directions. A very nice man gave us a bottle of water as we witnessed his friend boast about the size of his humungous fish he had just caught! We endured a few hills that were not so bad and joined the highway again into the Port of Lagos. We saw plenty of stalks along the way which we believe may have been delivering babies across the country. We did a supermarket sweep and found the Lagos beach which was nicely concealed by a tree area. Socks and shoes off, beer in one hand and a lump of feta cheese in the other we paddled in the sea and chatted until the sunset. We cooked pasta on the beach as the water retreated then found a nice spot in the trees to camp.

Day 65: Nea Peramos, Greece

Stats...71.72km in 3hrs 41mins. Today was our day off... well it was supposed to be! We thought rather than having the whole day to relax on the beach we would get a few clicks up the road and then have the rest of the day off. However, as the road was right on the coast and very flat we kept going and going and going! We stopped for a while at a great spot on the beach under a grass roof shelter for lunch. We also attempted an internet stop but the very nice old lady who ran the place had no idea about computers and they did not want to work properly for us... frustrating. We made it to a campsite just before Nea Peramos and after paying we were shown to our spot which was the carpark so we got our money back and rode on. We got 5mins round the corner into the town and there was a slightly better campsite with a much nicer owner. We went to the beach and jumped straight in the sea then munched on a whole water melon between the three of us. We relaxed on a bench on the beach until the sunset then we retreated to the campsite for showers. We walked into the town for dinner in an extremely busy restaurant with the staff literally sprinting around the place all stressed with sweat pouring off them... it was madness. We gave up on ever being served and went to the counter and got a takeaway then sat at their tables to eat! After a pleasant stroll along the bustling seafront we crashed.

Day 64: Asprovalta, Greece

Stats... 87km in 4hrs 24mins. Today we did everything in reverse order as we had paid 50 euros for the hotel we wanted to make full use of it. We had a slight lay in and then went for a buffet breakfast. We walked into the city in search of a map shop, internet, an ATM and a postcard which was all very successful. We had a quick nose of the highlights of Thessaloniki then check ed out of the hotel at 1pm. We had made it two minutes up the road already having difficulty trying to escape the hectic roads when we met Basil. Basil is cycling from Athens to Istanbul and he is Greek but currently living in NewYork teaching economics. We immediately latched onto eachother as it was extremely helpful having a local speaking companion together with saftey in numbers on the highways! We had no choice but to follow the M1 equivalent again for a few kilometers which it turns out Basil is used to as he has followed this road all the way from Athens... madness not to mention illegal! We finally got on to a nicer road and chatted while cycling. We past two massive lakes as we crossed inland at the Halkidiki peninsula one of which had almost entriely dried up. We had various stops for food, drink and ice cream as the weather was hot again today. We finally made it to the coast haviing won our battle with the strong headwind and stopped at the first campsite we came across at approx 8pm. We camped on the edge of the beach and made pasta and sauce for dinner.

Day 63: Thessaloniki, Greece

Stats... 145km (90 miles) in 6hrs 57mins longest distance so far! We woke up and we thought it was still early until we realised that Greece was an hour ahead. We saw the sun rise over the lake which was beautiful. We followed the perimeter of the lake until it met the highway and we followed that to Edessa which was 40km away. This town is famous for waterfalls cascading around the city so we took a look and had a bite to eat. We continued along the highway past Pella like we were possessed! I was on a high for about 1 and a half hours at a speed of 27kmh and that was with no music! We crashed out for 10mins in the shade to recover but only to realise that we had sat on an ants nest as they were enjoying feeding off our stinking sweaty skin that has now been unshowered for several days! This was probably a good thing as it made us get back on the bikes even though we did not feel like it having already done 100km. We continued along the highway until it said no bikes and we took a diversion along some country roads that according to our map would cross a river. Half hour down this road it joined the National road which is equivalent to the M1! With no choice we dressed in high vis and put our heads down for 500m in order to cross the river. Still shaking we made it and after taking the first exit it turned into a gravel road with stray dogs barking at us left, right and centre! Kris was ready and waiting with his newly acquired dog battering stick. We made it through to the centre of Thessaloniki being the second largest city in Greece after Athens. We walked the main street until we found a niceish looking hotel that would take us in with our bikes. Thankfully it had air con which we wacked up full blast and showered until the water was leaking under the bathroom door! We dined up the road on Greek salad and meat and a couple of beers which was well deserved after the last couple of days.

Day 62: Pandeleimonas, Greece

Stats... 119.33km in 6hrs 14mins bringing us to a total so far of 3,580km! Not the most successful morning as we set the alarm for 5am, snoozed til 6.30am then on the road by 7am. We climbed and climbed uphill to over 1,000m then enjoyed the decent to Resen which we reached after 20km. We passed straight through and continued along the flat for a while until another climb over a pass which we hoped to be our last uphill of the trip! The road then gently rolled down into Bitola where we stopped for lunch and a nap. Our lunch included 2 pints, salad, burger, omlette and spag bol! We had lots of Macedonian money left so we ate like kings however it made subsequent riding uncomfortable! On the road again we rode along the flat for 15km to the border into our 16th country... Greece! We continued for 35km until a 2min break to decide the best route forward as we had no money and no water. We headed for the closest large town Amindeo which was a further 15km downhill where I reached my maximum speed so far of 58.2kmh! We found an ATM and water which we downed! We found a sign for camping on a lake which was in the right direction and only 7km away so we set off into a headwind which was a great way to finish a long day! It turns out the campsite had closed so we technically wild camped for a second night on the deserted site.

Day 61: Zavoj, Macedonia

Stats... 88.06km in 5hrs 46mins. We sneaked past Amanda at 6.30am as quiet as a mouse. We climbed the road for 40km to the border for Macedonia... country number 15! There were some steep climbs taking us to approx 1,100m. We saw our lives flash before our eyes as a humungous black very fierce looking and barking dog that was thankfully chained up went for us! Straight after which we found the best dog stick we could, mostly to make ourselves feel safer! At the border we were situated on the west of lake ohrid and we needed to get on the east side and could not decide whether to take the North our South route. After a flip of the coin we headed north. This turned out for the best as we began descending on a lovely sweeping road for 15km and then the terrain was flat into Ohrid town centre. We found a market and a perfect shade stop under a tree on the grass and relaxed for 3hrs! Half debating whether to stay in Ohrid we managed to get up again and continue for another 15km assisted by a great tail wind. The scenary was mountainous, covered in trees and the road snaked the side of a river. As we were losing light we set up camp on the river edge and experienced our first wild camp of the trip. We played with the bikes, had dinner with chilled beer from the river and studied the maps to ensure we were on track. As darkness fell and Al overcome the fear of bears, snakes and wild dogs, we had a great nights sleep with the clear sky, sparkling stars and fire flys dancing round the tent like christmas tree fairy lights... wow.

Day 60: Librazhd, Albania

Stats... 79.60km in 5hrs 10mins. We set our alarm for 5.30 am and were quick to turn it off as we were sharing in a dorm of 8 beds. After showering to wake ourselves up and a couple of croissants we made it on the road by 6.30am. The road out of the city was fairly narrow but there was far less traffic than our route in. Unfortunately the road started to climb immediately after setting off and stopped climbing after about 25km! The scenary was beautiful and as it was still early the temperature was pleasant. We passed several bunkers that are made from concrete and iron rods to shelter families in the war and are indestructable as tried and tested with a tank. These apparantly are now referred to as love bunkers as the majority of locals like to visit these bunkers for romantic sessions! After a few photo stops at the summit we descended the 1,000m altitude down to Elbasani. This was quite an industrial town on the outskirts but the centre was typically bustling in the heat of the midday. We stopped for pizza lunch and cool beverages. Kris opted for a large beer in the 37 degrees heat where we were already exhausted and dehydrated... not too sensible! After nearly 2 hrs rest we filled up with ice cold water and set off expecting to climb all the way to our destination for the day. However once we set off, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the road actually followed a river through a valley surrounded by extremely high mountains. We sailed through the rest of the journey into Librazhd where we met Amanda, another peace core volunteer that we were in touch with via our 4th July party friends. We chatted in her appartment for a bit then chilled out while she went to her two hour teaching class. We all went to dinner and dined on traditional Albanian dishes and had an early night ready for another early start. We found out today that when Albanians nod they mean no and when they shake their heads they mean yes! This now makes lots of attempted communication over the past few days make much more sense!