Day 28
Sleeping location: Really nice airbnb in Bari old town
Distance (km today/total): 134 / 3283
Estimated climb (m today/total): 300 / 23200
Km until first opportunity to sit down: 50
Day in three words: Western Europe: tick
After a patchy night’s sleep on the spooky hillside, I was up and away early, keen to escape the bad juju of the place. As we were still in the badlands there was NOTHING, no coffee, no toilet, not even anywhere to comfortably sit down due to the remorseless flatness of the place, so I just kept going until I reached the first town 50km in. With the 30km yesterday evening this made 80km of total emptiness between towns. Thank goodness I can carry 4 litres of water.
Having smashed out 50km by 10am, the rest of the day was a relaxed affair, spent in a joyous daze at the prospect of a) finishing a “chunk” of the trip, b) 4 rest days, and best of all c) seeing Rebecca this evening. It helped that the Adriatic road around here has been usurped by a shiny new version, meaning the old road is quiet, direct and well surfaced. Had a couple of nice dips in the sea, and a look around the delightful Trani, where I stopped at Cafe Morissei for a coffee and a beer. I mention this only because I thought of a pun there,* laughed out loud and confused everyone else who was sat outside.
On the way into Bari I bumped into a Belarusian guy called Ivan who is bikepacking around Europe at the moment. We didn’t have much language in common but he was friendly and was around at the perfect time to help get Maggie over some massive drops/lifts on the “bike path” into town. And now I’m writing this on the balcony of our airbnb, watching the sun set over Bari port and drinking a beer, knowing that tomorrow is the first time in two weeks that I don’t have to get up and cycle to somewhere else.
This closes a chapter of the journey in a couple of ways; it’s the end of what I consider “normal” Europe, and it’s the end of the part of the trip with by far the most time pressure. Having a set start date (with the LEJoGers) and set time to be in Bari (because Matt is going to a wedding) means that the last 28 days have been very punchy. 3283km in 28 days is about 117 a day, and if you take out the three rest days and the first day that was only 25km, it’s more like 135 a day. My general idea for the trip is that it would be about 500km a week, so this has been significantly more, and at times it’s been an effort to will myself to keep going when I really don’t want to. But if I can do this, I can surely deal with whatever Africa can throw at me.
This also seems like an opportune time to ask for some donations. IHCC is a fantastic charity and they run on very little money, so every donation means something to them. One fun** idea is that you could sponsor on a “per kilometre” basis. Over the whole trip 1p per km would add up to about £180 (yes, that is how many goddam km it is) and you would have the satisfaction of knowing that each penny was PROPERLY EARNED, plus the ability to pay in instalments until May. Non-gimmicky donations are also appreciated. The link is here.
The blog will be going dark for a few days whilst I take a well needed rest until my ferry to Albania on Tuesday evening. That’s when the real madness starts.
*There is a latte that never goes out
**Funness is subjective
Distance (km today/total): 134 / 3283
Estimated climb (m today/total): 300 / 23200
Km until first opportunity to sit down: 50
Day in three words: Western Europe: tick
After a patchy night’s sleep on the spooky hillside, I was up and away early, keen to escape the bad juju of the place. As we were still in the badlands there was NOTHING, no coffee, no toilet, not even anywhere to comfortably sit down due to the remorseless flatness of the place, so I just kept going until I reached the first town 50km in. With the 30km yesterday evening this made 80km of total emptiness between towns. Thank goodness I can carry 4 litres of water.
Having smashed out 50km by 10am, the rest of the day was a relaxed affair, spent in a joyous daze at the prospect of a) finishing a “chunk” of the trip, b) 4 rest days, and best of all c) seeing Rebecca this evening. It helped that the Adriatic road around here has been usurped by a shiny new version, meaning the old road is quiet, direct and well surfaced. Had a couple of nice dips in the sea, and a look around the delightful Trani, where I stopped at Cafe Morissei for a coffee and a beer. I mention this only because I thought of a pun there,* laughed out loud and confused everyone else who was sat outside.
On the way into Bari I bumped into a Belarusian guy called Ivan who is bikepacking around Europe at the moment. We didn’t have much language in common but he was friendly and was around at the perfect time to help get Maggie over some massive drops/lifts on the “bike path” into town. And now I’m writing this on the balcony of our airbnb, watching the sun set over Bari port and drinking a beer, knowing that tomorrow is the first time in two weeks that I don’t have to get up and cycle to somewhere else.
This closes a chapter of the journey in a couple of ways; it’s the end of what I consider “normal” Europe, and it’s the end of the part of the trip with by far the most time pressure. Having a set start date (with the LEJoGers) and set time to be in Bari (because Matt is going to a wedding) means that the last 28 days have been very punchy. 3283km in 28 days is about 117 a day, and if you take out the three rest days and the first day that was only 25km, it’s more like 135 a day. My general idea for the trip is that it would be about 500km a week, so this has been significantly more, and at times it’s been an effort to will myself to keep going when I really don’t want to. But if I can do this, I can surely deal with whatever Africa can throw at me.
This also seems like an opportune time to ask for some donations. IHCC is a fantastic charity and they run on very little money, so every donation means something to them. One fun** idea is that you could sponsor on a “per kilometre” basis. Over the whole trip 1p per km would add up to about £180 (yes, that is how many goddam km it is) and you would have the satisfaction of knowing that each penny was PROPERLY EARNED, plus the ability to pay in instalments until May. Non-gimmicky donations are also appreciated. The link is here.
The blog will be going dark for a few days whilst I take a well needed rest until my ferry to Albania on Tuesday evening. That’s when the real madness starts.
*There is a latte that never goes out
**Funness is subjective
Loving the updates. Love italy. You can eat a three course meal all with pasta!
ReplyDelete