26/11/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 66

Distance cycled: 69.6km from Apple orchard to Thessaloniki
Average speed: 19.7km/h
Moving time: 3h31m
Total distance: 5707km
Border X'ings: 21

Money spent: €15 food €15 accommodation and €15 on booze and food

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Dogs of all sizes, behind fences, under trees, behind mounds of garbage and shrubs, dead in the ditches, everywhere! Howling, barking and chasing me down the road, well not the dead ones. Zombie-dogs??
Greece in an economy crisis, I'm surprised they don't kill and eat these 4 legged territorial bitches like they do in the east. It would make things less frightening for me when im cycling that's for sure. I was chased many times today especially getting into the city and even was nipped by an aggressive one in the streets of Thessaloniki, I should have beaten the thing with my tripod or better still, used my 8inch chef knife...
One thing I saw today from a distance, something so recognizable to me that I did not expect to see, this being so dear to my heart it made me grin all the way until I approached it, entered it and exited it. No, it's not a hooker, it's Lidl. The supermarket that is so cheap, amazing and excites me everytime I see one.. This is a little sad isn't it?
Anyway I got my chocolate fix here today and loaded my bike up with a bunch food for a couple of days, mainly chocolate.
As I had all day to get into the city in search of a hostel I took my time and looked for hardware stores to refill on fuel for my stove, you wouldn't think white spirit would be difficult to come by but apparently here it is, i would have come close to 1/2 a dozen stores before I was directed to one that had some in stock having to take a few kilometer detour to finally find the stuff, as I was prepared to purchase this essential camping fluid the owner of the shop just gave it to me as a friendly gift.
I also met some more French people who cycled from Vietnam but took many flights to get to this location, they gave me some spokes that they had no use for and gave me a bunch of advice about where to stay in Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki was a lot hillier than I anticipated, having to cycle around the incomprehensible road system that would have confused the hell out of me finding this hostel if it weren't for my GPS.
The Little Big House hostel was lovely, the girl who worked there, Stella is beautiful with a great smile and perfect attitude towards travelers.
I was given a dorm with 8 beds but I was the only one so I sprawled my stuff everywhere using all the plug sockets to charge all my belongings.
I later headed up to the fortress on the top of the hill and viewed the sunset with Maxi, an Argentinian guy who now lives in Germany, he and I got along quite well and hit up the streets drinking and playing some pool in a bar. The whiskey put me over the edge and I was pretty wasted, I think I was asleep by 10:30. Well, still I had a fun night.

So chuffed that there Lidl exists here in Greece, this merits an enlarged photo

HDR Sunset view over Thessaloniki, Greece

Sunset views and historic Greek architecture

More architecture in the evening, well, this is late afternoon.

25/11/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 65

Distance cycled: 93.7km from Florina to some farm 60km west of Thessaloniki.
Average speed: 19.9km/h
Moving time: 4h43m
Total distance: 5637km
Border X'ings: 21
Money spent: €3

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Cycling anywhere else in Europe I wouldn't have to cycle far to stop into a gas station, small supermarket or even someone's home to get water but Greece from where I cycled today was the far opposite. I had to cycle 60 odd kilometers before I even found a town where I could get a refill, and even that was difficult, it's Sunday and the Greeks somewhat copy their western european counterpart and close everything, not only on Sundays but also weekday afternoons, and Saturdays and any other time you would really need something to purchase. It's damn annoying.
However after an extensive search I did manage to find two shops that offered the things I needed for the day and the shop owners delighted me with gifts. One was an old woman at the fruit and veg stall who gave me a bunch of fruit after I purchased some vegetables, the other was a family run coffee shop / bakery where I essentially met the whole family, three generations in total where I rested my legs and enjoyed their company despite having to communicate through Google Translate. When I left I was given some cookies - how lovely.
This is my third time in Greece and I have always loved it here, although this is my first time in the north and I'm liking it so far.
As I am still not feeling too flash at the moment, at the end of the day my stomach churned in a bad way so I pulled off the road and camped in a apple orchard. I do have a bad feeling that some dogs are going to find me and wake me either tonight or tomorrow morning...

This part of Greece wasnt very pretty so i have no photos to show off here, the 3rd pic you can see that the Autumn is coming in… that is all.

Left to right, Mother, Daughter and Grandmother…

24/11/2012 - Oslo to Israel. Day 64

Distance cycled: 80.2km from Ohrid Lake to Florence, Greece.

Average speed: 18.9km/h

Moving time: 4h14m

Total distance: 5543km

Border X'ings: 21

Money spent: €7 + €10 for a pizza

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For the 38 hours from the point of pitching up my tent beside this lake two days ago till this morning I slept for about 32 hours. After this amount of sleep I was hoping I would be absolutely fine but although I was feeling better I certainly wasn't 100%.  I packed my stuff and pushed on, the early Macedonian sky showed that it was going to be sunny throughout that day but not realizing I had another pass to climb before entering Bitola i was disappointed when the mountains brought in overhead the clouds and cold.  The clouds soon dissipated when arriving in Bitola where I stopped by a restaurant to have a meal, just a simple soup as I didn't know how we'll my stomach could cope. I don't know if it was because I was so hungry or because it was so good but I ended up having two portions of soup and a loaf of bread, and for €3.50 it was well worth it.  I cycled around the city for a while thinking that perhaps I would stay in a hostel but I though I would enjoy the sunshine on the road and cross over to Greece.  Popping into a pizza shop to refil on water I met Tom who I didn't hesitate to pick his canadian accent who ran the pizza shop, he suggested I camp behind his neighbors place who died a few months ago - sure why not, besides it didn't look like it was going to be easy to find a forest to camp in nearby, just farmers fields.  Later I went to the bespoke pizza shop thinking that it would be easier and cheaper for me to order a pizza, yes, it was easier but cheaper it was not. At €10 for something that cut the roof of your mouth and was far too salty; I was very disappointed. I can only hope that Lidl exists in Greece.  For no longer can I reap the benefits of the former Yugoslavian countries and their cheaper prices.

NOt quite sure what i am trying to do here, what whatever it is, it didnt work.

But Yay, i made it to Greece

23/11/2012 - Sick as a Dog.

Oh man, did I feel ill today even after going to sleep at 7:30 last night. This illness pushed me to the verge of vomiting, but I didn't induce it and battled the aching pain.
Incapacitated for the day I was worried about not having adequate food or water but as I was camped beside a lake I took the water from there and boiled it up to make tea, but as for the food, I didn't have the urge to eat so I didn't.
The best thing for me today was to rest and rest I did, taking melatonin (sleeping) pills to fall back to sleep every time I woke.
I just hope with enough sleep I would be fit enough to ride tomorrow.

22/11/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 63

Distance cycled: 57km from Ohrid to Galicica National Park
Average speed: 16.1km/h
Moving time: 3h32m
Total distance: 5463km
Border X'ings: 20
Money spent: €0.75

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I had some company today, Aaron, one of the Aussie guys who I've been hanging out with for the past few days at the hostel in Ohrid decided to join me with a hired mountain bike into the national park to see the view of Ohrid Lake from 1600 meters. It's a 900 meter climb which we accomplished albeit rather slowly; Aaron had never attempted cycling to such altitude and kudos to him for making it up there; there were times where I thought he would give up but he persisted.
It's interesting to see the differences between the two of us in terms of fitness, he had only a backpack meanwhile my bicycle being fully loaded I was still able to gun it up the mountain taking regular stop breaks where I would have to wait for him to catch up. He had issues of cramps and sore legs but it will do him good, I just wouldn't want the aches and pains that he will inevitably nurse tomorrow.
We were lucky to have such beautiful weather and no wind, making our accent to the top well worthwhile - as you can see with the pictures and panoramically below.
At the top we parted ways and I continued heading east down the dark and cold side of the mountain to another lake where I pitched up beside it.

On the way out of Ohrid

Road getting a bit steeper as we entered Galicica National Park

Beautiful views

The were quite a few waiting periods whilst Aaron caught up with me

Boing Boing enjoying the view

Getting close to the top of the pass

At the top, this is where we parted ways, i continued down the other side of the mountain and Aaron went back to Ohrid

Lake Prespa

These puppies i found on the side of the road, it would have been great to take one or both with me.

Where i camped, beside Lake Prespa, Macedonia

20/11/2012 to 21/11/2012 - 2 days of rest in Ohrid, Macedonia.

I was only going to spend one night in Ohrid but I thought I would treat myself to more rest. The weather was overcast and I didn't want to tackle the mountain in Galicica National Park to miss out on all the great views over the Lake so this was my excuse, besides this hostel was great with perhaps the friendliest and most generous hostel owners I have come across.
The other guys who were staying in the hostel were a good laugh too with two of which from Australia and the other from New Zealand. We spent quite a lot of time playing poker, cooking and drinking cheap alcohol, i didn't win any game of poker but I'm still learning.
We did venture out of the hostel a few times to check out the fortress and lakeside often stopping by this bakery to much down a variety of cheap and different pastries and donut like cakes filled with custard or chocolate.
I had a great time relaxing and doing the stuff on the Internet needed to upload this blog.

 

Walking/shopping stip in Ohrid, Macedonia

Just some random pics taken around Ohrid, Macedonia

View over the city of Ohrid from the Fortress

19/11/2012 – Oslo to Israel. Day 62

Distance cycled: 75.7km from tunnel, Albania to Ohrid, Macedonia.
Average speed: 17.1km/h
Moving time: 4h26m
Total distance: 5405km
Border X'ings: 20
Money spent: €4

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It took only 2km of cycling with strong headwind and slight rain to pull over to the side of the road and into a cafe that provided me with shelter, coffee and raki (a strong alcoholic spirit). I waited for the rain to pass whist groups of locals sat and stared; I figured something out here, many people in Albania gestured or asked me if I were cold as I often only wear shorts and a sleeveless shirt, I always tell them I'm fine because I'm on my bike moving. Albanians on the other hand are incredibly lazy, cold blooded people lacking the motivation to move, and seem to spend their days standing around on the sides of the road waiting for something of interest to happen ie a crazy haired individual on a packed bicycle lacking clothing, who is probably cold (but absolutely fine) passing by.
Like many border crossings in this part of the world the crossing into Macedonia involved a climb up a mountain, this mountain from a distance seemed especially daunting as it rose from the earth from the plains of farmers fields with many switchbacks to reach the top. To be honest it wasn't all that difficult to climb keeping a steady pace and not going too hard, however this sense of logic was interrupted when two aggressively barking dogs came running down a hill jumped down onto the road a chased me for a few hundred meters snapping their jaws at my ankles, legs and rear tire; slow and steady were obviously not words that were running through my head - but think the main, perhaps only benefit in this situation, I got up the mountain faster... One was awfully close to taking a chunk off my calf.
Entering Macedonia everything became better, the road, the people I encountered, buildings,scenery, less garbage even the weather warmed up. I'm happy to be here so I headed to Ohrid which was recommended by many to visit and it did not disappoint, the hostel was fantastic too with an enthusiastic owner named Geoko.
It didn't take long before in met the few people staying there and not long after that I had downed many, much needed beers. I cooked up supper for a bunch of us and later headed out to a bar that was just good conversation.

 

Where i camped last night.

You can see the Autumn is settling in.

Coming close to the border of Macedonia… having this daunting mountain to climb

Mountain goats wouldnt be called mountain goats if not on a mountain!?

View from the top of the pass looking over Albanian farmers fields

Crossing over the border to Macedonia after a meal for 1 Euro – Spaghetti with cheese, nothing more