Today I put the bike back together!

I have postponed it for too long I know but it's done now at least, booked a complete overhaul of the bike next Monday so it is prepared for summer and after that I went out for a quick 12 km.

http://connect.garmin.com/player/305655441

It felt good to get out and despite me being lazy for two weeks I had no problems at all with the hills around Sundbyberg, I laugh at their feeble attempts hahaha!

I am gonna get out more now that the bicycle is back in one piece, I plan to go check out Vaxholm one of these days since I have never been there.

Oh I washed the bicycle as well, at least to the best of my ability. Expect a slow motion video within a couple of days containing foam, a white t-shirt and a chin that hasn't been shaved since before departure!

Or not. ;)

Ideas for my summer vacation could be...

Ferry to Gdansk in Poland and then just go wherever I feel like and think about the trip home in whatever place I end up in.

Going down to and through the south part of Turkey along the coast, not sure how easy it would be to get accommodation in high season there tho.

Another idea is going south from Riga and just see where I end up.

What do you think?

Episode five, last part of The Road!

Here is episode five of my adventure, I notice the episodes vary quite a lot in quality since I haven't gotten Oscar material all the way hehe...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F-eHW9Ds30

The best part yet?

That's for others to decide, however the raw material allowed for a lot more footage from being on the bicycle. Part 4 is here, it has the first part of The Road in it;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljrFE6B_s4c

The Road blog entry 1

The Road blog entry 2

A Macedonian supermarket and my socks...

...are some of the content in part 3 of my mini-documentary from my adventure;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcyvW0Zg5k4

Second part of my travel documentary is live!

This is part 2 and is around 6 minutes long and contains day 3 of my adventure, the trip between Mavrovo National Park and Ohrid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D79hOGo9RSs

A question I have gotten...

A longtime friend of mine, Søren Bang, asked me some questions about this trip that might interest others, here is a cut and paste extract from my answer;


 It is very encouraging and fun for me that people show interest in this despite it is nothing more than a documentation of my vacation, thank you.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Heeder

i was wondering, if you were about to do it again, in some other part of the world, would you do it alone again?

---

I would do it again, with the experience I have now I can make the trip quite a lot better next time almost regardless of where I go. The thing is that most of the issues I think was problems on this trip is something I can do something about. 

I packed too much gear and since I am the one that have to get it up every hill it is a big deal after steep hill number 14.

I planned too much in too little time, both sights to be seen and amount of kilometers per day. I find that if you start to reach 100 kilometers per day there isn't much time nor strength to do anything else besides eat and sleep because those days drain around 3000 calories out of you in a calm pace ON TOP of your regular calorie requirements and take probably near 7-9 hours to complete on fairly good roads. I would say that for someone who is fit at the start, 60-70 kilometers per day is about good distances and for someone like me who isn't fit 40-70 kilometers perhaps.

I really missed interacting with people on this trip and it was mostly obvious in Albania, the reason for this is that very few spoke English there. In Macedonia and Greece I found that just speaking a little with hotel staff, waiters and when asking for directions was enough for me to avoid the pitfalls mood wise. Speaking with dad and my brother on Skype helped a lot too but it isn't the same as a more direct connection of speaking face to face irl so to speak.

I would probably go by myself if I was going by bicycle as I can imagine that it can require quite a lot of adjusting when travelling with another person - pace, route, sights, respect for moods and activities that both enjoy enough.

I can only see myself going away like this with my brother or my best friend Henrik if I were to go with someone else because you probably need to be very sensitive to the other person and his or hers needs.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Heeder
And what would your advice be to the rest of us?

---

My advice would be go. It is quite developing for one self and if you read up from the experience of others who have been in the countries you plan to visit and plan on what type of journey you want, I for one wouldn't have needed all the camping gear. You can do it, I surprised myself countless of times on this adventure, mostly about how determination can move mountains or at the very least push you over them.

Here is the first part!

This video is about 10 minutes long and contains the first two days of my adventure for those interested.

Sweden and Macedonia part 1

I will continue to post videos here about the same length so people don't get bored, it would be very fun to hear views on the content or the editing.

In a few hours or less...

...the first two days of my travel documentary will air on YouTube! Drop everything you are doing and sit down to refresh this page as I currently am encoding the video and will upload it and share the link afterwards here and on Facebook.

No seriously, for those that view it I would love to hear what you think as I enjoy the editing part almost as much as the trip itself hahaha...

In the end, this is what I managed according to the GPS!

Between the 24th of March to the 12th of April there are 20 days, 13 of these were spent more or less on the bicycle or, as my readers know, walking beside it whilst pushing it up another steep hill.

Complete stats!

These are the numbers;

Total time; 72 hours 40 minutes OR 4360 minutes.

Average time / day; 5 hours 58 minutes OR 335 minutes.

Average speed; 11,48 km/h

Top speed; 54,8 km/h

Highest elevation climb; 1070 meters

Amount of calories burned; 24877

My analysis of these numbers are that the time in the saddle is less than shown, not by more than a few hours tho and that the amount of calories burned is probably even higher due to it being judged from bicycling at whatever speed the GPS detects, so the day of Mr Mountain ( 2/4-2013 ) the amount of calories burned says 1971 but I can bet my left sock it is way, way higher than that.

Anyway it is interested reading for me at least!

The last days of my adventure, for now.

It's strange that when you reach the biggest city on your trip in the most developed country on your trip the hotel turns out to be the worst of the trip. Their website says it's renovated yet mold in the bathroom, major cracks in the paint, a door so worn it could probably been huffed and puffed down.

The good things were the front desk staff, the breakfast and the location but it doesn't make up for an unwelcoming room that smell of paint thinner.

Anyways, the town of Thessaloniki is huge and what I found weird is that there are several remains, similar to the ones in Butrint, wich all seems temporarily protected in the most odd places, just around the corner from a McDonald's you can find ruins from ancient times, the mix just doesn't stir well. It's like they just figured out last week to put up fences and/or restore these places despite both the town and the remnants have been there for hundreds of years.

I thought Thessaloniki got a major New York vibe going on, a bit dirty but with all kinds of people, restaurants and places. The only problem is it's almost always in Greek!? Go figure. The thing I will keep connected with Greece on this trip is the amount of bakeries and similar places selling pastries and all kinds of baked goods. That and the hundreds of small shops for candy, soft drinks, chips and beer. They must have quite the sweet tooth in this country!

I can imagine that going to Thessaloniki on a holiday to Greece for 3-5 days and spend the rest of, say a 14 day vacation, it at a beach resort would be a very good choice for me. Some shopping and cool stores and the rest relaxation near a pool or a ocean, a trip past Kalampaka can surely bit fitted into such a schedule.

Below are some pictures from my stay in Thessaloniki.

Great breakfast at my hotel, Hotel Atlantis.

Very long docks with beautiful sea view.

The White tower, major Thessaloniki landmark, closed though.

Dinner in hotel room, bought a burger at a place called Goody's, quite ok.

Anyone able to see where this is?

Last meal dinner in Thessaloniki at this place along the docks, was not that special,
it's menu and style of food was more interesting than the taste.

Tomorrow I go home!

These last few days in Thessaloniki has more or less been about trying to activate myself to see things, somehow it kind of feels like I've already left Greece and gone home to Sundbyberg, Sweden.

A part of me knows what will come of going home, it will roll back to routine and work. Don't get me wrong, that's not bad, I actually miss the guys and girls and my job, I miss my brother and my best friend Henrik and I miss Jennifer, my ex girlfriend who I hold very dear. But I will also miss the constant changes, when you reach a new town, the people and the spectacular sights I've seen.

You know this whole trip has reinforced my belief in two things, people and beauty.

The first part is that people are kind at heart, I despise racism and those who don't fight the easy road and judge masses of people by the actions or experiences of a few. What I have experienced on this trip is people who have walked with me for 10-20 minutes to show me the way to a hotel, people have called their english speaking relatives to come down just so I can order food, they have helped pushed the back of  bike up 200 meter long alleyway with steps just to get me where I was going. They have offered shelter for my bike in the private homes and rushed up to me to help when I've fallen over. I've had two tough looking guys express genuine concern about my well being on the Road. 

It reinforces my love for this quote, it's from the movie American History X;

So I guess this is where I tell you what I learned - my conclusion, right? Well, my conclusion is: Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it. Derek says it's always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can't top it, steal from them and go out strong. So I picked a guy I thought you'd like. 'We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature

What I also have loved about this trip is the amount of beautiful things in this world, it can be a shabby house in a field of green grass, a snow covered mountain, a little turtle or flowers along the road, it can be an child smiling, a green lake in the clouds or a palm tree outside my hotel window.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, if you think about it and don't let is pass you by it's everywhere, always, remember to live in the moment, not yesterday or tomorrow - that's probably the biggest thing I have experienced while on the road, that you feel awake and focused on the now, you don't dream ahead or think about things that has happened. At least I didn't do that.

Another of my favorite quotes is a fitting end to this post, I will make a summary of my days in Thessaloniki during Wednesday.

The quote is from American Beauty;

I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined our street... Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday.

Thessaloniki, I made it. 12/4-2013

I really loved Kalampaka, it reminds me of a small town but since it is a tourist destination it has lots of restaurants, pretty white houses and the nature around it is so amazing. I thought both once and twice about staying there another night but in the end I felt I had to make sure I get to Thessaloniki with time to spare so I can get the boxes needed to pack stuff up and prepare them for my trip home.

I talked to the guys at the KTEL bus company in Kalampaka if I would be sure to get a spot on the bus, they couldn't tell so I got up early and headed to Trikala, 20 kilometers south of Kalampaka and the major bus station in the area.

On my way to Trikala.

The ride down there ( south ) were quite nice since I had a nice road all to myself next to the highway tho actually finding the bus station was a bit of a crap shoot, it was way outside of town and I had to ask for directions, despite being a guy, several times!!

Once on the bus I just relaxed and looked forward to see a new place and get back to the ocean again, my knees were killing me tho, I think it was the rock climbing adventure from the other day, the knees were just saying "Hey you dumb fuck, you aren't 15 any more stop doing those things without at least warming up first and stretching afterwards! Idiot!"

Poor women next to me had to smell my sweaty clothes for 3 hours.

Anyway, I got quite the crowd as I unloaded the bike at Thessaloniki bus station, this town is huge, it got a New York feel to it. I bicycled what will most likely be my last bit on the bike during this trip to the hotel.

What a dump my first room was, dirty, major cracks in the paint and gloomy lighting together with a view of a shabby backyard and shared bathroom almost made me feel I had been thrown into prison. It got better the next day as I got another room with a private bathroom that also had more daylight and at least somewhat more modernized. No TV though, I am gonna complain as I check out despite that I haven't used the TV hardly at all on this trip, might get a better price.

The guy in the reception was very nice, talked a lot in good English and suggested a place to eat.

Chicken wings with potatoes.

Now I got Saturday, Sunday and Monday to see the town and prepare for going home, feels weird being done with it all, you almost get sad in a way.

I will post updates on my blog for the last days of my vacation as well as once I get home, for those interested I am very much looking forward to making a movie from all my video, photos and whatnot, I will upload it on YouTube as each part gets done.

This day was split up into two in regards to the GPS, part one from Kalampaka to Trikala and part two from Thessaloniki bus station to the hotel.

Part 1; http://connect.garmin.com/player/297717150
Part 2; http://connect.garmin.com/player/297717133

GPS update!

Slightly delayed but still, here it is;

Day 11 on the bike (8/4-2013); http://connect.garmin.com/player/295500873

Day 12 on the bike (10/4-2013); http://connect.garmin.com/player/297717180

Since my dad is half blind...

...and can hardly see Mr Turtle from the other post I made I took a screenshot from the video of the other turtle eating! Love you dad!

Mrs Turtle?

The day of two turtles, neardeath, wooden crosses and Greek meatballs! 11/4-2013

Today was gonna be a great day was my plan. I got up early in order to see the monasteries of Meteora, more specifically the monastery of Metamorphosis. The region is called Meteora, it means "middle of the sky", "suspended in the air" or "in the heavens above" as they are built on the mountain tops, both the monasteries themselves and the unusual looking mountains are sights to behold. The staff at my hotel suggested to get a cab up there and walk down and I took their advice, it was a beautiful, hot day.

The monastery I visited, one of  several monasteries in this area, is the one to the right, the one on the left in the distance is the monastery of  Varlaam that was closed this day.

It's really mind boggling how they have managed to build these feats of human capability. The monasteries itself is still active and since it's a very popular tourist destination in this part of Greece it has developed into a museum of sorts, way more interesting than "just" seeing a regular church or monastery. It was filled with beautiful artifacts, among them wooden crosses that were hand carved with such intricate and exquisite craftsmanship it had a magnifying glass attached in front of it so viewers could see all details. As is customary with these kind of places photography and video recordings are strictly prohibited. Some of the allowed pictures I took are these;

There wasn't any description who these skulls were remnants of but I guess it's monks that has died. 

I walked around there in wonder over human creativity and determination, it does not require Christian beliefs to appreciate the beauty of it's creations and be moved by events of positive and negative nature during it's existence.

On my way from the monastery I bought a Börek filled with spinach and cheese and a beer, I enjoyed it at a nearby resting spot.

As I started walking home I was in a great mood, my plan was to view some of the other monasteries from the outside and just enjoy the summer heat. I checked the tourist map and decided to take a marked hiking trail down to town. I started following what looked like a trail in between three massive cliffs through small passages until I reached a dead end with a cliff too steep to get down from. I went back up and thought it has to be the crevice next to this one then.

Before things got pear shaped.. 

The town of Kalampaka, just out of reach.

Thorny bushes!

This is what it looked like in the easy parts.

This is where things started to become a bit dangerous, the way down the second canyon was very difficult, lots of sharp thorns on bushes, difficult passages through rocks and places where I had to press my back against the rock wall and use my legs to press against the opposite wall to get down, parts where I had to lie on my back and balance on my hands and feet downwards because the cliffs were very steep and with gravel here and there. I am not kidding it was a few times where I was scared that if I loose my footing here I might fall to my death.

Yes it was stupid, ok, very stupid but you sure feel alive when you manage to get past an obstacle. The really bad thing was that this too, turned out to be a dead end. I should have known but both those "trails" where actually just dried out beds where thawing snow and rain has been flowing down the mountains, it didn't really look like a hiking trail I guess I blame heat stroke or something...

So after a couple of hours of sweat, blood from getting scratched by thorns, insects enough to skip lunch, cobwebs, fear of tics, snakes and spiders AND beautiful scenery I got back to where i started only to realize I had gone of the road at the wrong place - the real hiking route was on the tourist map and I wouldn't have missed it if I had been paying attention.

When I started it I just happened to notice a small turtle sitting in the grass and eating various things in front of it, I shot some video of it and it looked really cute! Like 30 minutes later I went along the hiking trail and heard a lot of noise in the bushes near me, I was thinking it was a human rummaging around in there but after a few seconds I see the tops of grass move around near a brick wall along the trail, as I watch over the wall I spot another turtle moving along in the grass, probably the most noisy turtle ever.

Mr Turtle!

The real hiking trail.

View of the Meteora mountains, some of them at least.

 After that I slept an hour in my room and went out to have dinner.

Greek meatballs fried in olive oil and drenched in tomato sauce, eggplant stew, rice, potatoes and beer finish a wonderful day, among the best of the trip!

My trip from icy cold mountains to a balcony with evening sun and summer temperature! 10/4-2013

I called the bus company in Ioannia to make sure my bike would be allowed on board, they said no problem, but something was telling me I needed to get there as soon as possible. Leaving Monodendri I wanted to see the stone bridges but with the amount of roads going left, right, up and down I didn't dare taking the chance I'll end up on some back road where it would take me forever to get out of Vikos-Aoos National park. 
Turns out I ( read the GPS ) found that road anyway sort of.

I have changed my tactics when it comes to nasty dogs, unless I can safely pass them at high speed I now slow down, almost to a walking pace, and go Cesar Milan on their ass. That is using Ssch! and reacting as the North Atlantic would if you gently placed a yellow rubber duck in it's waters. Turns out that works fine, kind of bores
those hell spawn enough to go sniff their crotches instead.

Anyway, on my way out of the National park the GPS thought I hadn't been tested enough so it picked a road over a mountain that wasn't absurdly high but the incline was like 45 degrees, I was so high up on my toes that my shoes almost fell off. THEN it gives me a serpentine downhill with a road with razor sharp rocks the size of
oranges. Parts of it I just walked because the bicycle is so heavy I had to lean back, push my heels into the stones, use my brakes and it still forced me lean back while gravity dragged me downhill. It turned out I lost one of my metal clips under my shoes in the process and those things are attached to the sole with two(2) screws.

The start of the downhill, the grass vanished fast and left rocks as the underlay.

A smile from ear to ear came onto my face when I found Blue Monster energy drinks in Ioannina, I bought the ones they had in stock, sadly only three.

Thanks Tommy for introducing me to these things... ;)
Hello, my name is Marcus and I'm an addict.

According to my plan 2.0 I bought a bus ticket to Kalampaka and enjoyed every kilometer of it, once there I settled in at the hotel, my room had a balcony with chairs, a table and evening sun.

Toti Sister hotel - my room.

Moussaka, potatoes and Mythos beer for dinner!

Statistics!

Recorded video; 5 hours 47 minutes 43 seconds
Pictures taken; 620

So far. :)

Lets break out the calculator!

Something has been gnawing on my mind. Time.

When I was a Monodendri during Tuesday 9/4-2013 I realized that time has caught up with me.

My plan looked like this;

Wednesday; Start trip to Kalampaka.
Thursday; Reach Kalampaka.
Friday; Free day Kalampaka as it was one of the big highlights.
Saturday; Start trip to Thessaloniki.
Sunday; Reach Thessaloniki if I can put in two 100 kilometer+ days.
Monday; Prepare to go home and fix packing bike and everything else.
Tuesday; Flight leaving midday.

That leaves a sour taste in my mouth, I will end my vacation stressed out and probably tired - so I have changed it to this;

Wednesday; Bicycle to Ioannia and take bus to Kalampaka.
Thursday; Free day Kalampaka.
Friday; Bus from Trikala or Kalampaka to Thessaloniki.
Saturday; Free day Thessaloniki.
Sunday; Free day Thessaloniki.
Monday; Prepare for departure on Tuesday.
Tuesday; Flight leaving midday.

Sounds like a much better end to my vacation, and, my dear readers, I almost got myself killed several times over while I had my free day today so adventure is still to be found within the frames of my vacation... ( Thursday 11/4-2013 ), but that's in a coming update. ;)

A freezing night, a stone forest and the world's deepest canyon! 9/4-2013

It is off season for the hotels in Monodendri, when I woke up this morning it was freezing in the room, I had two thick blankets over me and was freezing my ass off.

While I thought the hosts of Hotel Ladias was among the nicest ones I've had so far my experience at their hotel was dragged down by a few things. Firstly they turned on and off the radiators, most likely to save power costs, and that's why it was so cold this morning. The breakfast was excellent but since they seem hellbent on saving power they hardly had heating in the main restaurant either nor decent light, in my part of the hotel ( a separate building to the restaurant ) as soon as you left your room the lounge and corridor was freezing cold and not particularly inviting to use. Their wifi was horrible as well, in went up and down and I had to try and find a sweet spot in my room to use it at all, lastly their was some type of insects that got into my room - I caught 6 small bugs.

But again, the hosts was great, the breakfast was very generous and in all fairness should they have fixed the heating so you felt more welcome and get rid of the bugs it would have been at the top of my hotel list so far.

I got the lovely cheese pie for breakfast among many other delicious things!

I had planned to visit the Vikos gorge while on this visit high up in the Greek mountains, my hosts suggested a shortcut through the forest and even tho it was early spring here and leaves and whatnot hadn't shown their faces yet it was a beautiful, healthy nature that hugged me as I trekked through the woods.

On my way to the Gorge I passed through the Stone forest, it was similar to the pictures above with less trees, some parts looked like someone put a keg of dynamite in the middle of the rocks and just let everything fall as it wanted after the explosion.

After that I came to the Vikos gorge, as I walk towards it I shot video and you can hear on the video that I am scared of heights... It is the world's deepest gorge, see the wiki link up above.

It was a tiny path of like 1,5 meters without any fence or protection against certain death!!!
A tiny wall protected my lower legs at the designated "view spot".

Despite my terror it was a truly impressive place, massive is the word your are looking for.

After that I went back and took the hotels advice on where to eat, the town on Monodendri is really beautiful and I can see myself going there during summer at some point.

Piglet boiled in wine with fries and a Mythos beer, I also got a oven baked apple with liqueur and whipped cream as a complimentary desert, good food, the restaurant was called Frosa's pies.

A short recap of Albania and what's to come! 8/4-2013

I leave Albania with three words in my head, friendly, challenging and beautiful.

I've got countless smiles on my way through this country, it has pushed me a lot further than I would have pushed myself and the beauty of it's countryside, it's many remains from ancient times and it's mountains has left a permanent mark in me.

It's highlights consist of Butrint, Berat, Gjirokaster, Sarande coastline and The Blue Eye.

Now it's time for the last push of my adventure, Greece and it's National Park, it's monasteries and Thessaloniki.

Goodbye Albania! 8/4-2013

It's a weird season here, one day summer, the next autumn, winter or spring. Today I left Sarande by taxi to Syri Kalter, or it's English name, The Blue Eye. It's a underground spring with crystal clear, icy water from it's underground spring. I can imagine what a sight it would be in it's summer dress as it looked extremely beautiful this day in cloudy skies with a gentle rain.

I thought I'd cut the trip shorter since I already passed this road the other day after my crash. This time it took quite some time to get up and over the mountain roads, I took a break at the scene of the accident. Later this day I got an explanation to the hundreds of memorials that's been scattered along the roads in Albania and also in Greece. 

This memorial is from the road between Maliq and Gramshi, also known as the Road. It was shot as a movie of me biking the road and it was raining, that's why it's slightly blurry.

They are memorials of people who have died in roadside accidents, I imagined that might be the case but the sheer number of them made me wave that thought away, maybe because I didn't wanna become a memorial myself.

Anyway, once over the hill it was... wait for it... DOWNHILL! But it has to be the slowest decent ever, the road on the opposite side of the mountain of wich I had my crash was a lot more dangerous, more "straight of the cliffside"-like. I shot some video from it with my GoPro. So I paced myself extremely much.

Once I got closer to the border I decided to stop and eat in an attempt to void me of Albanian currency.

Regular roadside place, it was rice with peas and a chicken fillet rolled up in bacon stuffed with peppers, the chicken was  the most stringy thing ever.

After that I headed to the border and had a Cappuccino and a Red Bull just at the border crossing. A very friendly and welcoming Greek border guard waved me past all the cars and said I wouldn't be able to reach Monodendri, my goal in Greece, because it was late in the day and a lot of steep climbs during the last 30 k's.

He was right, I called the hotel I had booked a room at and mentioned I would't get there in time. They offered to come pick me up for 20 Euro and I took their offer. It was nice talking to someone speaking English for a change on my way up to the mountain village. Once there, after a hot shower, I sat in their restaurant near an open fireplace and ate a complimentary cheese pie made my the mother of this family owned hotel, Hotel Ladias.

Lovely warn fireplace and a cheese pie to die for!

Slept very well.