Author: Steph

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Greece on Saturday, 12th-October-2013. Pogradec to Kozani, Greece. 110 miles. I’ve had a good ride today with plenty of downhills! However, there was a rather biggish climb to get out of Pogradec first thing this morning. But apart from that, it’s felt as if I’ve been going downhill all day! Or maybe it’s because the sun has been shining!

Anyway, I’ve decided to continue with my ride. I’m hoping it’s not because I’ve had an easy day today, and I live to regret it tomorrow! But maybe I’ll take a direct route to Athens. Instead of going around the coast, as I initially had planned.

There was a bit of a queue at the border crossing to Greece. I waited in line for a while but soon got bored and decided to ride past all the vehicles. And before I knew it, I was in Greece!

I’ve seen loads of signs telling you to watch out for bears, but I never saw any.

The last fifty or so miles have been on a motorway, making for a fast ride! I was going to stop a lot earlier than I did today. But all the towns I passed didn’t look very promising or were up hills! When I did eventually stop, I could hardly walk! I don’t think the girl on reception could believe I’d ridden from Pogradec, considering I couldn’t even walk!

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You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Albania on Friday, 11th-October-2013. In Pogradec. I’m in so much pain now. It even hurts to cycle! Although when I’m peddling, I’m not too bad. But as soon as I stop and put a foot down, that’s when the pain really starts! And I’m now finding any excuse to stop, although I don’t know why as I’m in more pain off the bike than I am on it!

So I’ve decided to stay put and rest today. Apart from resting, I’ve been looking at my options for finishing my ride sooner! I’ll decide for definite tomorrow. I’ll see how I feel when I’m cycling. There are about fifty miles to cycle before making that final decision. I just need to pull myself together and get finished!

Although why I want to go home, I don’t know! Apart from seeing family and friends, which is always good! But I just know that I’ll be in a lot more pain once I am home! But at least I can get some stronger pain killers, which will hopefully help! And maybe I’ll have to try and get this sorted out, once and for all!

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Albania on Thursday, 10th-October-2013. 2013 Elbasan to Pogradec. 54 miles. Much of today was spent riding up through a valley, following a river, which has been nice. I always like to be near water, as most of my previous rides prove! Although I have been struggling with my leg, which is a real pain, literally!

Disappointingly I had my first puncture of the trip today! Just as I went around a bend and started to go uphill, it went bang! Well, that’s a pain, I thought! But hey ho, I can’t really complain. After all, I’ve done over 1800 miles! So nothing else to do apart from fixing it. As I could not find the puncture (through being impatient), I replaced the inner tube with a new one! Sorted, now all I had to do was put the wheel back on the bike and load up.

I’d only turned the pedals a couple of turns when it went bang again! I’d checked the tyre and couldn’t find anything in it. That’s normally the first thing I do! There’s nothing worse than fixing a puncture and getting another one straight away! Oh wait, that’s what’s just happened! Surely I didn’t run over whatever gave me the puncture in the first place, did I? Again, I pulled over to fix the puncture! But this time, I did find the puncture. It was a great big hole which was too big to fix! So back to the original inner tube and find that hole! After a bit more patience on my part, I did!

More Trouble

While I was pumping the tyre back up, I noticed a split in the tyre’s sidewall! And the inner tube was starting to bulge out! Well, at least I found the cause of my punctures! Luckily, I always carry a spare tyre, so it wasn’t a major problem. Apart from removing the old tyre and inner tube for the third time! But then, to top it all, the bloody pump broke! The plastic casing had become brittle over time and just snapped! But I managed to bodge it together with some gaffer tape. It didn’t work fully, but at least it allowed me to get enough air in the tyre to cycle on it. That little episode must have taken nearly two hours in total.

On My Way

I cycled on for another hour or so and left the valley. Now, I was on a wide plateau with a vast mountain looming in the distance. I was hoping that wasn’t where I was heading! But as I cycled nearer, I could see the road winding its way up. Yep, it certainly was the way I was heading!

That mountain turned out to be a 1000-metre climb, with most of it at a 10% gradient! At the top of the climb, there was a hotel, and I did contemplate stopping. But in the end, I just had a beer, something I never do while cycling! But I felt I’d earned that one! Going down the other side was good fun! And it wasn’t too long after that that I stopped.

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.

Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 is cycle touring in Albania on Wednesday, 9th-October-2013. Bushat to Elbasan. 80 miles. And there was me saying how bad the hotel was yesterday. Yet I had the best night’s sleep I’ve had for ages. While I’m not sure whether it was because it was cooler. But my leg didn’t keep me awake either! Calm before the storm, I think. I’m in chronic pain again tonight!

Nice flat ride this morning all the way to Tirane, although according to my map, I wasn’t there. Before I knew it, I was in the centre of the city, lost! Eventually, I found my way out!

The weather’s not been too bad today. I had a shower first thing this morning, and one really heavy cloud burst this afternoon with thunder and lightning. I can still hear it rumbling all around tonight.

Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

You can also follow my progress and see where I stop each night by visiting the Where’s Garry web page; there, you’ll find a map of the route I’ve taken so far.