September/October 2013
Garry’s 2013 bicycle tour to Greece. Garry’s only major tour of the year, cycling over 2000-miles to Athens!
Garry had spent the past year working, trying to catch up after taking the previous year off to cycle around the world! It was now September, and Garry was suffering from a bad back! As a way of curing his recurring back pain, he decided to go on a bike ride! After all, whenever he’d been in pain in the past, a good bike ride had always cured it! In fact, Garry’s hurt was so great, he only decided to go away the night before leaving!
It was an early start for Garry to catch the morning ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe. The tour didn’t get off to the best of starts, and it took Garry several attempts to get going in earnest! After arriving in Dieppe, Garry rode the 20-miles to a campsite in Neufchâtel-en-Bray, his first overnight stop. Unfortunately, after it rained in the night, Garry found out that his tent wasn’t waterproof!
Rather than continue with his ride, Garry decided to re-proof his tent and went in search of some waterproofer, which he found back in Dieppe. After a 50-mile round trip, Garry arrived back at the campsite and proceeded to waterproof his tent.
The following morning Garry again awoke to the sound of rain falling on the tent! Not a problem the tent had been waterproofed, everything would be fine, not! The tent was leaking more than ever! With the tent all but useless, Garry decided it was probably better to return home and sort it out there.
lets try again
After spending a few days back home sorting his tent out, it was time to leave once more. Things went a lot better, and Garry made good progress passing swiftly through France, Germany, Austria and onto Italy. Although Garry was making good progress on the road, he was in chronic pain having slipped a disc in France! (which he found out on returning home)
Garry was okay on the bike and had very little pain if any at all! But off the bike, it was a completely different story! He couldn’t walk, it hurt to sit, and he was getting very little sleep! But Garry was still enjoying himself!
Once he’d reached Italy, he started to follow the Adriatic cycling through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro and onto Albania. He had intended to remain on the coast all the way to Athens. But due to the severe winds that affect the coastline at this time of year. And the fact that Garry was now in a lot of pain even on the bike! He decided to head inland and take a more direct route to Athens.
All Garry wanted to do was to get to Athens and finish! He was in a lot of pain now! Thankfully though, five days after entering Greece, Garry made it to Athens. Not the best of tours and despite a painful ending, Garry still had fun and enjoyed it.
Total miles cycled from England 2279 miles.