Archives: October 2008
In Which I Take A Pretty Picture
October 16, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Norwich Route: Istanbul - Stansted - Norwich (Just checking in to point out that nobody but nobody wants to read a blo-- I mean diary about me flying to the UK to see my Pa, sister and brother, to wash my smalls and to dig out my winter biking jacket...
In Which I Reach The Golden Horn
October 15, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Istanbul Route: Gaziköy - Kumbağ - Tekirdağ - Istanbul I rode my motorbike in to Istanbul today. Sorry, but I'm going to repeat that. I rode my motorbike in to Istanbul today. I rode my motorbike in to Istanbul today. Me! Little Mike from Norwich. From my Cycling Proficiency Test...
In Which It's All Rather Humbling
October 14, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Gaziköy -- Gallipoli. The remains of 36,000 Commonwealth soldiers lie in 31 cemetaries. I don't know if anyone counted the number of Turkish dead. I rode down to Anzac Cove. New Zealand is perhaps my favourite country .. with my favourite people.. in the world... outside this trip. My best...
In Which You Learn The Worst Possible Turkish Insult
October 13, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Koruköy Route: Porto Lagos - Komotini - Alexandroupouli - Kipi (Greece) - Ipsala (Turkey) - Kesan - Koruköy I love Turkey already. At the frontier, Greece waved me through without stopping. Better than that, the Greek border guard, Stratos, wanted to talk about bikes and girls, and far from stopping...
In Which I Have To Pull My Thumb Out
October 12, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Porto Lagos Route: Stavros - Kavala - Xanthi - Lagos There are so many petrol stations in Greece. Hundreds of 'em. Not as many as I found in Albania, but enough to go round.. or so I thought. I found the one stretch of road in the entire country that...
In Which I Head Off To Mount Athos
October 11, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Stavros Route: Ouranoupoli - Mount Athos by ship - Stavros Today wasn't about riding a bike -- even when I got to the small seaside town of Stavros this evening, bought a lollipop and wandered the streets asking "Who loves ya, baby?" [Just in case you're thinking, Yeah Mike, don't...
In Which My Memory's Going -- I Blame My Age
October 10, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Ouranoupoli Route: Nea Marmaras - Ouranoupoli I'm riding to another deadline: I fly from Istanbul (not Constantinople, dear) on Thursday -- in six days -- so it's onwards and upwards today, riding round the rest of Kassandra and Sithonia in order to reach the third prong of Halkidiki -- Mount...
In Which I, Err, Well, I, Umm..
October 9, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Nea Marmaras Route: Thessaloniki - Moudania - Nea Marmaras I rode to Nea Marmaras. It's a small town on Kassandra, the first of the three prongs of the Halkidiki peninsula to the east of Thessaloniki. But I didn't write my thoughts and highlights down at the time. And now, as...
In Which I Get To Tell My 'Arrested In Bulgaria For Spying' Anecdote
October 8, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Thessaloniki Four nights in Thessaloniki. A good city. When I visited Nice's Matisse Museum in May, I wrote: "There are works of art here that feature just half-a-dozen lines or brush-strokes -- and could only be Matisse." Wrong! Figurine of a seated figure in a reserved position made of flat-shaped...
In Which Autumn Is Sprung
October 4, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Volos Route: Volos - round Mount Pelion - Volos I was going to just say, in today's entry, "Why am I doing this trip? Pretty much, I'd say, for days like this." And nothing more. (I've done it before, lucky me. In fact, a couple of times.) But today that...
In Which I Try Something New
October 3, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Volos Route: Livanates - Volos Today I rode from Livanates to Volos. It was nice enough. Nothing special. Nothing to write home about. So I thought I'd see if I could keep this entry short and sweet and not go on and on and on and on and on and...
In Which Less Very Nearly Becomes More
October 2, 2008 by Mike in Diary
Livanates Route: Rafina - Marathonas - Kalamos - Skala Oropou - Chalkida - thunderstorm - Paralia Livanates So much of our vocabulary comes from Ancient Greek. So many famous things happened in so many parts of this country. But precious few of those words are so universally well-known as 'Marathon'....