It's not unusual to be threatened by Henley when waking him up in the morning these days. Oblivious to the time with curtains drawn and shades on, he managed a goodish "f.ck off" after i dragged his doona off him at 7.29 one minute before our scheduled breakfast gathering ! When he realised the time he quickly apologised then responded with"why didn't you wake me up ... it's your job Litchfield"! The fact that I I'd been up for 30 minutes with the rooms lights on full noisily bumping around packing was lost on him as an excuse !
On a beautiful morning we departed our forest based eco cabins at Sortire and headed straight (you guessed it) into a climb. Once finished the route became a series of so called undulations on some very rough roads (some with more potholes than bitumen) before a beautiful descent to our regroup point at Lescovik.
After a small history lesson from Arjan (still suffering from Henley's flu) we descended on a magical stretch of bitumen for 10 kms down to the valley floor with towering nearby mountains signifying the border between Albania and Greece.
It was on one of the descents that I caught up with Kiwi Pete. Stationary, Pete was talking to me about how lovely an ambience the ringing cow bells provided.Pulling up beside us our Canadian friend Karine jumped in saying "yes that was a great film"! With Pete and i looking at each other bemused Karine continued "Quentin Tarrentino is amazing "! The penny finally dropped that what Karine was talking about was the film Kill Bill .. so we both quickly replied .." Not Kill Billz" .."Cow Bells"! The 3 of us fell apart laughing !
It was on one of the descents that I caught up with Kiwi Pete. Stationary, Pete was talking to me about how lovely an ambience the ringing cow bells provided.Pulling up beside us our Canadian friend Karine jumped in saying "yes that was a great film"! With Pete and i looking at each other bemused Karine continued "Quentin Tarrentino is amazing "! The penny finally dropped that what Karine was talking about was the film Kill Bill .. so we both quickly replied .." Not Kill Billz" .."Cow Bells"! The 3 of us fell apart laughing !
The section following was hard work into a stiff headwind making us earn our coffees and cokes sitting in a cafe on a balcony overlooking the road in the uniquely named village of Carshovel !
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| Coffee time ! |
After our break we again climbed this time on a 3-4km 6-8% section that took us up for beautiful views of valleys and mountains that were arguably the best views that we've had on tour so far. Kiwi Pete did a chain on the hill which was quickly repaired (unlike our spokes) before we cruised on a bone jarring section of road (more potholes than bitumen) to our isloated no wifi hotel in Permet
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| Kiwi Pete - Looking towards Greece ! |
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| Looking back the way we'd cycled from |
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| Great views ! |
We'd arrived early enough to immediately be served lunch - another great serving of soup, salads, chips and filo pastry (with something green inside) washed down of course by the mandatory early finish beer !
After a small rest we headed off to the nearby warm water springs set in a beautiful canyon setting complete with 17th C Ottoman bridge.
While most our group had jumped in the suport van for the trip to the springs Swedish Linda and self had biked it (4kms each way) to keep alive our chances for the prestigious EFI award given to those who claim to have cycled "Every F.cking Inch" on tour. At the time of print Robbo the other group member in the running hast put in a protest claiming that the cycle to the springs was not part of the official route !
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| Ottoman Bridge |
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| L-R, Robbo, Kev, Linda, Lee, Juli & Aussie Kev |
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| Amazing hot water springs |
We vacated the springs for a nearby coffee before heading back to the hotel knowing we had a cruzy night in front of us with a late start tomorrow ! Maybe an opportunity to try some of the areas famed racki !
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| Dinner at our accommodation ! |
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