Epilogue

When I set off on these rides….the planned distances and ascents always seem just too big to contemplate. 4,700kms and 50,500m were the respective plans! And so much to go wrong…with bikes and bodies, with four finely-timed transfers of the relay baton on the second bike…it is always surprising when everything (well, almost everything) goes to plan.

Except of course the routes change….distances increase…and we finished up with a total tally of 5,700kms and 67,500m of ascent (for the interested that is 7.5 Everests, 18 Mount Cooks, or 50 Ben Nevis’..!)

Extraordinary really…for me….a recalcitrant smoker who has never been into exercise for exercise’s sake. But give me a journey….and I’ll do it! 

Every day an adventure, rather than a grind. And every day a great sense of achievement…worthy of a rehydrating celebration! A glorified pub crawl? Actually it is so much more than that…but I am not sure I’d be so keen to do it without that after-glow of the ice-cold amber nectar!!

What an epic trip! With four wonderful riding partners! Each so very different…late risers/early risers, late eaters/early eaters, just get there folk/stop everywhere folk…so that variety helps too…effectively breaking up a potentially long slog into four different trips! Thank you…to Iain, Martin, Shennae and Alan…I loved every minute of it!

Truly!

The best bits? Everyone asks…but it is always so difficult to answer given the variety of the trip. I’ll give it a go….in brief…to recall the most memorable bits..:

With Iain….our monstrous day in Albania and our night in the old monastery in North Macedonia (which remains the most surprising country to visit!)

With Martin…our ride across to the Turkish coast (before we hit the dual carriageways and too much ugliness), and our rides in Rhodes.

With Nae….the Mani peninsular……our Ithica Odyssey…and that extraordinary city of Matera. All wonderful!

With Alan….our ride up to Corleone and into the hills of Sicily…that mud!…and our last day along the north east coast of Sardinia!

….and in fact every single day in between. So much variety. So many hills. So many wonderful people. 

Its been an absolute blast…and I could do it all over again. 

Maybe I will.

But probably without the Turkey bit.

A Greek Odyssey?

Watch this space!

And lastly…to those folk who have read to this point…thank you!

 ….for the interest….and for your tenacity to get go the end!!

I hope you enjoyed a bit of vicarious adventure…and that the blog did not get too repetitive! It never was in reality…but sometimes I worried that it might come across so!

Until next year!

Cannot wait!