Friday 18 May 2012

Finally made it to Greece

(Still got a prehistoric wifi signal and pics won't upload, so will do them asap)

Crossed the border about lunchtime. Had a good dry ride, albeit a bit cold in themountains, but not a drop of rain.

Set off from the hotel late again but that was due to fixing the exhaust and clutch on my bike, plus the lights. Then we were beseiged by quaint Romany children who wanted to exchange polite cultural information. They were sent on their way several times, but kept coming back and were a bit of a pain in the backside.

Crossed the border just west of Bilisht. Picked that place deliberately for the nameand had no trouble at all and it took us about 20 minutes. No EU signs on the Greek side though - we think they might have sold them to try and raise a bit of cash.

Greece feels immediately different to Abania and this was evident as soon as we crossed the border. The drivers are calmer, as are the people, and even the surroundings are different and prettier. Had a  great ride down through the mountains and then onto Edressa, where we currently are. Its about 50 miles short of Thessaloniki. Another ok hotel, 35 Euros for both of us with free off street parking. Right in the town too, so that is good.

Not sure what I think about Albania. I'm glad we rode through it though but don't know that I would put it on a destination list. Maybe I need to come back once more to help me make my mind up. Won't miss the mad drivers though. Scary nutters, all of them.

Has a marvellous ride today through Greece. Great open empty roads and  lots of twisties. A man in a petrol station who really did look like Demis Roussos ( only not dead)  insieted on taking our pictures when he discovered where we were heading.  " I must have picture of crazy womans on bikes". It seemed to make his day so that's our good deed for the day over and done with.


Had a light snack for dinner, and the lovely man brought us some cherries, which was an unexpected surprise and one one of our five for the day. Must stay healthy on the road!

On the bike front, the roaring Harley is no more but the rattle is back. The clutch is better but not perfect, and my lights work perfectly.!!Yipee.Both of us dropped our bikes today but again, nothing serious and no damage.  I broke a mirror too so had to swap them over i order to have a sporting chance of spotting how many maniacs were zooming uo behind me.