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Published: September 19th 2011
Leaving the campsite (7/9/11)
Motorcycles don't hold much stuff... or at least they shouldn't. However, ours had become a rather unhappy exception to that rule. In fact, so much so that when we pulled up to say goodbye to the campsite owner I nearly toppled over sideways. Catching the hem of my boot on the footpeg didn't help. Note to selves: must reduce the luggage!
First stop - a lesser known Italian Lake (7/9/11 - 9/9/11)
Having survived our somewhat unwieldy ride over the Simplon pass we finally arrived at our first stop by one of the lesser known, but surely the most beautiful of the Italian lakes. We set up camp, and the trip had officially begun. In the morning we went through the luggage to see what we could get rid of. What we discovered was that: (a) most of the unnecessary stuff was mine (It's Brian writing this), and (b) I didn't want to leave any of it behind! Still, a few sacrifices were duly made to the official motorcycle saint of travelling light. My extra shorts were burned... using my extra gas bottle... for my extra stove... for making coffee in the morning (an
essential). Actually, we gave the shorts away, but you get the idea. It was then ice cream and pizza for the rest of the day.
The ride to Venice (9/9/11)
In a word: hot. In two words: hot and unpleasant. In three: hot, unpleasant and expensive! A recalcitrant motorway ticket booth decided to be unhelpful about issuing a ticket; result a €69 fine! Fortunately, we had 14 days to pay. Even more fortunately Tanja asked a police officer what to do about our fine, which was thoroughly undeserved, and his advice was "ah, you from abroada, itsa'okay you no bother to pay".
The campsite in Venice (9/9/11 - 10/9/11)
About as pleasant as the ride there.
The ferry to Greece (10/9/11 - 11/9/11)
Hmmm... if there was a 'boat full of ugly people' competition we were on a winner! Not us of course, but our fellow passengers. A situation not improved by the 'bar rules': "luggage on floor", "no, all luggage on floor", "no eating", "no sleeping", "put shirt on". Suddenly, 32 hours on a ferry seemed like a long, long, long time.
It was.
Mainland Greece (11/9/11 - 17/9/11)
Flash, indicate, push, wave arms. The driver behind was putting on quite a performance, as I sailed along doing about 100km/h in a 100km/h zone. F**kin hell! Whaddya want me to do mate, ride on the bloody hard shoulder?? Greek driving was looking to be a pushy affair. Well, stuff that I'm staying in my lane... for about 2 minutes, at which point I noticed that is apparently how it's done in Greece. Yep, in Greece the hard shoulder is the 'slow lane'. Much like the Dutch, with their new expand the motorway by using the hard shoulder approach. Only, without the lane markings, overhead lights or any semblance of road rules to speak of. In fact, apart from keep right, as far right as you can get without being in the dirt, there didn't seem to be any other road rules in Greece to speak of.
We did find a lovely campsite, where we stayed four nights. We made a quick daytrip to Athens, which was mainly spent shoe shopping (one of the sacrificial luggage items had been both our pairs of hiking boots). We also had 'cultural day', visiting the ruins of Mycenae and Epidaurus, the temperature
reaching an impressive 36 or 37 degrees. Not ideal for hill climbing, step clambering and ruin trudging, not to mention bike riding in full protective kit!
Santorini - our first Greek Island (17/9/11 - 19/9/11)
Where we are now! People rave about Santorini, and in patches you can see why. There are occasional captivating views that look just like the postcards. However, between the picture perfect views the island feels more 'tourist trap' than traditional.
That said, we did go for a couple of beautiful snorkeling expeditions; putting our new underwater camera case to good use. Snorkels, underwater camera cases? On a trip that will be mostly overland? Hard to understand where the packing problem came from.
Next stop Paros, on a ferry leaving in a couple of hours.
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Mattias and Liselot
non-member comment
Awesome pictures you have there ! Hope you find a solution for the luggage \'problem\'... Here in La Fouly things go well, altough we have a first bit of snow today! Very cold (Liselot writes this). Keep writing! Ciaoooo!