After Carmen left I had a day off in Ljubljana. I finally found a place to buy a new wheel and while it was more expensive than I hoped, the guy fixed up a few other things on my bike, gave me a discount and was just generally a nice guy so I got over it. I was staying with a Slovenian/American couple who fed me delicious vegetarian food and took me out for delicious vegan gelato. Having recently finished reading Robinson Crusoe, I've decided that as a treat to all my many blog readers, I'll copy my journal word for word for the next two weeks of events, starting when I left Italy. This also makes it easier for me as the writing is already done. Later inputs will not be in italics. It starts pretty dire. Things weren't that bad and there are many sentiments in there which I totally don't agree with, but it's interesting to see how I felt at the time. Emotions, eh? 23/7 Just over the Italian Border. I'm super bored and a touch emotional so I'm actually writing. Being alone sucks. Even watching Q&A made me feel like someone else was here. It will be interesting to see how R.C. dealt with it. I've always felt that if the person you shared an experience with dies or is gone from your life, the experience might as well have not happened. So why am I doing this trip? Even the amazing acts of kindness I've witnessed and been a part of have only eased my trouble, not made me have a good time. I really wish Carmen was still here. That perfect day-off spot might as well be here (by this I mean that the spot I was in while writing was pretty nice) but I'm bored shitless. I have my kindle but don't want to read. I guess I just don't see the point in doing anything unless someone can see me doing it. Classic Chris Jones. How can one be a narcissist when there's nobody else around? Fuck it. I can sit here and wallow and think about Skins S1&2 (wtaf?) or I can try to come up with some techniques to get through the shit. Q&A worked well. Dota works well. Reading can, but I need to be really in to the book. Music can. Taking photos for other people to see can. I think writing this is helping, but only because I'm going to blog it so other people can see it. Holy shit there are a lot of super jump bugs in my tent. Maybe I should just read Catch-22 again. Sometimes I think about TV shows of movies that I've seen a lot and pretend that I'm watching them again. I'm definitely finding somewhere to watch the footy tomorrow. 24/7 I think writing in here helped. What a cliché I am! After reading last night I felt good about things. No potential of disturbance helps. I got away early this morning, found coffee, poo, water, yoghurt, shade. Then two guys to draft. So I went to a place to watch footy but nobody had ESPN, so I just listened. Shit game. Downloaded more Q&A. Oh, got a SIM earlier. So I could message some Warmshowers people so I have somewhere to stay in Oderzo. Camping would be possible, but likely to have company. Should try to sort something for between Florence and Rome. 26/7 The couple in Oderzo were lovely. GMO came up. Their view was pretty good actually, well balanced (unlike mine). The next day got to the place near Venice airport. Andreas (host) is great, amazing food, excellent conversation. Very logical. Money with expiry. (This is in reference to the idea of giving money an expiry date which would prevent people from saving, thus stimulating the economy and preventing the super rich from just hoarding all their cash. I don't think it would work, and neither did Andreas, but it was an interesting idea.) Magic tricks. Slept in same bed, got a bit close. He does a new thing each year. 2012 - CS; 2013 - Sports Massage; 2014 - swimming; 2015 - piano. I could use a sports massage. I'm currently in the city of Venice. It's ok, many tourists though. I just want a park. I'm working on my list of improvements for South America. 29/7 Today was a disaster. Started out late, but had a short two-day goal and my bike was in good order. Got a flat, changed it, but the tube wasn't in properly. I had decided to get a new tyre because of all the flats lately so short dist. to the bike shop meant I put up with the tyre not being perfect. It exploded. Started to change it but the big tyre was hard to get in. A guy drove me to a bike shop that was shut, then to another with very limited selection. I bought a thin (?) tube. I threw that in then looked for a bike shop. When they reopened (everything shuts from 12-3pm) they were not extensive enough to have a Schwalbe Marathon Plus. I settled for a 15 euro one with protection. I was already exhausted and had only covered about 30km. I cycled in to a head wind. Now I'm tired and have only come about 70km. That said, I have a place to camp and a place to stay tomorrow night about 100km away. Many things went wrong but many things went right too :) 31/7 Yesterday I started early, had breakfast after about 20km and prepared for a decent climb. 800m up really isn't that bad. There were lots of other cyclists on the road. I reached the top at around 11.30 and went to a cafe to watch dota for a bit. Left around 1pm, after ~5km stopped at a picnic area for lunch and to watch Q&A. Can't wait to see episode 21! This was a lot of time killed in the middle of the day but it was all downhill after that. Cruised down and got to the town Ameglia at 5, watched dota with a coffee & a beer. At 8.30 went to my WS host's house. At first I thought him a bit strange but he's actually great. So much he's done (cycling in Africa), but mainly his outlook of "don't rush". Whatever happens, happens. I'll carry this in to my next week. I don't need to be in Rome in 3 days, I have 9 days to be there so let's just see where that takes me. I need to take some photos of this place. Also his outlook on "stuff" was great. If you don't need it, chuck it. Buy more later. Pack light. Today I'm going to Pisa! 03/08 I got to Pisa no worries, checked in to airbnb with Carmen (she went back to the UK after we finished cycling, then to Tomorrowland, then Cinque Terre, then had a few days in Pisa before flying back to London. I was in the area so figured we could hang out for a few days.), went to the tower, dinner, etc. Next day beach, ordered pizza, watched movie. (The Little Death, Aussie movie. Very funny) Good times. Yesterday she left. Not so good times. Then went towards Siena. Couldn't find a hos there, but on the way someone near Florence (Signa) on WS replied. So I went there. The way google sent me had some 15% hills, but I made it. He's a bit strange but a really nice & kind guy. Now I'm waiting in a park for the library to open so I can write blog (this clearly didn't happen). TI5 starts tonight at 7pm. The guy has no wifi so I can't watch it there. In other news, Q&A is still amazing, Bronwyn Bishop is a cunt of Tony Abbott proportion, Lawrence Kraus is a boss, as is Michael Ware. I'm going to try to get CS tonight for tomorrow so I can hopefully watch TI and relax. I now have no commitments until either 20th of August for my sim or 29th August for my visa, depending on what I decide to do. I'm never using an internet cafe again. It is so slow, shit mouse, shit keyboard. I feel like I'm done with the cycling. I have no sense of purpose. Arne ruined me. I need to go far every day to feel like I have somewhere to go. Maybe I should just message someone in Rome and say I'll be there on Friday. May I just don't like Italy from a cycling perspective. It's not great and I'm alone, so I worry it won't work. Plus I have in my head that the visa thing won't work out, so I'll return to London early by plane, stay there for five weeks before going to SA. Workaway would be good. I need WiFi. 07/08
Found Workaway not too far from Rome. Set out on Tuesday (4th) morning aiming for 2 days, later would have been ok. It was hot and very hilly. Mountain passes PASS mountains. There are no hill passes. You just go over the hill. Steep. Chianti region very hilly. Got nearly to Siena and met an english couple cycling. Chatted for a bit then entered Siena together. They cycled SO slowly. They were all "I don't really know what to do, what do you think?" "Yeah, I'm not sure either." Dull. As. Fuck. .I got out of there and found a cafe in I think Monteroni to watch dota and eat leftover pizza. Then found a place on google satellite maps to camp 19km away. It worked out. Next morning I slept in a little and it was super hot early. Mistake. There was a detour just after Bagni San di Filippo (which I didn't visit) which sent me up a huge hill. Down the other side I met two Italian chaps cycling after their exams (process engineering). One has family in Colombia I might meet with. Anyway, carried on to the place near Lagos de Bolsana. Stopped for shit ice cream, a 2 euro coke can & some dota watching. Started off around the lake having found a plausible spot to camp. Most gates off the main roads have private property signs. This road didn't so I went down it, down hill. There was a beware the rott weiler sign at a shanty town on the water's edge. A fairly young, fairly vicious dog came out and barked but backed off when I feigned to throw a rock. After a while, a giant rott weiler came out and wasn't scared of fake outs. I had to use my bike as a physical barrier to defend myself. I kept the bike between the rotty and I and was ready to kick the other if it attacked from behind. I made my way back up the road when possible. The dogs didn't follow more than 10m as they were for defence. I went back up the hill with adrenaline still pumping. Luckily I was going to go for a swim so I had been looking for a spot early. This gave me time to find a new spot in a field just off the highway. Dinner, sunset, sleep. The night was incredibly hot so I slept poorly. (Since entering Province of Viterbo [Lazia?], the roads have been TERRIBLE). Got up early, set off, found the rear was flat from a thorn which was to the side of the "protection". Changed it. It got hot fast. Breakfast had been biscuits so I needed to find more food. Went to a bakery & ate shit. Went through Viterbo (which sucks) then continued east. When I was about 20km away from destination I stopped next to a river for some super salty pig in a roll. Delightful. The final hill before I arrived here was horrendously steep. lean forward = back tyre slip, lean back = front wheel comes up. Pushed a bit in 35 degrees. Arrived At Workaway!
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Chris JonesJust a guy going for a bit of a documented ride. Archives
May 2018
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