Day 28: From Ksamil (Albania) to Boukaris on Korfu (Greece) (92 km, 650 vm)

When I woke up today I thought it must already be 8 or 9. The brightness in the tent was misleading. It wasn’t even 6 yet. I turned around but couldn’t sleep anymore. I guess during my sleep I came to the decision to stay another day at the campsite. It was too nice to just leave again. So I took my time. Got up at around 6:30 for a short swim, laid down again, slept maybe another hour and then got up. Once the sun hit the tent the temperatures inside rose too much to be able to really rest. Breakfast didn’t start until 9 so I went for a second swim, enjoyed the view and the fact that I didn’t have to cycle today.

When I saw the owner and told him that I would stay on he explained that the site was booked out for today. Bummer. I still took my time to have my breakfast, had 2 more cappuccinos and thought to myself that Greece is not that far and that I would just rest there. It takes quite a shift in mind set once you have decided not to to anything. All of a sudden I had to pack up and go again. I wasn’t going to stay somewhere in town.

I started cycling at around 11:15. The heat was intense from the first minute on but what could I do. About 5 kilometres outside of Ksamil I got to moving bridge. It was an old platform, consisting of more fixing materials than original, that was pulled from one side to the other carrying a maximum of 4 cars. Quite the experience. Hence there was hardly any traffic on the other side. I took my time cycling through the valley. At some point I hit the main road again. Even though the border was only 4 kilometres away there was still no sign for Greece or for any city in the country. Just to make sure I checked on google maps again that I was on track.

After a moderate ascent I got to the last village in Albania. I took a stop there and had a coke, like I was dragging out the crossing into Greece. Maybe I was already a bit melancholic. Who knows. When I got to the boarder just 2 kilometres after I took another break. I didn’t need it but I knew that my trip was as a good as over once I was in Greece. Cycling to Greece. That’s what I wanted to do. I had a small beer – you cannot have coke to reflect – sat at that little make-shift kiosk and consciously went through all the day and highlights of the tour so far. I needed to check my blog because for some places I couldn’t recall anymore where I stayed. Memories are a very shady business.

The I crossed the boarder into Greece. Right after the Albanian check point there was the country sign I was so hoping for. I took a picture, cycled on and got to the Greek check point. Getting through there took quite some time despite the few people ahead of me. When it was my turn the police officer ask me where I was going. I said “Don’t know, maybe Igoumensita”. He gave me back my passport and on I went. Right after border control was a nice Greek flag that I wanted to take a picture of. It took some time before the wind finally caught the flag so you could actually make out the Greek pattern. I cycled down to the next village, Sagiada, where I had lunch. I ordered Moussaka. I wanted to go as Greek as possible.

I guess I hoped that arriving in Greece would feel somewhat special, that I have some sort of epiphany or maybe cry out of happiness but nothing of that sort happened. And even though Sagiada was a nice little fisher town you couldn’t really tell that you just crossed the boarder. I guess that was a bit naïve. Do you feel different when you cross from Germany into Austria?

From Sagiada I had 21 kilometres to Igoumensita, from where all the ferries leave to Italy. The ride there had some smaller ascents but nothing too bad. When I arrived there and saw the town I knew immediately that I wouldn’t stay there. The town wasn’t awfully ugly but just not the right place to finish this trip. It was a big port town and that’s about it.

I cycled to the port and got myself a ticket for a ferry to Venice for Tuesday 1 am. So I had two full days to spend somewhere. It was 16:45 and the ferry to Lefkimmi, on the south of the island Korfu, left at 17:00. I quickly got a ticket and waited to get on. The loading of all the cars and trucks took at about an hour. Since there was only one way in and out of the ferry cars had to turn once they were in and trucks and busses backed up into the ship. The crew that was supervising the loading was shouting and cursing constantly. Nothing of that Greek relaxedness you would expect. Kind of funny to watch.

I wanted to stay at a fairly nice hotel for the next two nights and somewhere quiet on the beach. That was harder to find that I thought. On the ferry I checked various options and found hotel in a small place called Boukaris. It turned out that this village was another 16 kilometres with some smaller mountains in the way. I guess I should have checked out my options before I had some beers of euphoria on the ferry.

The cycle to Boukaris, however, went fairly smoothly. Shortly before I arrived I had to climb one more 20 % ramp that I was zig-zagging up, then a last descent and there I was. At my final destination. A beautiful beach with just one hotel and two restaurants. I went to one of them sat down, enjoyed the view and let the fact sink in that I don’t have to cycle anymore.

I found someone to take a video of my going into the sea with my biking clothes on. I don’t know why I did it but it felt like it was the thing to do now. Some sort of un-spiritual cleansing of the joys and pains of this cycle ... or maybe just washing of the sweat.

After I checked into the hotel the sun was just setting. I threw my swimming trunks on, went into the water and watch the sun set.

Now I am at dinner. Enjoying fried squid and looking forward to a long sleep and a day ahead without cycling.

So if you are no crying in despair that Huber’s daily blogging is coming to an end I can assure that at least one or two more are to follow. There is always room for some stats or just to look back and be thankful for how privileged I am to be able to do something like this. Good night.