Andy and Miles hit the Balkan's

The Balkan's

Our route was from Thessaloniki - Greece, through Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and our destination was Dubrovnik - Croatia.

Macedonia


The ride to Skopje was long and cold but it was a good idea to get it out of the way in a day. As the weather was only going to get worse. We arrived at the Greek border to find a ton of cars waiting. We spoke to two motorcyclists who were sitting down and had been waiting for two hours. We were told that the border guards are on strike and no one can go through.... Cool!
So I leave the bike with Miles and walk into the main building where everyone looks at me suspiciously. I find the main office and tell the guy I'm on a motorcycle and would like to go through. His reply was no, it's a ten day strike. Ha! I gave a little sob story and said can't I just wheel my bike through? We spoke for a few minutes and then he called over an older chap who told me to follow him. I followed this guy outside, when all the people waiting at the border noticed this guy they swarmed around him shouting, I stood watching....

(there I am looking confused in the corner)


 Moments later an agreement was reached, somehow .... and everyone jumped into their cars and the Greek guy just let everyone through without checking passports, they didn't care. I had no idea what had just happened but hey we were through! Then to get through the Macedonian border I had to depart with 50 euros for a green card which was outrageous!


We parked up in the centre of Skopje and I rang Svetlana who came to meet us with her friend Makedonca and another friend Nara who was staying for one night, and then later her boyfriend Dime. After some coffee we all went back to Svetlana's apartment to stay for the night.  Svetlana was an extraordinary host, she cooked great food for us all and truly made us feel at home.

It was truly an amazing experience hanging out with Svetlana and Makadonka. Both me and Miles felt lucky to spend time with them. I think that they are difficult to describe as people, I'm laying here in Slovenia, listening to good music, with friends and nothing but time and I still just can't think of the words.
They were free, there was no embarrassment, no inhibitions, they would just get up and dance to the most random of songs for no other reason than they had to. Just sitting there watching them you could see that they were really just.... genuinely happy.


They took us to a few clubs and pubs and on the last night we all drove up the mountain to overlook the city of Skopje by night. Although it was freezing cold, I always find it beautiful overlooking cities peppered with luminous sparkles and glows at night.

Kosovo


Miles and I decided that it would be a good idea to go into Kosovo for a day to visit the capital Pristhtina. I fancied a break from riding so we left the bike and all our bags with Svetlana and took a day sack each and caught the bus.
We walked down an empty boulevard in the capital's centre, Miles remarked that it would be funny if this baron boulevard was actually the epicentre, we later found out that it was... that's pretty much all the excitement we got there.


I guess the photos below are the main attractions if you like

 After a few coffees, we went in search of the only hostel in the city and checked in...... Soooooo...... Not much to do in Kosovo then! We went out that night for about 5 minutes then had to go back as it was just so cold. We sat in the downstairs communal kitchen talking the night away, until an Albanian chap joined us. He was a nice dude.... But soon after this weird guy also joined, on the plus side he brought beers with him but he never gave straight answers and there was something really weird about him. I swore that he fancied Miles. Sometimes you get a bad vibe from people and it's always worth following your gut and making a pleasant departure.

Obviously the next morning we decided to leave and head back to the warmth and comfort of Svetlana and her friends, not to mention it started snowing!. So it was back on the bus to Macedonia.


We spent one more night with the Macedonia's. I decided to stay up late with the girls, Makedonca, Ljubica and Svetlana as they all did their uni work and listened to music, it was fun relaxing with them. The next day we packed up and left. It was very cool hanging out with those guys and I'm already looking forward to seeing them again.




Albania


Life on the road

We had a long old ride ahead of us into Albania. From Macedonia the quickest route to the Albanian coast was through one national park and then straight west through the interior of the country. Along the way we planned on sleeping somewhere as it was too long of a ride in a day. The national park route turned out to be basically a freezing cold mountain with a ton of twists and turns. The main road in Albania was literally terrible and littered with potholes. Luckily only one dog gave chase. The drivers were terrible and overtaking became extremely dangerous as they never, ever, ever indicated before turning. Every overtake was a gamble. I remember thinking at one point that we were actually going to die and that was that when a truck overtook on my side of the road. I have had a few of those moments over the course of the trip where for a split second I thought it was all over, in each case I was always more worried about my bike!

Checking the map and using the emergency petrol in Albania

We rode literally from the complete east to the west of the country in a day, over hills, mountains and through deep dark tunnels. There was one tunnel that sticks in my mind as it was pitch black. As I entered, I will be honest, I shit myself as there was not even a fragment of light. I could barely see the light at the end as it was only a small dot. I never for a second imagined that the full beam on my bike could not in anyway even light up a millimetre of road ahead of me. I completely lost balance as it threw me off, I thought my lights had broken, Miles thought I switched them off and I had no idea if I was riding into the wall of the tunnel or down a ditch!

All of the towns we passed through did not look like the types of places I was comfortable keeping my bike overnight. So we eventually found a cheap hotel in a larger city where the bike was put in a secure car park overnight. The hotels electrics kept going on and off but we slept well.

The next day we left for Montenegro


Montenegro

The ride in was beautiful, especially the coastal road. We rode to Budva and stayed in a hostel in the Old City. The season was well and truly over and it was pretty quiet. The owner of the hostel was very.... How do I put it... cuddly.


Budva itself was very pretty

We followed the snaking coast road northwards to Croatia

Bosnia


After following the coastal road to Croatia for a few hours I realized I took a wrong turn and we ended up high in the mountains. Never mind, I looked at the map quickly and noticed a new route in to Croatia so we rode on. Finally we reached the border. The guy in the booth asked me for my green card. I don't have one as I don't need it for Croatia? He repeated his request for the green card... No? I don't need one? After discussing it with the policeman for a few moments Miles tapped me on the shoulder and said:


"dude... I think were in Bosnia!"


Ahhhh that would make sense... Right i'll buy your green card then. So I parked the bike up and walked all the way over to the green card office. It was empty.  So I walked back to the border guard and told him. He didn't speak any English and I assume he thought I didn't want to buy it as he made gestures for us to go. Luckily there was a woman passing through in a car who could translate for us for a moment, she told the officer that the office is empty. The guard said that the green card dude must have gone out, and he had no idea how long he would be, maybe 2 hours. But that was clearly a complete guess. We were told to park up the bike outside the border and wait if we wanted. Needless to say the officer was not friendly. It was a long ride back to the coast and we wanted to get to Dubrovnik before nightfall so we waited. We gave it 1 hour.
So a general, obvious rule at border posts is not to take any photos. In fairness I didnt get hardly any of the border in my shot, it was just me and Miles and the bike whilst we were sitting down, the bike covered the border guards view of us. Nevertheless the guy saw and started walking over. Fantastic, the camera goes in my pocket. He made me get it out and delete it, fair enough! But then he went on a power trip and made Miles empty his bag all over the floor while he gave it the most uninterested and stupid search I had ever seen. He then turned and looked at me, squeezed my bag and said "problem?" I replied sternly "no problem" and he left us to it.


I did manage to keep one photo though

An hour passed, it was clear we were going to be there all night. Miles stayed with the bike and gear and I went back to the green card office, I was going to do the only thing I knew that I could in order to get this green card... I was going to annoy them until they gave in! So I knocked on the office door next to the green card office. The man in there ignored me. He was already pissed with me as I had been knocking on his window early and he kept making shooing motions with his hands. This time he just blank ignored me. I kept knocking, he shouted 'No!' so I kept knocking. Minutes past and then he finally opened his door, grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to the side, angrily wrote down a phone number, slapt it into my hand and slammed his door shut. Brilliant, one step closer!
I walked back over to the Police dudes triumphantly holding my paper in my hand. They were just so uninterested in anything I had to say. I asked them to ring the number to find out what time this dude is back. 'No, no phone', well that was a load of bollocks as there was a huge office where I could see desk telephones and they obviously had mobiles. I made the best I could of explaining to them, to please use the office phones or their mobiles, 'NO'.
So I just kept asking, kept going, they walked away from me and I followed. Dubrovnik was so close yet these guys made it seem so far, I kept repeating, Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, come on bro I have family there. 'No phone!'
There were three of them, at one point they all just stared at me and two of them spat at the floor at the same time and fixed their gaze upon me, I could do nothing but smile (which I have learnt is THE single most important thing to carry when travelling, literally, never underestimate the power of a smile). One of the guards finally let out a long, exasperated sigh and mummbled something in Bosnian, he then got his phone out! Yay!
He phoned the green card guy and spoke for a few moments then hung up and walked off. Ha, so I follow, 'what did he say? what did he say? what did he say?'
'Go office'
I walk back to the green card office, what the hell am I looking for? I walk back
'Man in other office, do'
Brilliant, I knock on the angry dudes door, I get the feeling he's close to pulling his pistol on me, instead he shouts NO!
I go back to the Policeman: 'He said no' so the policeman shruggs, there is absoloutly no facial expression on this man but he was my best bet. So I followed him again and kept asking him to do it: 'You do papers for me please, come on, you can do it!'
Exasperated, he definately addmitted defeat, he tutted and mumbling and grunting he walked the slow walk to the green card office with me, he walked as though this was the worst thing he had to do in his life, like a kid he kicked stones on the way. He sat down and wrote out my paper. He could have done this two hours ago! I paid him 25 euros, grabbed my paper, jogged back to Miles, we loaded up and got the hell out of there!

After 10 minutes of riding down the mountain, away from the border, Miles tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to pull over as he had to adjust his shoulder strap. So I pulled up and he jumped off. We then noticed that my bag had actually been turned slightly and was resting by the exhaust. The exhaust had burned a hole straight through the bottom corner, melted through one of my tshirts and smoldered and blackened my maps, there was smoke coming from it. A couple more seconds, max and that would have all gone up in flames.


Croatia

After no more than an hour of riding through Bosnia we crossed the Croatian border, we had finally made it!
We stopped off for a sit down, overlooking the Old City of Dubrovnik as it would be our last one. The short ride down the mountain and into Dubrovnik would be our last ride so we enjoyed the moment for a while.

So I took Miles on the back of my faithful XT660R from Greece to Croatia. We had previously only spent 2 days together. Nevertheless, we travelled through 7 countries, it took us 6 days and we covered 900 kilometres. We had a great time and I am truly happy that Miles accepted and we did it together. Its an amazing thing travelling, not for the places but for the people you meet. Especially, specifically when they turn out to be as cool, down to earth and as easy going as my brother Miles.

Our trip was not yet over though. I was supposed to hang out with Miles at his brother Fraser's place for a few days. Days turned into a brilliant two weeks in Dubrovnik with some truly cool people.

Back into Europe

I slept in a city called Gebze, just on the eastern side of Istanbul. The plan being to make my way through the city in the morning and whack it as close as I could to the Greek border. In Gebze, I met a young french cyclist, around my age, I think 25. His name was Kevin and he had brought his bike via train from France to Turkey. From Turkey, his plan was to cycle to Vietnam where his girlfriend worked. He was headed across roads and mountains which I had just come from and I don't think that my weather report gave him much encouragement. But nevertheless this guy was still going for it. We went out for a coffee and I realized that whilst we had  little in common, we both shared one fundamental desire, not travel, not to see the world, meet new people, have fun or any of the other usual lines but purely.... purely solo adventure by ones own means. He brought up an interesting point, he told me that he believes what he is doing is selfish and he acknowledges it. He can only possibly do his trip on his own, there was no way he could have a companion for the entirety of the trip. Now this is not to say he is secluded or travels in a reclusive way... as traveling with people for a week, or hanging in a city with new found friends for two weeks is absoloutly brilliant and welcomed. However, the actual trip, the integral core of the trip must be done alone. This makes him selfish as he is doing his trip for no other reason than for himself, it is about him, for him and that is all that matters. He sat explaining it carefully as it is so easy to misconstrue the ideology. In all honesty it was amazing to meet someone who shared the exact same belief as me, as I thought I was alone. 


Off I rode, I made my way towards the European link bridge in Istanbul. The bridge which connects the two continents Asia and Europe. When I finally found my way out of Istanbul I rode past a little red moped, it was a little vespa and it stuck in my head instantly. I noticed hundreds of mopeds and bikes etc in the city but this one was different. It had just slightly one too many bags strapped to it and the way the bags were strapped in their neat fashion certainly did not resemble a Turkish style. As I rode off, the little red vespa stayed in my mind and I couldn't help but think that he was a fellow traveller. I later thought that I should have pulled over for the guy to check. This thought quickly evaporated as for some reason I believed I would see him again if he was in actual fact a traveller....I will let the road decide for me!


I rode long, I rode hard and made it to the last town before the Greek border hours before I expected. Hmmm, should I cross today and get as far as I can? Sounds good! So I pull into a petrol station and rummage through my bag to find my Greek map, I then sprawl it out over the oily forecourt. A few moments later a Turkish man is knelt beside me pointing at random locations, I smile and point at other random locations... This isn't the first time, as Turks love doing it. So the guy eventually asks me where I'm going in Turkish as he spoke no English. I told him Alexandropolis in Greece. He explained that he was going there too and that I should follow him. I declined as there was no need, in fact it would have been pointless following this dude, I would have been a lot faster on my own, I knew exactly where I was going and what I was doing but the guy was insistent, in a nice way though. I have found out about myself that I really do love to just go with things, to accept, to roll with it, not to say no to people and to just see where the road takes me without fighting against it. So... Okay buddy, I'll follow you.... Although I know I'm about 5 miles from the border and there's no way your headed that way as you want me to follow you... That's illogical, but hey, that's cool, I want to see what experience you, the random, Turkish man who likes pointing at my map on the petrol station floor will give me. Let's go! 


So of course, like I guessed he turned just before the border and drove into the town, when he finally pulled up in the middle of his town I parked behind him laughing. I already knew his next words. Sure, I would love some tea thank you.  Teshekurederim!  He takes me into his place of business and we sit and drink tea together. I meet his little boy and some friends. The amount of times I have sat in shops, homes, garages, gardens and so on and drank tea is mind boggling. Soon he goes out searching for an English speaker and returns with a friend of his who speaks perfect American English . His friend owns a pizza restaurant in Las Vegas and was more than happy to show me around. The pizza restaurant owner had a friend who owned a hotel about 20 footsteps away and as we were now all best friends he said he could put me up for the night for 3 quid. Sounded reasonable enough. Tomorrow I could then get to Thessaloniki in a day instead of sleeping halfway in Greece. Okay sure!


At the hotel I met up with a group of Turkish University students. Two in particular were very cool, Ufuk and Ayan, they took me to the Internet cafe where we played multiplayer zombie games for a few hours. Then it was off to the bars for beers with the lads!


I crossed the border early the next morning with ease. Turkey was a  fantastic country to ride through. I loved all of it, the people, the genuine hospitality, the roads, the mountains, the sea and the sheer vastness of the country. In total I had rode the entire length of Turkey. From east to west and due to it's enormous size I found the people to be different in each area but all the while they shared the same kind attributes. Goodbye Turkey! You have been good to me and I will miss you! Thanks for all the tea.


Hello Greece! How you doin?


I take the long straight road heading to Thessaloniki where I had arranged to stay the night with my new friend Athena. I had also arranged to pick Miles up from the airport the next morning.
Hours into riding through Greece, funnily enough I rode past a tiny little red moped. I laughed as I passed it and thought no way! 5 miles later I had to pull over. I would give it a chance and wait for him. Sure enough the little red moped pulls up beside me 15 minutes later. Bonjourno! The Amedeo Zanetti is Italian, 56 years old and retired. He recognized me passing him in Turkey! Funny how things work out sometimes. We talk for a while by the side of the road, comparing bikes, gear and swapping stories. He had been traveling all over the Balkans alone. Even at 56, the solo motorcycling adventurer lives strong in him. I admired it.


 

 I found Athena's place in the centre of the city, Thessaloniki is Greece's second largest city and I was expecting a long search. Luckily 20 minutes into searching I found her and I was warmly welcomed in. I met her boyfriend Addonis and instantly liked him. We all talked for hours, and it was so interesting speaking to Addonis, we shared so many views on life and I believe that although we don't ultimately want the same ends we share the same belief of means. I will always remember his story from the Greek philosopher Homer.That night we all went out riding around the city. Their friend Christina rides a moped and it was a strange feeling to be sitting on the back of it! Anyway, I picked up my bike and the four of us drove around the city, seeing the sites and eating Greek kebabs with chips. It was very cool hanging out with them. I sat talking with Athena until the early, early hours of the morning and it felt as though I had always known her. It was a shame I couldn't stay longer.




Picking up Miles


The next day I packed up my gear and left for the airport. It was an interesting thought for me, knowing that in a few hours I would have a pillion.
If I'm honest, I was in a way, nervous about carrying so much weight on the XT. It certainly is not designed for carrying passengers. Especially considering my luggage, an extra person and his luggage. Now thats a he'll of a lot of weight for a single cylinder to take. Taking into consideration the distances we were about to cover, the routes and the mountainous terrain with deep twists, turns and gravel... I knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park and importantly I was going to have to really concentrate on my riding and especially my balance (considering iI have to tiptoe as it is!) In a car these thoughts wouldn't cross ones mind. But on the motorbike I had to take this all pretty seriously as Miles was literally putting his life in my hands whether he knew it or not. It was a big decision for me to offer the ride to him. I had warned him before he committed to buying his ticket that motorcycle travel is not as glamorous as people perceive it. Its going to be cold, very cold, we will get lost, we will take wrong turns, we will get tired, uncomfortable, chased by dogs and most importantly there is a very real element of serious and potentially life threatening danger, once your on though then that's it baby! I warned him of the risks and so the choice was in his hands. I had already decided that I was prepared for the challenge.


Miles accepted, he was up for the adventure... I still don't know if he accepted because he didn't really know what he was getting himself into and what was actually  involved or if he had some idea and just wanted the experience.  he later told me that he realized it was potentially a once in a lifetime opportunity, for some crazy English dude to offer him a lift on the back of his bike through the Balkans, I guess that doesn't come along very often. Whichever way, he had some balls to fly to Greece, place a ton of trust in someone he had only known for a few days and ride pillion through six countries from Greece to Croatia. In my opinion that is complete trust, as of course it is motorcycling and it is dangerous enough, let alone on an overloaded motorcycle, through the Balkans with just a map aged just 24 and 25.
Regardless, Miles bought a cheap helmet in Turkey and some shitty gloves, bought a one way ticket to Greece and jumped on the back!


We got a little lost leaving Thessaloniki, it was the first two hours that were the most difficult, finding comfortable positions and arranging the luggage so we could both sit comfortably. In the end I had to put my whole bag on top of my right pannier so my bike was completely off balance. It took some getting used to but was comfortable... 


 We both agreed to leave Greece as soon as possible and get to the capital of Macedonia, Skopje before nightfall. Where we would stay with my new friend Svetlana in her apartment.


So the ride began!




I will post up the pictures for this thread at a later date

Can't keep up!

So, it has come to my attention that writing a blog is a huge pain in the ass. I am so far behind on it that it is literally giving me a head ache trying to recount everything that has happened since my last post. When I look at the calendar it wasn't actually that long ago... but to me, as far as memories go it is like trying to replay 5 months of time bursting with stories, events and good times. Luckily I keep a journal, but for blog purposes there's no way I'm Going to be able to relay it so I will turn the last '5 months' events into a shortened form. I hope it's still worth the read!


I'm laying on the bottom half of a bunk bed in the old town of Budva in Montenegro. My last post was somewhere in the eastern mountains of Turkey.... How the hell did I end up here? Why did i nearly strangle a guy? Why did I ride through Albania, go over a freezing mountain in Macedonia, go into Kosovo, and more importantly why do I have a Canadian dude on the back of my bike?


Well it all started in Goreme....

As I previously wrote, I changed my destination from Georgia to magical Cappadocia. After days of riding and a hard slog I eventually arrived at the Rock Valley Pension in Goreme.


True, it is a touristic place in Turkey, but sad as it may sound I had been alone for a long time and felt as though I would l like some company. In the common room I stumbled accross two guys, Nick from Australia and Donald from South Africa, both were traveling independently. We made plans to go to dinner that night and Pilar, a Chinese girl joined us. Pilar unfortunately had to leave the next day but me Nick and Donald hit it off. So the guys decided to rent a moped each and we went for a 150 odd KM ride, which is of course a very cool way to see any place. We named the bike gang that we had formed, 'Turkish Delight'... Donald especially liked this name.

On the ride, Nick nearly crashed quite a few times, one in particular was pretty funny when his throttle wouldn't shut off and he went zooming past me and Donald whilst we had stopped to check the map. Towards the end of the ride both 's and Nick's peds ran out of petrol... Luckily I had my emergency tank.... Unluckily it was empty so off I rode for supplies

Back at the pension a new girl had arrived, Sadie, from philladelphia. As it was my birthday tomorrow we all made plans to go to Goreme's only bar Fat Boys... Where we all got a little drunk... Especially Sadie... Actually apart from Donald because he's a little smarter than us and didn't mix his drinks and have beers and raki's. Raki's were followed by jenga!

When creeping back into the dorm we noticed two new arrivals.
In the morning we met Miles and Sarah, two very cool canadians. Over breakfast Donald reminded us that we thought last night it would be a cool idea to rent a car for the day and go see the underground cities. Brilliant idea! But now there were 6 of us. So we rented a chevvy jeep and rocked out with that. 
Nick had already visited the underground city and so acted as our extremely professional tour guide. I found the cities amazing, and somewhat unbelievable... There are 8 underground floors, only 4 floors are open to the public and that is deep enough for me! The city consisted of Homes constructed around nearly 100 tunnels and passages. All the homes are linked to an impressive ventilation shaft which when peering down looks like a never ending hole (whilst in fact it is 80 meters). There are an impressive amount of storage areas and a large kitchen showing that the inhabitants of the city were economically stable and able to survive underground for long, extended periods of time. The point being that invading, maraiding armies would bypass their underground city. Even if found they had the ability to survive for long periods of time and seal their city off from the outside world. Archilogists believe that up to 3500 people may have lived down there... Nick reckons maybe 200... I have no idea!

After Nick's narly tour we drove on to the Ilhara valley... Well Sadie drove too and I'm glad we made it without driving of a cliff! Which she nearly did as a joke. We took a long walk down into the valley and mooched about for a while! 

That night it was birthday celebration time... Two Australian girls also joined our group and so the 8 of us went out for dinner. At dinner I was surprised with a cake with 6 candles... I can't remember the last time Iv had candles on a cake... But was nice of those guys!

Then it was off to Fat Boys the only bar in town, Sadie got pissed and invented the would you rather extremely explicit and weird game... It was a good laugh and a really cool way to spend my birthday.


Sarah and Miles were headed to Olympos the next Day at 10pm on the night bus. Sadie left early morning. Nick and Donald had been at the guest house for a lot longer than they anticipated due to us all meeting and of course and had to move on  so they decided to catch the night bus to Olympos too. I had also been there alot longer than anticipiated so I decided to hang around the next day with them and stay the extra night alone, then leave early morning. During the day me Sarah and Miles went to see the massive dick shaped rocks and did a crazy long hike through love valley...and hitched a ride home... We missed the turning out of the valley and so hiked the whole way through, Good hike though.




That night I saw the gang off, would I have liked to of gone with them... yes, probably... But that's the thing with solo motorcycle travel... You are and always will be at the end of the day alone. You can meet people and hang with them for 5 days but at the end of it, you've got to ride the lonely highways single handedly. That night I was the only one in the dorm. The next morning I said my byes to the lovely South African Zada, running the guesthouse and I was off. I had a great 5 days in Cappadocia, I was only expecting to stay for one. I loved the people I met and re-reading this post really does not give the place or the new friends I made justice. I will just have to keep those memories in my head instead.


The second I sit my ass on my bike seat, switch that beast on, feel the throbbing single cylinder pumping in-between my legs.... All thoughts of loneliness... What has passed, what is to come and actually just about everything evaporate . In it's place all I see is the road ahead and I can't help but smile each and every time. Nothing else matters.

From Cappadocia to Duzce.


My target was Duzce as it was time for my 12000 mile service which has to be done by an official Yamaha dealership in order to keep the warranty intact.


Before Duzce I found a super cheap hotel in Gerede as I knew the rain was coming. I ended up being stuck there for two days. A little city with nothing to do. I arrived late on Saturday so slept the night with the intention of finding the nearest yamaha dealer the next morning, forgetting nothings opened on Sunday. Sunday morning I realize my mistake. Also the rain is beating down so I may as well stay another day. There is no point in riding to the nearest dealer as it is only 50km away in the rain and I will just have to find another cheap hotel, pack and unpack... Plus I don't even know if I could get the service done there. I'll see another night out here... Despite the fact that the guy working reception is a miserable git.


That night I was walking to my usual kebab joint when a Turkish man decided to grab my shirt for absoloutly no reason. Instinctively I grabbed his throat in return. Then I had to let go as his friend got in the middle. He swung his arm at me from behind his friend so I caught it and held onto it. Obviously this pissed him off even more. The guy in the middle started shouting behind him, I then realized he was calling another friend over. So I had to let go as if it was about to be 3 against 1 my only chance would have been to keep them at a distance. However, the third man came to help the middle guy pull the pissed guy away. All in all not a big deal. I was told later on by the dozens of onlookers that he was drunk... He was just one of those typical guys trying to look hard in front of his mates, they were holding him back and I truly believe he wouldn't have tried anything if they were not there. The shock in his eyes when I went for him told me that he really did not expect any aggressive retaliatory action from me. I did feel as though it was a shame that it had happened as it was the first incident of it's kind on the trip. But I won't let some prick ruin Turkeys image, it simply isn't fair on the countless good natured, kind and gentle Turks I have met. It is a good reminder though that there are good AND bad everywhere.


So I left early Monday morning for the 50km ride to Bolu, there I found a yamaha dealer... Tiny, run down, dirty, very low stock, in the middle of a heaving thick industrial estate. I spoke to the boss who couldn't speak english and literally looked as though he had no idea what time or day of the week it was.... I thought straight off that this isn't where I'm going to depart with money for a 20000km serious big service... The guy was saying yes yes yes service, oil change yes yes yes.... 


The conversation went as followed:


Dude: Yes, sir, yes service, oil change... No problem...
Andy: Okay yes, oil change but I want my valve clearances checked and my head bearings adjusted and regressed.... Can you do that?
Dude: Valve? (He looked at me as though I just told him I make love to animals)
Andy: Yes valve...
Dude: Valve?
Andy: Yesss
Dude: Yes oil 
Andy: What?!
Dude: We service oil?
Andy: no...Valve... I point at it
Dude: Oil?
Andy: Right I'm off


50 km on and I arrive at my first original option of Duzce.... I'm in luck... It's a huge western styled dealership with a proper service centre and a sexy showroom filled with naughty bikes... Can you check valve clearances? Yes... Thank Allah!


Mehmet does a very professional and in depth job on my bike. I sit downstairs in the service centre with the guys watching and joking for hours and hours until the service is done. Unfortunately they didn't speak any english... But this wasn't a problem as in the office they had a computer and we used google translator to relay jokes and for them to make fun of the guy working upstairs in the showroom.
I was given a dangerous amount of tea whilst down there. When we were waiting for the engine to cool, mehmet took me next door for lunch and wouldn't let me pay!  Throughout my time in that garage, at least a dozen young dudes came in on little mopeds and bikes all with random problems from tires to cables and some of them just helped themselves to tools to fix them up, every so often one of the mechanics would lend a helping hand... I don't think any money was exchanged... It was nice to see mehmet and the yamaha mechanic crew waltzing around with a fag between their lips, Turkish tea in one hand and a spanner in the other, telling jokes, making fun of the guy working upstairs, messing about, helping the young guys with their bikes, laughing at my jokes when they were supposed to, taking a genuine interest in my travels and just being men! My bike was given a serious and attentive clean as it was caked in shit... It now looks showroom clean. They finally finished at 7pm, by which time it was dark outside and the heavens had opened up. I decided to leave my bike locked up in the service centre, one of the guys from upstairs took me in his car to a hotel and said he would pick me up at nine the next morning and take me back to the garage so I wouldn't have to worry about finding a hotel that night in the dark and heavy rain. Nice guys huh? I'm pretty sure that you would be very hard pushed to find a service like that in England! Where the mechanic buys you lunch and cokes, let's you sit in the service centre watching and talking away, given an unlimited amount of tea, drops you off to a hotel and picks you up the next day. Funnily enough I was picked up the next day by moped, and the rider was the guy they all make fun off. Nice guy though.

So my bike had been serviced. I'm just on the east side of Istanbul. Europe awaits me and so does Miles at Thessaloniki airport in Greece. As I wrote at the beginning of this post, I am currently in Montenegro and by tomorrow night I will be in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Miles, the Canadian from Goreme was also headed to Croatia, I decided that it would be an interesting experience and adventure for the both of us to travel on one bike through the Balkans together. If I'm honest, I have no idea why as I love to ride alone. But there was something I really liked about Miles, and I have learned on this trip that I must just simply 'go with it'... The idea came into my head and I thought it would be an interesting experience and also experiment for me. So I had to ask him to see where it would go. After emailing quite a few times and me giving fair, preemptive warning that: motorcycle travel is not as glamorous as it seems, there is a high probability that we will get soaked, frozen, lost, tired and chased by dogs... Miles agreed and bought a cheap helmet in Turkey. He then made his plans to get to Thessaloniki airport where I picked him up. My next post which I will write tomorrow if I can will be on our crazy tour from Greece to Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and into Montenegro! 


(I will add a few more photos when I get them from the others!)