as such minor setbacks could stop me ;) ..the hotel owner called his friend Eduardo, a jack of all trades that has a workshop with some tools. Finally all that was needed was a 12mm wrench and an iron tube ;) We bent the gear lever back in shape and the handle bar was even easier. I really thought of taking it apart, but having a closer look, it would have been really complicated and time consuming. I was already thinking of getting spare parts in Tirana, when the solution came to us. Instead of making a big deal of it, we just applied the same force that deformed the connecting bolt in the opposite direction. Nothing you can't fix with an iron tube ;) So it took only 10 minutes before everything was the way it used to be (except that side cover.. but as it's only cosmetical and no vital "organs" of my bike were hurt, I shouldn't be to concerned about it). I offered him 500 Leks (about 4 Euro), but he refused and said we should have a coffee together. So we went back to the hotel, drank some coffee and talked about various things (even if he just spoke greek and albanian ;). I wanted to start early because I feared that it might rain in the second half of the day again (don't trust blue sky around here ;) and it almost looked as it would, but still has not so far (I hope it still will over night, as my bike now urgently needs to be washed ;)
First stop were the hot springs just 7km off the road. Not as "it's-boiling-me-alive"-hot as the hotsprings in India on the way to Gangotri, but still much warmer than the river flowing next to them. I met a Swiss couple traveling with a old firefighter minibus and a BMW 80 strapped on the back of it (cool idea :) and continued direction Korce. Along the way coulds started forming, but it stayed dry and warm all day long until now. I'm still waiting for my Italien friends that tend to be always waaay behind me ;)
I made a little excursion after I unloaded my bike to see a monastery. Ordered some local speciality when I got to the village (Voskopoje) that was tasty but didn't look as described in the guide. When I stilled my hunger and got to the monastery that lies hidden up in the forest, the guy was just closing it. Anyway didn't look like the super cool monasteries in India.. more like some houses built around a church. In front of the gates I met another bike rider that brought his BMW 650 GS over from British Colombia and we had a good chat. I told him to do the Panamerican Highway and I'm pretty sure he will ;)
on the way down I spontaneously decided to do a little detour through the mountains here, but after 7km gnawing doubts made me turn around. First of all, I was low on gasoline.. the reserve that I would have hit on this little bail out should have been enough to bring me back, but it's just no relaxed riding if you're further away than you could walk back and not nowing when the enginge will die. Then I didn't have my GPS with me, didn't have anything to fix a puncture (small chance that it happens, but it still could after all), Would have taken longer than 7pm to get back and it might have gotten chillier and started to rain (we all know now what it does to Albanian dirt roads) and the only thing that actually was still left for this day is trying a dark Korca beer. So before I end up asking myself why I just did this stupidity, I decided to head back to town. If not alone or a bit better prepared with other circumstances, I would have done it, but if one of the named above cases would enter, I'd become tense on the bike and then stressed out and this is when bad stuff happens. The combination of two things above would probably not kill me, but leave me in a very sticky situation (like wrong turn off and puncture). So common sense took over and I don't regret, as I feel it in the bones that I've done something today. I also finally had time while waiting food was served to read the history of the last 60 years of this country. Unbelievable that these people are still so lovely after what they had to go through!
So tomorrow it will be Macedonia.. probably having fresh fish out of the Ohrid lake :)
First stop were the hot springs just 7km off the road. Not as "it's-boiling-me-alive"-hot as the hotsprings in India on the way to Gangotri, but still much warmer than the river flowing next to them. I met a Swiss couple traveling with a old firefighter minibus and a BMW 80 strapped on the back of it (cool idea :) and continued direction Korce. Along the way coulds started forming, but it stayed dry and warm all day long until now. I'm still waiting for my Italien friends that tend to be always waaay behind me ;)
I made a little excursion after I unloaded my bike to see a monastery. Ordered some local speciality when I got to the village (Voskopoje) that was tasty but didn't look as described in the guide. When I stilled my hunger and got to the monastery that lies hidden up in the forest, the guy was just closing it. Anyway didn't look like the super cool monasteries in India.. more like some houses built around a church. In front of the gates I met another bike rider that brought his BMW 650 GS over from British Colombia and we had a good chat. I told him to do the Panamerican Highway and I'm pretty sure he will ;)
on the way down I spontaneously decided to do a little detour through the mountains here, but after 7km gnawing doubts made me turn around. First of all, I was low on gasoline.. the reserve that I would have hit on this little bail out should have been enough to bring me back, but it's just no relaxed riding if you're further away than you could walk back and not nowing when the enginge will die. Then I didn't have my GPS with me, didn't have anything to fix a puncture (small chance that it happens, but it still could after all), Would have taken longer than 7pm to get back and it might have gotten chillier and started to rain (we all know now what it does to Albanian dirt roads) and the only thing that actually was still left for this day is trying a dark Korca beer. So before I end up asking myself why I just did this stupidity, I decided to head back to town. If not alone or a bit better prepared with other circumstances, I would have done it, but if one of the named above cases would enter, I'd become tense on the bike and then stressed out and this is when bad stuff happens. The combination of two things above would probably not kill me, but leave me in a very sticky situation (like wrong turn off and puncture). So common sense took over and I don't regret, as I feel it in the bones that I've done something today. I also finally had time while waiting food was served to read the history of the last 60 years of this country. Unbelievable that these people are still so lovely after what they had to go through!
So tomorrow it will be Macedonia.. probably having fresh fish out of the Ohrid lake :)
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