Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Well here I am in Bosnia. I've left the beautiful Croatian coast behind and replaced it with quite possibly my favourite country so far - the roads are bad, the occasional building is scarred with bullet holes from the war in the 90s, there's a derelict Mercedez Benz on every street corner and the girls are stunning. I really feel now that I'm leaving the west behind me and venturing into the east.
Cycling down the Croatian coast was my favourite week so far. Stopping every half an hour to dive into the glorious ocean. I'll really miss those swims. A month ago, on the ferry to France, I met a great guy called Graham who lives near Edinburgh and was cycling to Switzerland. Although my time cycling with him was brief, I learned a lot from him about cycle touring. One thing he said in particular which has proved to be true is how you find yourself in your own little bubble when cycling alone. For the last few weeks nothing outside that bubble of mine has seemed to exist. It's an incredibly strange feeling to be surrounded by people, in the middle of a busy city centre for example, but feel completely alone. I haven't minded, in fact I have rather enjoyed the feeling, probably because I know it's not permanent. But the thing I find so wonderful about travelling, and so special about being utterly alone for so long, is that you forget who you think you are and learn who you really are.
Every day is an adventure when travelling, especially when travelling by bicycle, and you never know what 's around the corner. For instance I never thought I would meet Iztok, a Slovenian guy cycling south for a couple of weeks. We've been cycling together for a few days now and I must say it's wonderful to have some company. Although we can only really communicate with the occasional three word sentence, it feels like I'm having proper conversations as I've been silent for so long.
I told Iztok yesterday that it was exactly a month since I left home, he replied by saying, "Oh! We must go to the beer!" So we went to the beer outside a little Bosnian shop owned by a wonderful Bosnian family, and I sat there while Iztok talked to the family. Every few months I sometimes take five minutes and think to myself 'how on earth did I get here'. I had one of those five minutes yesterday whilst sitting at the table outside that Bosnian shop drinking Bosnian beer, listening to a language I had never heard before and watching the mother chasing her little boy with a stick because he didn't want to go to bed, and I thought how exactly one month ago I was sitting in a field near Gatwick airport. Life really is what you make it. And it was that very moment that I made a promise to myself: I am going to cycle the world. Iztok then decided it was time for us to go to bed when I, after sitting on bags of corn with the children and teaching them English, decided it would be a great idea to do drunken handstands to make them laugh - I failed miserably.
I'm going to continue with Iztok for a few more days, I've changed my route to now include Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. I should reach Istanbul within a couple more weeks.
Tom
- comments