Day 4: Kiato to Antirrio
After waking up I quickly packed up my things and rode a few hundred kilometers to a small beach to have breakfast and do some repair work on my bike.
The previous day I'd started to have lots of issues with switching gears. So, I took some time to fix it. I'd only ever done this once before so it took a little time and watching a quick YouTube video (thanks goodness for EU-wide Internet). But after some fiddling I got things working smoothly and I was on my way.
The goal for today was to reach Rio, cross with the ferry over into Antirrio, then look for a good spot to place a tent. That was almost exactly 100km along route 8.
The route 8 follows highway 8, sometime just beside it other times further away. When it's right beside the highway, it's mostly load and boring. But when it's further away it runs through residential areas.
Today I ran past a number of others doing cycle tours; 3 singles, a one group of 3 guys. I only spoke to the last one I crossed. He was from Italy and riding to Palestine. I think if you search for "Cycling for Palestine" on Facebook, you should find him. He gave me some tips on where to stay in Albania and said that there was a couple going my direction a ways in front of me.
I'm actively looking for someone to ride along with for a time. Each day is a long day of peddling and it would be nice to have some companionship.
There was a lot of construction sites along the way in many of these there was water run-off which I had to ride through. By the end of the day I was completely covered in dried mud from my knees down.
Along with many in-progress construction sites, I've passed countless houses that look as if construction was just stopped after the cement frame was erected. Some of these are used as a makeshift car-park, others a room was finished enough to place a store in, and others are not being used at all.
One thing that gives me concern is that I've developed a pain on the outside of my left knee. The pain is very similar to ITB Syndrome that I've had as a runner. It's where the IT Band that runs along the outside of your leg and connects at your hip and just under your knee, causes rubbing at the area of pain. It's not really a knee problem so much as a musculature issue. For running, this was debilitating for me as each step causes a sharp pain. For biking, it's not as bad but it's causing me to ride with a limp. I'll have to be keeping a watch on this one.
So, I made the ferry at Rio while the sun was getting low. It looked like a storm was coming and the temperature was rather low. That and just the general feeling of being dirty (it's amazing how much we relay on being or feeling clean), caused me to google for the nearest cheap hotel. It turned out there was one for 35 EUR at the directly on the ferry landing on the other side. And that's where I spent the night.
In all, I made 100km today. I'm happy about having 2 consecutive 100km days. Not sure if I can maintain that though with the pain in my knee and legs getting more tired. I guess we'll see.