Monday 4 August 2008

This one even has a quote from "The Castle"

Here's some more information from Mavie, enjoy.

Just woke up.........
I'm in an Anarchist Warehouse that got taken over by hippies about
four years ago... it has a giant skate park in it....and I've been
staying here for the past two nights....i even have my own key???
Okay so I finally get the hell out of Macedonia, only to be stung
on the neck by another bloody wasp whilst trying to
leave...definitely time to move on. I start riding through Greece
and its all farms and nuclear power plants, strange paradise. I
find a restaurant next to a lake and order a Greek salad...when in
Rome. The sign on the door said they accept VISA so I don't bother
to ask. Turns out the guy doesn't know how to use the machine, but
he said I'm welcome to camp outside and I can fix up the bill in
the morning and have coffee. Sweet. I wake up early and see white
swans in the lake next to me...ah how nice. I pack my things and
wait for some one to turn up. Finally the boss comes and we have
coffee. I try and pay for it along with last nights dinner and he
tells me not to worry about it. Now he didn't speak English... and
I'm pretty sure he just meant the coffee was on the house...but I
couldn't get through to him I needed to pay for the salad and beer
as well. I didn't want to get the other guy in trouble so I left a
note and split. Riding through the country I was feeling bad that
so far Greece hadn't cost me cent.... then instant karma punches a
hole in my front tyre... should've waited. So that's me on the side of
the road, in the middle of nowhere, with no tools and a flat. After
trying to hitch a ride for ten minutes a taxi pulls over. He has
tools... long story, but the cabbie drives me around, pays ten
bucks for a new tube (what is it with wogs and cash?) and gets me
back on the road in no time. I begged the guy to let me buy him a
beer and pay him money for his trouble. He started shuffling
through religious cards....and said don't worry the Gods were on my
side and left. Alright time to pay these Gods a visit and find out
why I hadn't yet spent any money in Greece....off to Mount Olympia,
their old stomping ground. I arrived at the base 1100m at about
4pm. An Italian climber told me it took him about 8 to 9 hours to
get to the top and back. I had a headlamp and figured I could
easily do the decent in the dark and be back by midnight? Half way
up I met a guy from Prague who said he'd been to the top twice and
said he saw nothing because of the thick cloud cover. Also met a
serious climber who recommended that I not attempt the climb to the
peak because I didn't have the right foot wear..."your life depends
on it!!" He'd obviously never heard of the Vans waffle sole...After
a brutal hike and climb I was perched on the top of the throne of
Zeus at 2917m. The clouds cleared and the skys opened just in time to watch
the sun disappear into the mountains. I've never before seen
anything that comes close to this place. The rock formations...the
view...the light...the air, truly biblical. Right near the top there is a
section no more than 4 feet wide with a 300m drop on either
side...I crossed it on all fours. I still shake when I think about
it. A gust of wind nearly took me off on my way down and I couldn't
move for at least a minute. The Gods reminding me who's house I was
in....I made it to a refuge hut. Spent the night (for free) with a Jedi
climber who'd summitted Everest and fed me soup and liquor. I woke
the next morning on top of the mountain...incredible. I slowly
hiked down completely nackered. I rode to the City...what a
contrast. Met some skaters... they told me to go to this place
called Ifanet. Trying to find the place i dumped my bike and broke
the front brake lever. I was totally exhausted couldn't even hold
up my bike. When I arrived I met a girl that lived there and she
gave me a room with a bed and said everything was cool. Then I met
a guy working on a motorbike. I pulled my brake lever from my
pocket and told him what happened. A BMXer took me through the
warehouse to the skate park which is massive. But built buy BMXers
so unfortunately too rough to skate. It was a guys 30th and they
were having a BBQ. I was handed a beer and some meat and was told
to drink up and eat. All I wanted was sleep but it was party time.
Half an hour went buy and the guy working on his motorbike comes
through and tells me my problems are fixed...errr what. "go and
look at your bike". The dude had installed a new brake lever... he
also built the whole park from stolen wood. They convinced me to
stick around for at least another night. Ok. The party ended in a
giant water fight...good times. I'm off to check out an
Island....tell Jim Greece rules.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't know you or your brother, but dear god, I think the both of you are geniuses.