Cycle complete!
For the past 3 months I have in the back of my mind had a very important date with which to reach Istanbul. For on the 15th July I had booked a flight from Istanbul back home to Dublin as one of my best friends was to be married that week. You may remember from recent events that the 15th July was also the day when the whole Coup in Turkey erupted. Coincidence? To be fair it was well I got out when I did otherwise it could have been another few days spent waiting for the main airport to reopen, and I would have missed a fantastic stag party the following day! Regardless I landed on Irish soil that afternoon to a wonderful welcome from my family who had come up to await me in the arrivals hall. What followed was a wonderful week of food, catching up, sunshine (in Ireland surprise surprise!) and of course the wedding.
A refreshing week has now ended and a small bag is packed and ready to go for the final stretch now which seems strikingly short Well in comparison to the last leg, these final 7 weeks I imagine should fly by, as I pass through many smaller European countries for 3800kms (ish), much the same length as the 6 weeks I spent cycling across Australia, all those many moons ago. Honestly I can't say I'm as excited about Europe as I was about Asia. Perhaps it was the sense of the relative unknown of so many places I've cycled through that made it seem more adventurous, and now I enter familiar, more western, "safer" territory. I hope I'll be pleasantly surprised by what I discover along the road these next 7 weeks although I am sceptical it will be as welcoming as so many asian countries were. For so many months it was all about; the desert in Australia, or terrorism in Pakistan/Iran or the relative unknown of the Central Asia "Stan" countries, but now Europe and places such as my next destination: Greece, are known, tried and tested, can one still have adventure on a bicycle through places such as these? Perhaps that can be my challenge over the next 7 weeks, to prove my cynical, sceptical mind wrong and to show that adventures matching the previous 15 countries or so, are still possible here in Europe. I look at the clock at the lower right corner of the screen and it reads 01:30am. I realise that in 6 hours I'll be on my way to the airport and heading back to life on the saddle once more and realise I should really get some sleep before then! So am I looking forward to continuing the journey again.... YES! Is my rear-end looking forward to it? Perhaps not! Anyhow the end is in sight and my motivation should be all the stronger now that Ireland, West Cork and Drimoleague are just at the other end of this continent.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
The AuthorName: Daniel Ross Top Tips:
1. Constantly challenge yourself. 2. If you never try you'll never know what's possible. Archives
October 2016
Categories |